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Speaker 1: The Chief Minister Michael Gunner joins me on the line

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Speaker 1: right now, Good morning to your chief minister.

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Speaker 2: Good okatie, how you going not too bad now?

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Speaker 1: Chief? How annoyed are you? That's someone's lied and cause

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Speaker 1: the top end well to head into the situation that

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Speaker 1: we've been in since Thursday night.

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Speaker 2: Extremely frustrating. Obviously we've got the rules there for a reason.

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Speaker 2: The territory has been doing amazingly well on a number

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Speaker 2: of counts, particularly vaccinations. You know, you saw, you've see

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Speaker 2: how we're going here, and so to have someone you

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Speaker 2: know lie come in have COVID be infectious, it's you know,

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Speaker 2: you feel for every business in Catherine that had to

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Speaker 2: shut down, You feel for every territory and that had

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Speaker 2: the sport cancelor of the weekend and that all unnecessary.

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Speaker 2: Just just be upfront of people, just you know what,

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Speaker 2: almost two years into this, eighty months into this, I

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Speaker 2: think everybody knows how COVID works. Now, everybody knows the

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Speaker 2: buondability of our population. You know we're not having a lend.

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Speaker 2: Just just be upfront with us, comply, you know, just

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Speaker 2: is it wasn't as far as I can tell, a

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Speaker 2: necessary visit to the territory.

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Speaker 1: So is a five thousand dollars fine enough for this

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Speaker 1: person considering the heartache that she's calls businesses and the

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Speaker 1: work that she's created for authorities.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's the immediate action. Obviously police will consider whether

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Speaker 2: whether other charges are appropriate or suitable or not. I

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Speaker 2: don't believe the consioner has ruled that out at all,

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Speaker 2: But obviously we can do the immediate five thousand dollar

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Speaker 2: fine because of the breach of the Chief Health Officer's direction.

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Speaker 1: Now, what's the latest this morning? Do we have any

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Speaker 1: new cases as far as you know?

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Speaker 2: So at nine point thirty on going into the meeting

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Speaker 2: of the Security Emergenant Management Subcommittee, meeting of Cabinet SIMPSY,

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Speaker 2: so I'll know more than I can say today. I'ven't

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Speaker 2: been advised of any new cases yet. Obviously we have

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Speaker 2: a formal crunching of all overnight information at nine point thirty,

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Speaker 2: so I don't anyone take that to the bank. But

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Speaker 2: obviously good news. Haven't heard anything.

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Speaker 1: I haven't heard anything yet, Okay, So it doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: as though there's any new cases at this point as

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Speaker 1: far as you've heard.

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Speaker 2: So we extended the lockout for twenty four hours because

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Speaker 2: after identified that twenty one year old woman as the

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Speaker 2: cause that the link that revised the monsoon site to

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Speaker 2: an exposure site. There was a lot of new exposure

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Speaker 2: sites added yesterday, so out of cause, well, obviously you

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Speaker 2: have to go through a whole bunch more testing. A

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Speaker 2: lot of tests happened yesterday, and again you know, knock

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Speaker 2: on board. That's hopefully looking like good news this morning.

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Speaker 2: I'll know a lot more soon. So we're on track,

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Speaker 2: I would say, Katie, heading in absolutely the right direction.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so on track to lift the lockouts tonight.

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Speaker 2: That's all the information I'm receiving at the moment's heading

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Speaker 2: in that direction. Obviously, we have that crunching of all

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Speaker 2: the information from overnight and early the morning soon and

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Speaker 2: we'll have a more more formal update later today. Twelve

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Speaker 2: thirty the press conferences today rather than eleven, not not

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Speaker 2: for any malicious reasons, just as slightly later so for

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Speaker 2: those people who've been waiting for press copices twel thirty today.

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Speaker 2: But everything I know at the moment, it's still it

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Speaker 2: fits in my press commis yesterday, we're heading in the

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Speaker 2: right direction for Catherine and Darwen.

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Speaker 1: How's that testing? And tracing going.

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Speaker 2: So quite well. I've just again thanked all those staff

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Speaker 2: Center for Disease Control, police, environmental health officers, businesses, everyone

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Speaker 2: who's been cooperating. I've done very good job in identifying

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Speaker 2: the close contacts, identifying the casual contacts, getting the right

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Speaker 2: test done. All that information allows us to make the

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Speaker 2: best decisions we can and I just think territories have

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Speaker 2: been amazing and how they've they've cooperated.

