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Speaker 1: There are serious concerns being raised about the Northern Territory's

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Speaker 1: ambulance system after Saint john NT was forced into an

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Speaker 1: unprecedented operational capacity white over the weekend, meaning that crews

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Speaker 1: were unable to respond to emergencies. Now, this crisis saw

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Speaker 1: dozens of triple zero calls go unanswered, life threatening cases

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Speaker 1: waiting hours for help, and growing warnings of course from

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Speaker 1: unions that the system is underfunded and stretched beyond breaking point.

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Speaker 1: Now the Deputy Chief Minister, Jared Mayley joins me in

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Speaker 1: the studio.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, how has the system reached a point where

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Speaker 1: ambulance services are effectively unable to respond to emergencies?

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Speaker 4: Look, Katie, this is a critical situation and we need

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Speaker 4: to get to the bottom off it. This is not

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Speaker 4: a short term issue. It's been going on for a

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Speaker 4: long time and I know that the Health Ministry is

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Speaker 4: going to get an urgent briefing today about this matter

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Speaker 4: because we need to support St John's. We need to

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Speaker 4: make sure that if you need an ambulance in the territory,

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Speaker 4: no matter where you are, that you need about to

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Speaker 4: get one because I think it's a crucial source that

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Speaker 4: needs to provide that early as soon as possible.

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Speaker 2: I mean you said it's critical.

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Speaker 1: I would say it's catastrophic to be in a situation

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Speaker 1: where you are literally, you know, in a life threatening

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Speaker 1: situation and you're not able to call for an ambulance.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, and that's why we need to make

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Speaker 4: sure that we support Saint John's. Don't want to a

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Speaker 4: big shout out to the workers. They do a great job.

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Speaker 4: And we know that Abigail Truan is there and she

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Speaker 4: used to work for me for disclosure, and I know

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Speaker 4: that she will do a great job. She is a

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Speaker 4: true professional and she will take this and run with

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Speaker 4: it and make sure that all Territorians get that Saint

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Speaker 4: John's cover when they need it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, we're going to be catching up with Abigail

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Speaker 1: true In this morning just after ten o'clock, about ten thirty,

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Speaker 1: so we'll certainly find out more from her perspective as

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Speaker 1: the CEO of Saint John. I mean, from your perspective

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Speaker 1: though it's the Deputy Chief Minister. What immediate steps is

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Speaker 1: the government taking to ensure that Territorians can get that

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Speaker 1: timely care when they call triple zero. You said that

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Speaker 1: the Health Minister is going to meet with Saint john today.

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Speaker 1: But by the sounds of it, we need to sort

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Speaker 1: out this funding agreement sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we do.

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Speaker 4: But in the meantime, I know that we've given additional

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Speaker 4: resources and support staff have been provided to Saint John's

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Speaker 4: to help address this current pressure, and then the Minister

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Speaker 4: is going to work with Saint John's to come up

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Speaker 4: with a solution because this needs to be resolved as

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Speaker 4: soon as possible, because.

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Speaker 1: Look, it's one thing to say that the government supports,

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Speaker 1: you know, the needs that that Saint john have, but

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the government can't afford,

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Speaker 1: you know, to not support Saint john.

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Speaker 4: That's great financially, this needs to go out because Saint

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Speaker 4: John's provides the service and we need to get the

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Speaker 4: best for the taxpayers buck as well. We need to

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Speaker 4: put it out to a tender and I don't know

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Speaker 4: the situation is actually with the tenor at the moment, Katy,

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Speaker 4: but I can get that information for you because we

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Speaker 4: need to get the balance right and make sure we've

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Speaker 4: got a good, reliable and resource Saint John's on ambulance

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Speaker 4: service and whether it's Saint John's or someone else. But

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Speaker 4: at Saint John's will been doing a great job. They're

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Speaker 4: beating the territory for a long time, and I'm sure

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Speaker 4: with Abigail leading the charge, they will do a great

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Speaker 4: job in the future.

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Speaker 1: So we don't know exactly when that tender is going

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Speaker 1: to be finalized and when we're going to know exactly.

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Speaker 2: What the deal is here.

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Speaker 4: No, I can't give that information to you right now, okay,

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Speaker 4: but I can find out. Again, I just don't know,

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Speaker 4: and I don't want to mislead you and the listeners

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Speaker 4: in duration to that tender.

