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Speaker 1: I tell you what, if you are a rugby league fan,

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Speaker 1: you would be absolutely frothing that the NRL is here

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Speaker 1: on the weekend. And joining me in the studio right

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Speaker 1: now is the CEO of NT Major Events, Tim Watsford.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie. How are you very well?

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Speaker 2: How are you more like it?

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Speaker 1: You all organized for the weekend?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah we are. There are a few weary eyes

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Speaker 3: around the building. I'll give you the tip, but no

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Speaker 3: venues in great shape. Old Paramatter obviously came through yesterday,

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Speaker 3: had an amazing signing session down at Mindor Markets with

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Speaker 3: thousands of people queuing up, which was which is awesome

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Speaker 3: way to launch the markets front of the year. And

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Speaker 3: now they're out about doing their community activation. Hopefully the

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Speaker 3: Mighty Years get to win tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Well I'm hoping the Cowboys will actually Yeah, the Queen's

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Speaker 1: North Queensland are born in the Heartland as well bound Eza.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't get much more Queenslander than that. Good ess,

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Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that the Cowboys get up. But well

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Speaker 1: are they here at the have they already arrived?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Both teams down without their last night big thanks to

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Speaker 3: the guys that they are Old they'd amazing job. When

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Speaker 3: they come up, they spend some time getting in and

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Speaker 3: amongst the community, both eels and the cows. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: they're here, they're doing their thing. They've got the captains

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Speaker 3: runs today, doing all they've got to do to prep And.

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Speaker 1: Is it a sellout already, tim or are there a

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Speaker 1: few tickets left?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's not a Sorry, it's not a sellout, that's

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Speaker 3: for sure. There's tickets available now online at ticketmaster dot

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Speaker 3: com and also they'll be available at the gate. I'm

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Speaker 3: just stressing to everyone that wants to listen, please please

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Speaker 3: buy early. There were some cues last year that caused

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Speaker 3: some delay and entries just based on the Mighty Broncos

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Speaker 3: drawing a crowd. But look, to be honest, we're raiming

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Speaker 3: for hopefully that ten thousand marks. So it's going to

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Speaker 3: be fun.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, becausey and you can actually like when you purchase

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Speaker 1: your tickets then it's on your phone, like it's much

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Speaker 1: easier to get in.

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Speaker 3: You're not dealing with ticket boxes. Like I said, they

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Speaker 3: will be available at the gate. It's easy. It's actually

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Speaker 3: five bucks cheap to be honest to buy online before,

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Speaker 3: so it's an extra five bucks at the gate. So

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Speaker 3: if you are coming out, regardless if you're buying a

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Speaker 3: ticket at the gate or not, get there early because

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Speaker 3: I just want to make sure everyone is really sure.

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Speaker 2: That's going to be cute.

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Speaker 1: So about ten thousand Mad Footy fans, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be great.

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Speaker 2: You and I for fans within, yeah.

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Speaker 3: We.

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Speaker 2: Speak for yourself.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know that you guys have got so much

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Speaker 1: like that. You're getting organized for now in the dry season.

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Speaker 1: What's next after the NRL.

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Speaker 3: Look, we've got some really really good news that's come

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Speaker 3: through over night. Base in the Grass is now sold

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Speaker 3: out officially at sixteen thousand people. There's literally a handful

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Speaker 3: of tickets left for a boat package. Jump online if

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Speaker 3: you want to snap them up. It's kind of a

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Speaker 3: VP offering at basinograss, dot com, dot you. But that's

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Speaker 3: beyond the record. Those that for those listeners at home,

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Speaker 3: were playing last year fourteen thousand.

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Speaker 2: Last year we got through.

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Speaker 3: The guys have worked their bums off, so to speak,

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Speaker 3: to increase the capacity and now.

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Speaker 2: We're sold out at six day and so six three

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Speaker 2: weeks time, three weeks tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: That's fantastic and everything going pretty smoothly in terms of,

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Speaker 1: you know, the organization for base, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: It is is. We've got some great engagement of the

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Speaker 3: lineup's mental. The guys have done great job. Obviously you're

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Speaker 3: setting that up and now we're just putting the finishing

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Speaker 3: touches on. So all the lessons that we've learned over

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Speaker 3: the previous years in terms of moving from Amphitheater to

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Speaker 3: mindle I Reckon, we've nailed. So from a presentation perspective,

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Speaker 3: top notch. All the activations we're activating the beach, We've

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Speaker 3: got a whole bunch of stuff going on. Have a

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Speaker 3: look at basinograss dot com dot au to find out

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Speaker 3: what you can do. But it's gonna be pretty special

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Speaker 3: and even I'll be quite honest, the operational person looking

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Speaker 3: at the rain this late in the n is going

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Speaker 3: to make it nice and green. So the grass part

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Speaker 3: of base in the grass will be there down at Mendo. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's gonna be a pick. We're all excited it will be.