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Speaker 1: Is there any outstanding close contacts still yet to be

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Speaker 1: contacted or have you been able to have authorities been

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Speaker 1: able to get in contact with everybody that they need

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Speaker 1: to At this point.

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Speaker 2: There will been some revisions as the races overnight to

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Speaker 2: the close contact list, so I will be to give

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Speaker 2: you a firm answer right now about exactly all of that.

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Speaker 2: That's one of the reasons for the nine point thirty meetings,

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Speaker 2: So there'll be some slight adjustments to Sometimes it's people

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Speaker 2: come off the close contact list after for the reviewing

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Speaker 2: the city footage, so other get added, so there'll be

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Speaker 2: there will be some changes to those numbers this morning.

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Speaker 2: I'll have a firm update on that today. But at

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Speaker 2: this stage it was all okay. Last I heard.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday, So are we going to have to keep wearing

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Speaker 1: masks after midnight tonight?

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Speaker 2: We will have will we will formally work out the

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Speaker 2: fourteen day period of the replication cycle, which be fair

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Speaker 2: in this this is probably a fair way back. So

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Speaker 2: as we step out of lockout, if everything holding on track,

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Speaker 2: there will be a mask mandate. There'll be a brief one,

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Speaker 2: I would have thought leading into the end of that

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Speaker 2: fourteen day replication cycle out of caution, So there will

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Speaker 2: be some form of mask mandate, be safe to say,

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Speaker 2: but they'll be a little won't be for long, I

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Speaker 2: would have thought.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So while it's looking good in terms of us

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Speaker 1: coming out of that lockout tonight for for Darwin, and

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Speaker 1: is that the case for Catherine as well the lockout situation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd say we're looking good in Catherin until we've

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Speaker 2: felt confident enough yesterday in Catherine to go from lockdown

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Speaker 2: to lockout. So the same rule in Catherine now as

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Speaker 2: Darwin double backs. People can can move about freely, live,

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Speaker 2: your lives can open, so schools are open, so we

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Speaker 2: will how to make that decision in Kathinks who felt

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Speaker 2: very good about the results there, but this just gives

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Speaker 2: us a chance to get a couple more tests in

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Speaker 2: which is I think is really important, and then we

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Speaker 2: can make that decision. Knock on wood today that everything's

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Speaker 2: going in the right direction, we can lift.

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Speaker 1: But it is looking as though we're going to have

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Speaker 1: a mask mandate for for a while. Yet, would that

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Speaker 1: be like the next two weeks, next week? What are

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Speaker 1: you thinking? Oh?

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Speaker 2: No, No, so fourteen days from the date that we

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Speaker 2: think is the important point of affection date. That makes sense,

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Speaker 2: so we'll work that through. But considering the first exposure

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Speaker 2: site was around the twenty ninth of October, so somewhere

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Speaker 2: in that window will be the day one, if that

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Speaker 2: makes sense, and then the mask mandate will be up

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Speaker 2: to day fourteen. So I would have thought, well, we'll

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Speaker 2: just informal work on this. We're obviously thinking it's right now. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: fourteen days isn't too far away.

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Speaker 1: I would have thought, all right, so we will keep

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Speaker 1: an eye on exactly what that date is going to be.

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Speaker 1: I do want to ask, is there an update on

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Speaker 1: those COVID vaccination numbers? How are they looking? We know

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Speaker 1: it was an incredibly busy day by the look at

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Speaker 1: things Friday and also over the weekend.

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Speaker 2: I can give you some estimates, I don't have the

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Speaker 2: formal numbers yet. So obviously on Thursday we were eighty

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Speaker 2: nine percent first dose, seventy five percent second dose. We

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Speaker 2: saw a significant surge of both first dose and second

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Speaker 2: doses on the Friday, the Saturday, and the Sunday. For

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Speaker 2: the Friday and Saturday, I think we're talking about four

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Speaker 2: thousand vaccines in total between those two categories. And obviously

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Speaker 2: we had even more again on the Sunday. So I

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Speaker 2: can't give you a formal update. We'd be nudging low

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Speaker 2: nineties now on first dose and racing towards double dose,

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Speaker 2: eighty for second dose. So extraordinary response from Territorians over

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Speaker 2: the weekend. Unfortunately, we've seen this around the world. Someone

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Speaker 2: takes the presence of COVID, the fear of COVID, or

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Speaker 2: the trauma of COVID to get people vaccinated, and we

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Speaker 2: saw that massive uptick in vaccinations.