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Speaker 1: All right, So at this point in time, then what

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Speaker 1: assurances can you give frontline paramedics and also the community

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Speaker 1: that you know that we're not going to be in

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Speaker 1: a situation, a continued situation. I know that you don't

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Speaker 1: work for Saint John obviously the Deputy Chief Minister, but

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Speaker 1: what assurances can you really give that Saint John has

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Speaker 1: what they need until that tender is finalized to be

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Speaker 1: able to get out there and support territories when they're

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Speaker 1: in an urgent critical health situation.

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Speaker 4: Well, what we can provide is additional resources and support stuff.

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Speaker 4: And my understanding that's already happened, and we will continue

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Speaker 4: to work with Saint John's and I know that the

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Speaker 4: Ministry is getting a full briefing today or work when

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Speaker 4: I say they, Saint John's and the Government and the

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Speaker 4: Health Department will work together to make sure that this

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Speaker 4: service can be provided in a secure and safe way

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Speaker 4: moving forward.

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Speaker 1: The concern here is like, what would happen if we

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Speaker 1: have something like a tourist bus rollover with only five

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Speaker 1: ambulances around Darwin and Palmerston. Would they be able to

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Speaker 1: manage such a critical situation?

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Speaker 4: Do you think I think they would, Katie, it would

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Speaker 4: be certainly are stressed on their resources. But we've got

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Speaker 4: to also look remember one of the problems over the

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Speaker 4: weekend Saint john staff will assaulted. So this is you know,

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Speaker 4: the government, but the people out there in the community

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Speaker 4: need to make sure that you need to protect Saint

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Speaker 4: John's if they're there to do a job. I can't

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Speaker 4: understand why we would go and assault the Saint John's officers,

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Speaker 4: just beyond belief that happened, But it happens, so we

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Speaker 4: need it needs to be a community response. There needs

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Speaker 4: to be an individual response, and of course the government

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Speaker 4: needs to come over the top to make sure that

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Speaker 4: we work together as a team because this is a

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Speaker 4: situation right across the Northern Territory. Anyone can be needed

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Speaker 4: a Saint John's ambulance at any time and we need

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Speaker 4: to make sure we respect their staff, we respect what

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Speaker 4: they do because they're they're literally saving lives.

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Speaker 1: Katie So, Deputy Chief Minister, just to make it really

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Speaker 1: clear for our listeners this morning from the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Government perspective, Urgent meetings are going to be held today

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Speaker 1: between the Health Minister and Saint john to try and

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Speaker 1: sort through this because we cannot be in a situation

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Speaker 1: across the Northern Territory where people, you know, someone could

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Speaker 1: be having a heart attack called triple zero and you're

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Speaker 1: not able to get a paramedic out there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Look, the Health Minister and the Health Minister Office is

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Speaker 4: getting a full briefing today and that will work out

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Speaker 4: what the next step is. But I can say that

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Speaker 4: the government is going to support Saint John's and support

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Speaker 4: the community to make sure that we offer a service.

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Speaker 4: If you call an ambulance, one will be honest way,

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Speaker 4: you know. But we've just got to get back to

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Speaker 4: the whole community. We need to get behind Saint John's

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Speaker 4: when you make sure that their paramedics aren't assaulted on jobs.

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Speaker 3: It's really important that we work together.

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Speaker 1: We've just got a message from Sue Shira from the

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Speaker 1: Council of the Aging, the CEO of the Council of

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Speaker 1: the Aging.

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Speaker 2: She said, we agree. It is catastrophic.

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Speaker 1: Why does CareFlight have a sixty month fund agreement and

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Speaker 1: Saint john as only annual? They are both essential services,

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Speaker 1: So why does the Department of Health keep only rolling

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Speaker 1: over funding annually but also take so long They will

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Speaker 1: hand back the ambulance services in June if funding isn't received,

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Speaker 1: as they are looking at insolvency. Our seniors are in

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Speaker 1: life threatening situations, as are all residents.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's not only the seniors, Katie. Anyone

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Speaker 4: in the territory could need a Saint John. In fact,

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Speaker 4: my brother needed one just late last year. So look,

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Speaker 4: we will work with Saint John's to work this out.

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Speaker 4: And again I don't want to get into the details

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Speaker 4: of the tender stuctor. They just don't know that information.

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Speaker 1: And is it though that Careflight's got a sixty month

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Speaker 1: funding agreement and Saint John don't.

