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Speaker 1: Now we know obviously Parliament is sitting in the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory at the moment, and like I say, I listen,

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Speaker 1: so you don't have to. I didn't actually hear last

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Speaker 1: night the Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Madison hand down the

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Speaker 1: annual or the Treasurer's annual financial statements. Interesting that she

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Speaker 1: did do that, given the fact that the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: is obviously the Treasurer at the moment. But the outcome

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Speaker 1: for that twenty twenty twenty twenty one is that the

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Speaker 1: fiscal balanced deficeit is now one point one to three

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Speaker 1: billion dollars. It represents an improvement of seven hundred and

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Speaker 1: forty six million dollars since that revised figure in the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one budget. Now joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: is the Independent Member for Aralun, Robin Lambley. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Robin, Good morning Katie, Robin. Obviously the Treasurer's

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Speaker 1: annual financial statement handed down last night. Interesting that it

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Speaker 1: was handed down by the Deputy Chief Minister rather than

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Speaker 1: the Treasurer, Michael Gunner. Any idea why that was the case.

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Speaker 2: Well, she said that he had to attend an urgent meeting, right,

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Speaker 2: So we didn't see him. I don't think at all.

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Speaker 2: In the evening he disappeared. But yes, given that she

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Speaker 2: was the treasure she was the former treasure of the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory for four years, turfed out of the job

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Speaker 2: by the Chief Minister who thought he could do a

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Speaker 2: better job, it was interesting that she presented this last night.

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Speaker 1: I have just as we're speaking, I've just been informed

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Speaker 1: that the Chief Minister did not do the statement as

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Speaker 1: he was at an oil and gas meeting and the

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Speaker 1: meeting was sorry, the meeting or something was tabled earlier

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Speaker 1: than expected.

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Speaker 2: Well, he seems to be able to disappear at the

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Speaker 2: right time, doesn't he.

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Speaker 1: Well, Robin, what did you make of these numbers last night?

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Speaker 2: Well, don't be fooled here. The picture is still extremely grim.

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Speaker 2: We're still on the bones of our bar broke. But

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Speaker 2: it's not as bad as what they expected it to be.

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Speaker 2: That's the story, Katie. Don't forget. This government came in

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Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, five years ago, with a debt, a

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Speaker 2: net debt of less than two billion, and now we're

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Speaker 2: sitting on seven billion as of last night. So and

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Speaker 2: before COVID, I might add, the estimated net debt was

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Speaker 2: eight billion, So we were well and truly going down

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Speaker 2: the gurglar before COVID hit. They expected COVID to hit

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Speaker 2: a lot worse than what it has. And last night

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Speaker 2: the Member for Wanguri, the Deputy Chief Minister, as she

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Speaker 2: does so splendidly, was to was to paint lipstick on

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Speaker 2: a pig and make what is a diabolical situation sounds

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Speaker 2: slightly better than what it is.

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Speaker 1: Well, and it's one of those things, isn't it, Robert, Like,

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Speaker 1: I know that a lot of Territorians, even you know,

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Speaker 1: upon hearing this this morning, some of them will be thinking,

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Speaker 1: oh goodness, my eyes are glazing over and it's hard

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Speaker 1: to understand sort of exactly what this means to their

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Speaker 1: daily lives.

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Speaker 2: But I know that that is a good question. What

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Speaker 2: does it matter?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what does it mean?

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Speaker 2: What we saw in well in parliament last night we

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Speaker 2: were given a glimpse into what it means in the

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Speaker 2: matter of public importance debate brought on by the Opposition

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Speaker 2: about the health crisis in the Northern Territory. And it's

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Speaker 2: funny and Okatie. I was talking to someone early this

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Speaker 2: morning and he said, oh, who gives a crap about

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Speaker 2: the debt and the deficit. Well, this is the point

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Speaker 2: that Territorians need to wake up. The state of our

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Speaker 2: health system, I believe is a direct result of the

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Speaker 2: lack of spending of this government. They've spent money stupidly,

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Speaker 2: recklessly on car parks, tearing down the Chin Building as

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Speaker 2: I look out the window at the moment outside Parliament House,

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Speaker 2: putting up shade structures, grandstands, all this stuff that you

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Speaker 2: do when you've got plenty of money. We've never had

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Speaker 2: plenty of money in Auburn Territory. They've thrown it around

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Speaker 2: like it's Christmas every day for the last five years.

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Speaker 2: And we're facing a health crisis. Why is that, Well,

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Speaker 2: it's partly due to the fact we have difficulty getting staff.

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Speaker 2: That's no different from what it's been for years, yep.

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Speaker 2: But they have not invested sufficiently in our health system.

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Speaker 2: We are looking down the barrel of a catastrophe. I

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Speaker 2: believe with COVID the opening up of the borders, we

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Speaker 2: will get COVID in the Northern Territory. We've been told

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Speaker 2: for the last eighteen months that our health services are insufficient,

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Speaker 2: Yet this government has decided to build shade structures and

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Speaker 2: grandstands rather than invest in what Terrentorians need, and that's

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Speaker 2: a good health system.

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Speaker 1: And Robin our health system. You know something, It's something

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Speaker 1: that we've spoken about on so many occasions here on

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Speaker 1: the show on three point sixty. How is the health

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Speaker 1: situation for you guys in Alla Springs.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's no different to what it's been for years.

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Speaker 2: I've been called on the government to at least start

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Speaker 2: planning for a new Alice Springs hospital. And when I

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Speaker 2: hear people talk about using the Palmerston Regional Hospital, that

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Speaker 2: beautiful new hospital at Palmerston for different purposes rather than

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Speaker 2: acute care, it really turns my stomach, Katie, because that's

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Speaker 2: exactly if we could pick it up with a couple

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Speaker 2: of big cranes and take it down to Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: that's exactly what we need down there. Our hospital is old,

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Speaker 2: it's had lovely bits packed on that they're getting old.