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Speaker 1: Now I know, are you still certainly some people who

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Speaker 1: are very much opposed to the vaccine And there was

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Speaker 1: another rally on the weekend. Things got pretty heated, with

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Speaker 1: people allegedly throwing substances at the Northern Territory police seven

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Speaker 1: people were arrested. You must have been shocked to see

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Speaker 1: what happened.

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Speaker 2: I thought the police commissioner yesterday spoke very powerfully on this,

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Speaker 2: as I know a number of people have. I, like many,

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Speaker 2: I thank police to what they did and condemned the

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Speaker 2: protests for what they did. It was an unnecessary rally

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Speaker 2: with provocative behavior that was also necessary, as a number

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Speaker 2: of people made the point, this is a rally that

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Speaker 2: could have happened after the lockout ended. There's no need

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Speaker 2: to breach the Troe direct can, no need to breach

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Speaker 2: the mask mandates, or no need to do to any

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Speaker 2: of that. You can campaign against a life saving vaccine

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Speaker 2: tomorrow or the day after. My looks at it like

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Speaker 2: we're coming out of this. There's no need to break

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Speaker 2: those rules, and certainly absolutely no need to provoke the police,

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Speaker 2: who I thought were extremely restrained in the circumstances and

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Speaker 2: obviously horrified by the allegations around the throwing of the liquid,

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Speaker 2: which will be forensically examined. Appalling stuff.

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Speaker 1: Look, I know that that behavior on the weekend was

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Speaker 1: totally unacceptable, and I one hundred percent agree with that,

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Speaker 1: But there are obviously, you know, others within the community

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Speaker 1: businesses who are quite concerned about the vaccine mandate kicking

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Speaker 1: in on Friday. Many of them say that they're not

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Speaker 1: anti vaxxers, but they're really worried about this mandate. Are

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Speaker 1: you going to be meeting with any of those businesses

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Speaker 1: to hear their concerns or is there going to be

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Speaker 1: any support provided to those businesses.

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Speaker 2: I have met with businesses the Peaks, for example, about

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Speaker 2: how this will work in the direction. We've got a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of questions up online, frequently asked questions and

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Speaker 2: the answers. We're obviously going through this ourselves, Katie. We've

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Speaker 2: got twenty two thousand public service, so this direction applies

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Speaker 2: to it is in many ways a straightforward direction to

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Speaker 2: put in place. It's only an issue if someone's refusing

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Speaker 2: to get vaccinated. And obviously our biggest worry here is

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Speaker 2: an unvaccinated person being in the presence of a vulnerable person,

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Speaker 2: or being in the presence of COVID itself, if you're

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Speaker 2: thinking about pharmacies and GP So we have to make

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Speaker 2: sure we protect people and we protect the territory.

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Speaker 1: So what's happening, you said, Obviously, we've got twenty two

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Speaker 1: thousand public servants. What's happening to those public servants as

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Speaker 1: of Monday next week if they're not at least single

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Speaker 1: dose vaccinated by Monday.

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Speaker 2: So we've got a formal process where we will go

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Speaker 2: through to see if there is a role, and it

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Speaker 2: has to be a genuine role, a genuine role that's

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Speaker 2: available for them. So reassignment is the process you've got

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Speaker 2: to go through. If reassignment is not available, if there's

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Speaker 2: no genuine role for them, then obviously we'll be going

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Speaker 2: through the dismissial process.

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Speaker 1: And So for those businesses out there listening this morning,

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Speaker 1: what's your advice to them, because you know, for some

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Speaker 1: of them particularly, you know, if they have got workers

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Speaker 1: that were that are essential but that haven't been double

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Speaker 1: vaxed or single vaxed by this week kend, it's going

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Speaker 1: to cause them a lot of issues.

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Speaker 2: I'm very, very sorry. If they've got a staff member

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Speaker 2: who refuse to be vaccinated. I hate to hear that. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: I hope that person who's refusing to be vaccinated changes

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Speaker 2: their mind, but it's a terrible situation for them.

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Speaker 1: Has there been any kind of industry specific support package

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Speaker 1: developed or sort of rolled out for those businesses who

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Speaker 1: do need to implement this on Friday.

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Speaker 2: No, should there be no why? I think it's an

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Speaker 2: extremely straightforward thing to implement.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's sort of not for some of those businesses.