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Speaker 4: Well, look Katie again, I don't know the answer to that,

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Speaker 4: and I certainly don't want to mislead, but we'll can

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Speaker 4: get that information and get to you to work out

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Speaker 4: exactly what those attenders may be long. I just don't know, Katie.

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Speaker 1: All right, Deputy Chief Minister, Let's move over to corrections. Now,

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Speaker 1: we know that correctional facilities across dow and a brace

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Speaker 1: for a major disruption as twelve hour rolling strike action

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Speaker 1: threatens to significantly impact staffing, safety and daily operations. So

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Speaker 1: from Wednesday, this action is going to kick off. That

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Speaker 1: is on top of the fact that the United Workers

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Speaker 1: Union have literally just issued a statement saying that correctional

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Speaker 1: officers have overwhelmingly voted down the Northern Territory government's latest

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Speaker 1: enterprise agreement offer. First off on these rolling strikes. What

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Speaker 1: is it going to mean for our correctional facilities?

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Speaker 4: So look, Katie, first, I want to start with saying

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Speaker 4: I respect people's unlawful law to strike and do what

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Speaker 4: they need to do. But what we are going to

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Speaker 4: continue to negotiate this pay deal at good faith and

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Speaker 4: we hopefully the unions will do the same. If they

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Speaker 4: want to go and strike, they can do that, of course,

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Speaker 4: but what it means, Katie, is that the prisoners will

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Speaker 4: be locked down in their cells and in their wings.

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Speaker 4: They will get out on a rolling basis, but there

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Speaker 4: will be a minimal staff there to look after them.

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Speaker 4: What will also happen is the work pat won't happen anymore,

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Speaker 4: so there won't be any mowing of the pensioner's lawns

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Speaker 4: or cleaning up around the community, all that sort of.

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Speaker 4: Those services will stop and go back to the very

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Speaker 4: basics of just making sure the prisoners are safe.

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Speaker 1: Correctional officers say that it's over unsafe staffing levels and

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Speaker 1: the government's failure to address chronic resourcing issues across the

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Speaker 1: correction system.

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Speaker 4: What do you say to that, Look, Katie, we have

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Speaker 4: come into office, you know, almost eighteen months ago, and

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Speaker 4: we know that the corrections was under resource. We have

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Speaker 4: come in, we have made sure there's over two hundred staff.

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Speaker 4: We've got g fours now out doing the running around services.

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Speaker 4: So those qualified officers behind the wire, we are doing

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Speaker 4: what we can to make sure those staffing and no

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Speaker 4: staff numbers have gone up, Katie. So I don't understand

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Speaker 4: why when the previous government were in.

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Speaker 2: Power some of the prison numbers right, like astronomically.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but the prison officers have gone up. But I

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Speaker 4: think from my understanding, and I think the Commissioner put

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Speaker 4: a good article into paper yesterday saying that you know,

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Speaker 4: people taking sickies and taking time off is put strain

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Speaker 4: on it. And again, if you're sick, you're sick. I

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Speaker 4: understand that. But we've just got to try and build

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Speaker 4: that into the roster and have those extra staff. And

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Speaker 4: that's why we've got gfours now who's doing the hoity transfers,

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Speaker 4: the hospital seats and also looking after the prisoners.

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Speaker 3: In the courts.

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Speaker 4: We understand that we're under pressure and were working hard

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Speaker 4: to make sure that the prison officers behind the wide

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Speaker 4: who do a great job, have got their resources. They

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Speaker 4: need the g foros there as well, so we've increased

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Speaker 4: the numbers of officers and people dealing with those prisoners

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Speaker 4: a lot over the last eighteen months.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, we will talk more about this shortly. We're

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Speaker 1: going to catch up with thereon early from the United

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Speaker 1: Workers Union. Also tomorrow we'll be catching up with the

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Speaker 1: Correctional Commissioner. Matthew Varley, Deputy Chief Minister. I want to

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Speaker 1: ask you, the Chief Ministers in a National Cabinet meeting

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Speaker 1: this morning, what is the plan when it comes to fuel?