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Speaker 2: It'll be fantastic.

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Speaker 1: And then it doesn't stop there well well and truly

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Speaker 1: keeps going along. What else have we got on for

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Speaker 1: the dry season.

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Speaker 3: So a couple of weeks after Base two AFL games

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Speaker 3: that we play a hand in.

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Speaker 2: Obviously they're delivered by our friends at AFL.

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Speaker 3: In Tea, but the Sun's coming up to do a

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Speaker 3: double game in late May through the Doug Nickles around

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Speaker 3: would be awesome, so they'll be there'll be two blockbusters.

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Speaker 3: Then we're in the supercars, which is also going to

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Speaker 3: hopefully be some big announcements around tickets where we're expecting

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Speaker 3: a big, big crowd for that. The top fuelers from

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Speaker 3: a drag perspective, draw quite a lot on their own.

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Speaker 3: It is the official Indigenous round. I've been lucky enough

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Speaker 3: to see some of the sneak peaks that are coming

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Speaker 3: through from an on car livery perspective, and the teams

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Speaker 3: are really getting behind it. So that's a mixture of

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Speaker 3: artwork from both where the teams are based all across

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Speaker 3: the AAS and C board, but also there are some

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Speaker 3: teams that are picking up Larrakia artists.

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Speaker 2: It's awesome, So that's gonna be amazing.

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Speaker 3: Then we kind of duck our heads for a little

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Speaker 3: bit watch the festival's roll around a little bit. We've

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Speaker 3: just released quite a number of festivals on behalf of

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Speaker 3: government to get a look of cash this year through

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Speaker 3: our grant funding program, so that to be fun and

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Speaker 3: then we're down back in the center for Red Center

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Speaker 3: ats to close up good stuff September.

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Speaker 1: There is so much happening and the dry season is

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Speaker 1: an amazing time. How has it been for you guys?

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Speaker 1: I know that there are a lot of businesses that

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Speaker 1: are finding it a bit tougher when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the staffing shortages and things like that. From an NT

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Speaker 1: major events perspective, does that have much of an impact

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Speaker 1: or are you pretty right because you know you've got

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Speaker 1: everything in place and you just go from there.

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Speaker 2: No, No, it does.

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Speaker 3: We obviously rely on a variety of local businesses to

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Speaker 3: deliver our events. We are a relative nimble and small

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Speaker 3: team that will coordinate. But for example, we've got bar operators,

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Speaker 3: we've got activation people that will be down, we've got security,

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Speaker 3: we've got everyone. From a base perspective that we need

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Speaker 3: to lean on that they're finding it hard, There's there's

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Speaker 3: no way of getting around that. They're confident though, so

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Speaker 3: all our contractors are really really happy with how it's progressing,

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Speaker 3: and we're starting to see a bit of a flow

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Speaker 3: on now just from a backpack piece as an example,

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Speaker 3: I'm starting to fill up. They're going to cover themselves

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Speaker 3: in glitter, as I spoke to some people this morning

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Speaker 3: for Carl Cox on Sundays, so they'll stick around hopefully

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Speaker 3: for a couple of months.

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Speaker 2: But it looks I'm not going to lie. It's a challenge,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, we're confident we're going to deliver a really

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Speaker 2: good product. Oh good stuff.

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Speaker 1: Will all the best for the weekend for the NRL

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Speaker 1: and then of course for Base in the Grass. That

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Speaker 1: is fantastic news that it's now sold out sixteen thousand tickets.

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Speaker 1: So that is a record breaking ticket sales, isn't it?

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Speaker 2: It is?

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Speaker 3: And the good thing about it, I guess from a

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Speaker 3: really national perspective, we went on this journey a couple

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Speaker 3: of years ago to put it on the national Festival

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Speaker 3: calendar lineup to make compete with Falls Festival or Groove

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Speaker 3: in the Moves, and we're actually beating those numbers now,

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Speaker 3: so it's well and truly up there. We've got our

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Speaker 3: eyes on Spinder if I'm really honest, to see if

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Speaker 3: we can try and hit fifty thousand. Of people in

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Speaker 3: the office are probably watering their eyes at the moment.

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Speaker 3: But now because it is, and it's a cemented now

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Speaker 3: as part of the National Festival calendar.

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Speaker 2: Soon grow. It's amazing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. Well done to you and your team.

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Speaker 1: I know it's a busy time for you guys. I

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Speaker 1: know quite a few of the team in there, and

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Speaker 1: I know they work bloody hard, so yeah they do.

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Speaker 1: Good on your team. Thanks so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,