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Speaker 2: Our infrastructure down there is sad and tired and passed

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Speaker 2: its use by day. But you know what we do

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs really well is we just get on

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Speaker 2: with it. We don't complain much. How I do I

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Speaker 2: can play on behalf of people, but generally speaking, people

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Speaker 2: have very low reasonable expectations and they just get on

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Speaker 2: with it. You guys are so lucky, yuppy. You've got

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Speaker 2: a beautiful Palmerston Regional Hospital, tired old rdie h. But

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Speaker 2: you know it won't be enough going forward. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: the problem that was outlined by the opposition quite well

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Speaker 2: last night in Parliament.

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Speaker 1: Robin, when you talk about then, well, when you talk

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Speaker 1: about then the opening of the borders, obviously it is

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Speaker 1: all very much based on us getting to the eighty

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Speaker 1: percent vaccination rate. How are you feeling when it comes

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Speaker 1: to opening those borders? And with that roadmap that the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister had announced earlier this week.

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm okay with this roadmap. I feel a great

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Speaker 2: deal of interrepidation like most people. We have to open up,

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Speaker 2: we have to get on with it. The whole world's

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Speaker 2: opening up. This morning we heard that we can fly

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Speaker 2: to Singapore in the coming weeks. You know, the world

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Speaker 2: is about to open up completely and we have to

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Speaker 2: be a part of that. But that does not mean

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Speaker 2: that we will be safe from COVID, which is what

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Speaker 2: I don't think people realize. I spent a few days

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Speaker 2: in Queensland last week. The narrative in the media over

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Speaker 2: there is about what is going to happen. They've done

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Speaker 2: modeling the lives that they're going to add thousands of

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Speaker 2: people with COVID in Queensland. There's going to be a

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Speaker 2: lot of deaths and they are talking about how they're

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Speaker 2: going to cope with that. Now, all we get from

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Speaker 2: Gunner is this big stick, no carrot approach, whack whack whack,

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Speaker 2: get vaccinated, which is of course what people need to do.

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Speaker 2: But there's no talking about the reality going forward. I'm

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Speaker 2: not hearing it. If there is, I think we need

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Speaker 2: to describe every day what we're looking down the barrel

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Speaker 2: at and it is going to be potentially catastrophic but

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Speaker 2: we will deal with it, but not with the health

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Speaker 2: system in the stated inners. It isn't at the moment.

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Speaker 2: The Health Minister last night bat Is it Away very

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Speaker 2: well told us all about the wonderful thing she's been

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Speaker 2: doing over the last five years. She has been doing

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Speaker 2: some great work, but she's taken her eye off the

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Speaker 2: ball and it comes to planning for what we're looking

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Speaker 2: at over the coming months and years with COVID in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Well, Robin I reckon. It's a very good point which

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Speaker 1: we will make sure that we talk about. Hey, just

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Speaker 1: before I let you go, we know that it was

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Speaker 1: a horrible weekend in Alice Springs when it comes to crime.

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Speaker 1: I know that you guys have been battling with these

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Speaker 1: issues for such a long period of time. But over

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Speaker 1: the weekend, you know, more than three hundred reports of

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Speaker 1: these property offenses. It seems as though the police are

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Speaker 1: doing the best they can to obviously get out there

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Speaker 1: and try to help territorians in this space. But somewhere

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Speaker 1: and somehow, you know, you guys are being let down,

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Speaker 1: and for us here in the top end too.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Look, I think it's time for the Police Minister

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Speaker 2: and the apple echelons of the police to really look

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Speaker 2: at how they're managing their resources. Because every time I

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Speaker 2: come to Parliament House, where I am at the moment,

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Speaker 2: I hear the Minister tell us all about how much

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Speaker 2: money she've thrown at policing, how many more police officers,

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Speaker 2: Powy's whatever, police alcohol auxiliary officers are sitting outside bottle

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Speaker 2: shops in Alice Springs. How from her perspective, everything is fine.

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Speaker 2: Well it's not fine despite all this extra funding, extra resourcing.

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Speaker 2: Things are not fine, they are worse than ever. So

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Speaker 2: I think it's time for the Police Minister to take

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Speaker 2: a big reality pill, for Jamie Chalker the Commissioner, to

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Speaker 2: do some self reflection and work out what's going wrong

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Speaker 2: and try a different approach. Katie. What disturbs me today

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Speaker 2: Wednesday morning is that there was an alleged vicious rape

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Speaker 2: of a child in the middle of my electorate of

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Speaker 2: Gillen on Saturday or Sunday morning by at least one man,

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Speaker 2: possibly two men. We don't know what's happened in that

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Speaker 2: space at all. We've had no reports of anyone being charged.

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Speaker 2: So we've got two rapists at loose in Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: possibly doing further harm. That's what concerns me this morning, Cavey.

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Speaker 2: We'll need more information. Our community needs to be protected,

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Speaker 2: but firstly informed about what's going on. I know it's

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Speaker 2: tough on the police. They've had a hideous weekend. They've

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Speaker 2: done their best under extenuating circumstances. This is no way

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Speaker 2: a criticism of them, but we do need to know

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Speaker 2: what's going on. There was also an alleged rape of

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Speaker 2: a child on man and Grida the same thing. I'm

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Speaker 2: hearing no information as to what's happening in that space.

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Speaker 2: You cannot have the sexual predators at loost in our community.

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Speaker 2: We need to know what's happening well, Robin.

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Speaker 1: We are actually due to catch up with both the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Commander of the Darwin Region and also

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Speaker 1: the Alla Springs Region after ten o'clock this morning, so

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Speaker 1: we'll see what we can find out.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much,