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Speaker 1: Are we going to see restrictions in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 4: Look, Katie, we need to make sure we don't end

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Speaker 4: up with a patchwork solutions right across Australia. This response

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Speaker 4: about the fuel crisis right across Australia needs to be

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Speaker 4: led by the Prime Ministers Prime Minister's Office. We know

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Speaker 4: that the national cabinets where the Chief Ministry is right

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Speaker 4: now working out what they're going to do, and this

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Speaker 4: really takes some leadership from alban Easy and he needs

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Speaker 4: to make sure we need to We don't have a

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Speaker 4: supply problem here in the Northern Territory, unlike other states

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Speaker 4: where there's been some panic buying. The Territorians haven't done that,

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Speaker 4: so we seem to be able to manage that. So

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Speaker 4: I think all territories out there who haven't gone out

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Speaker 4: and filled up forty four gun and drums of fuel

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Speaker 4: and things like that. We are using fuel as we

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Speaker 4: need it. The supply into the Darwin is okay and

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Speaker 4: it's a secure but we just need to make sure

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Speaker 4: that we get this a national approach led by the

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Speaker 4: Prime Minister and not a patchwork here in different states.

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Speaker 4: It needs to be across Australia and get sure that

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Speaker 4: we get through this crisis.

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Speaker 1: Some of the states are really calling for the fuel

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Speaker 1: excise to be halved. Is that something that the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory government's pushing for.

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Speaker 3: No, well, we're going to go to that meeting.

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Speaker 4: Sorry, the Chief Minister is there now to come up

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Speaker 4: with a national approach and if that national approach agrees

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Speaker 4: on it harving it exercise, well so be it.

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Speaker 3: But we need to make.

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Speaker 4: Sure we don't have that patchwork approach here different in

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Speaker 4: all of different states. If we can get together and

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Speaker 4: move forward, because I don't think this is going to

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Speaker 4: end very quickly. He's going to drag on for a

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Speaker 4: while and it really needs to be led by the

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Speaker 4: federal government. And that's why National Cabinet has been recalled

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Speaker 4: today to go through and discuss that issue to work

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Speaker 4: out a plan moving forward.

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Speaker 1: All right, Deputy Chief Minister, we've gone through just about

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Speaker 1: all of your portfolios. Let's go to fishing right now,

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Speaker 1: because we know that golden snapper stocks in the Greater

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Speaker 1: Darwin region have dropped to just fourteen percent of unfished levels,

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Speaker 1: putting the species at critical risk.

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Speaker 2: With those stocks as low as.

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Speaker 1: They are, how serious is this situation and what immediate

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Speaker 1: actions are on the table?

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Speaker 4: So Okatie, this is an issue that's due to my

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Speaker 4: heart and adhere to many territories because fishing is a

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Speaker 4: lifestyle thing here in the territory, and I want to

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Speaker 4: make sure that we get our lifestyle. We're elected for crime,

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Speaker 4: economy and lifestyle, and fishing is certainly a major part

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Speaker 4: of that. So what we're trying to do, Katie, is

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Speaker 4: go out and we're having a have your Say now

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Speaker 4: to work out what can we do about this?

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Speaker 3: What are the steps?

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Speaker 4: And we've asked as many people as possible to go

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Speaker 4: online have your say to work out do we need

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Speaker 4: to leave it how it is? You know, asking people

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Speaker 4: are they actually getting smaller fish or less fish?

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Speaker 3: Are they hard at getting hard?

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Speaker 2: Do you reckon? Do you ever catch golden snabber?

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Speaker 3: I go out a bit.

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Speaker 4: I think the fish are getting smaller, not as big

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Speaker 4: as they used to be.

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Speaker 3: And you know I'm talking.

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Speaker 4: I've been here my whole life and I've been fishing

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Speaker 4: for a long time, so I think it's really over

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Speaker 4: time and anything they used to become normal, the fish

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Speaker 4: get smaller, a bit smaller, So I do back the

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Speaker 4: science in relation to that, but we need to make

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Speaker 4: sure that we get fishing ready for generations to come.

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Speaker 4: So I think, as they say, tomorrow's fishing starts today.

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Speaker 4: So this is all about coming out, going out and

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Speaker 4: getting the public view because we want to make whatever

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Speaker 4: this plan is, whatever the result is, is have some

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Speaker 4: ownership by the fish shows out there. And what the

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Speaker 4: last thing we want to do, Kate, is just have

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Speaker 4: a plan plucking on the table and say this is

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Speaker 4: it too bad? We want to make sure we get

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Speaker 4: as much input as possible. I know that we've been

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Speaker 4: working with our fan and the fishing groups, and I

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Speaker 4: thank them for that because they represent a major part

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Speaker 4: of the fishows here on the territory and they've been

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Speaker 4: doing a good job. And I know David came out

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Speaker 4: of a show and thank him for the work he's done,

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Speaker 4: and I've spoken to him about this as well. So

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Speaker 4: we just need to continue to work together to make

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Speaker 4: sure we come up with a solution that fits the territory.

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Speaker 1: All right, So people can currently have their say, you

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Speaker 1: can google that online if you just Google, have your

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Speaker 1: say and golden snapper stocks it'll come up now before

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Speaker 1: I let you go. Have we got any kind of

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Speaker 1: update when it comes to the gill nets.

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Speaker 4: Look, we are working hard with that, Cadie. Our commitment

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Speaker 4: was to phase that out in this term of government.

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Speaker 4: We've got about a year and a halfway two years

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Speaker 4: to go in relation to day and we're working hard

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Speaker 4: and we will stick with that commitment. We're going to

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Speaker 4: phase out gillneting. I understand Cuddy that the numbers people

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Speaker 4: actually using gillnets has dropped significantly.

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Speaker 3: At the moment.

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Speaker 2: What kind of numbers are we talking?

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Speaker 4: Well, I think there were about fourteen licenses and down

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Speaker 4: about five now. So we need to keep working together

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Speaker 4: because that's our commitment and we worked it out. We

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Speaker 4: want to make sure that the people who are using

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Speaker 4: those gill nets have an exit strategy that gives us

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Speaker 4: with dignity. Make sure we pay what it's worth a game.

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Speaker 4: We don't want to pay too much, we don't want

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Speaker 4: to pay not enough. So we need to get that

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Speaker 4: balance right. And we need to protect the fishing internship

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Speaker 4: because think the recreational fishing brings a lot to the chitory.

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Speaker 3: So does the.

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Speaker 4: Commercial fishing too, So I don't you know, say it's

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Speaker 4: all reck. This is about both getting that balance right

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Speaker 4: because the commercial fish shows and the red fish shows

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Speaker 4: do a lot to the teritory economy. We need to

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Speaker 4: work together to get a plan that we move forward.

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Speaker 1: Just lastly, you know, when we talk fishing and we

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Speaker 1: talk about those fuel prices, you know, some of the

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Speaker 1: people I've been talking to over the course of the weekend,

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Speaker 1: they're saying that we are literally due to all the

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Speaker 1: wet weather that we've had, we could have the best

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Speaker 1: season of fishing, like one of the best years ever

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Speaker 1: on record. Everybody's hoping so, but you know, some people

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Speaker 1: might not be able to fill up their boats or

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Speaker 1: fill up their cars with the price of petrol the

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Speaker 1: way that it is. But also there's real concern amongst

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Speaker 1: the community that we are literally you know, that we

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Speaker 1: could end up in a situation where there are fuel

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Speaker 1: restrictions in place. I mean, I know that you talked lifestyle,

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Speaker 1: and obviously we always talk about cost of living, but

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Speaker 1: you know there are people at the moment who are

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Speaker 1: quite concerned about these things.

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Speaker 4: Well, I don't think we're going to have a supply

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Speaker 4: usue in the Northern Charity Cudy. It's certainly not in

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Speaker 4: the future, and we don't know what's going to happen

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Speaker 4: overseas in Iran, but right now our supply is secure

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Speaker 4: and we are good to go in the territory. It

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Speaker 4: is costing a lot of money. I know, my boat's

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Speaker 4: got a three hundred liter fuel tank in it and

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Speaker 4: it goes through a fair bit of fuel and my

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Speaker 4: car I put four hundred and sixty two dollars for

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Speaker 4: fuel and over the weekends crazy, it's going to cost

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Speaker 4: me eight nine hundred dollars to go fish. Yeah, So

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Speaker 4: I think what will happen is people won't just go out,

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Speaker 4: you know, every second day. They will program it. They'll

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Speaker 4: do it because fishing is a lifestyle and people will

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Speaker 4: find the money. But I just don't think you'll see

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Speaker 4: people going every day out fishing. You know, there'll be

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Speaker 4: the land base and some smaller boats will use less fuel,

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Speaker 4: but you know, to go to Shady Camp for example,

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Speaker 4: the road and going out there and it's just a

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Speaker 4: long way to go. But that's what people will do though,

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Speaker 4: because I do it, and lots of other territories do

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Speaker 4: it as well. Well.

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Speaker 1: Deputy Chief Minister Jared Maylee good to speak with you

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Speaker 1: this morning. I appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie, thank you listening