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Speaker 1: You know, like it's going to pit some of those

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Speaker 1: business operators and owners against their employees. I mean, is

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Speaker 1: that fair?

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Speaker 2: I think it's extremely unfair for someone to make a

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Speaker 2: decision to refuse to be vaccinated when they're going to

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Speaker 2: be interacting a revivable person. I think that's extremely selfish.

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Speaker 2: If you're having impact on the business that you work for,

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Speaker 2: the person who's been employing you and paying your wage,

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Speaker 2: I think that is extremely unfair. I don't want to

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Speaker 2: see that. We look at the vaccination rate in the NT,

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Speaker 2: this doesn't actually it's actually going to affect many people.

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Speaker 2: Most people have gotten vaccinated, so I think there will

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Speaker 2: be small numbers of the unvased come Friday. And obviously

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Speaker 2: feel for any businesses to go through that this is

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Speaker 2: a straightforward process.

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Speaker 1: Look, I understand that you're trying to protect the vulnerable,

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Speaker 1: but can you understand that this is making some businesses

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Speaker 1: feel as though it's really unfair that you're putting them

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Speaker 1: against their employees. I mean, why not just mandate the

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Speaker 1: vaccine across the board, so there has to be choice.

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Speaker 2: We can't physically grab someone and jump them in the

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Speaker 2: You're not giving us.

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Speaker 1: You're not giving those that are working the choice. So

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Speaker 1: you know, like I'm just trying to present, I'm just

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Speaker 1: trying to present the view that you know a lot

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Speaker 1: of businesses are sort of putting out there at the moment.

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Speaker 1: If it's going to be mandated for those that are

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Speaker 1: in the workplace, why not mandate it for everyone?

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Speaker 2: Because you can't. I cannot mandate a vilall person take

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Speaker 2: the vaccine. That's not a true direction. We can apply

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Speaker 2: so we can make a condition of employment. They're still

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Speaker 2: a choice there. But I physically can't grab someone and

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Speaker 2: put the vaccine in their arm, which would be why

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Speaker 2: I'd be doing if I just simply said every territori

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Speaker 2: and has to get vaccinated.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, could there actually be could it be

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Speaker 1: a situation where you know, where payments are withheld like

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Speaker 1: it is with childcare, if you children aren't vaccinated, you

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Speaker 1: can't actually access those childcare rebates.

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Speaker 2: Well, that'd be a question for the Australian government.

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Speaker 1: All right, doesn't sound like you're budging, Chief, And it

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Speaker 1: is certainly a situation by the sounds of it, that

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Speaker 1: the reality is that those businesses, as of this weekend

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Speaker 1: or as of Friday, basically their employees have to be

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Speaker 1: at least single dose vaxed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I really want to repeat that point because I

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Speaker 2: think there's some in the anti vax protests that suspect

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Speaker 2: we're going to be blinking. There's can be absolutely no

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Speaker 2: blinking here. Get your dose, get vaccinated. That's not changing. No,

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Speaker 2: Remember twelve is coming up. Quick, get vaccinated, Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: We know as well over the course of the weekend

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Speaker 1: many people are asking on social media. I've had quite

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Speaker 1: a few emails to me at the station as well

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Speaker 1: in the last twenty four hours asking why people who

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Speaker 1: attended the NT Media Awards on the weekend seemingly were

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Speaker 1: not wearing masks. Did you go and were people wearing masks?

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Speaker 2: That's a very good question, Katie. I didn't go. I

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Speaker 2: don't believe any labor Polly went. I'm seen a couple

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Speaker 2: of us on the go and was sold out. The

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Speaker 2: rules apply to everybody equally, absolutely, and if you were

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Speaker 2: at that event and weren't drinking or eating and we're

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Speaker 2: standing up and you're within one and a half meters

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Speaker 2: of somebody, you should have absolutely been wearing a mask.

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Speaker 1: I mean, are the police going to be looking into

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Speaker 1: this or are you taking a further look into it?

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Speaker 1: Or are you satisfied that they were eating and drinking?

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Speaker 2: So I don't have those pat Katie, but I'll ask

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Speaker 2: of someone who does if that makes sense when it

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Speaker 2: comes to enforcement, or raise it with the police commissioner

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Speaker 2: about whether he's obviously aware of that event. I personally

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Speaker 2: haven't seen the photos, Katie. I'm aware of the allegation,

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Speaker 2: but it's of the Yeah, it would be really clear

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Speaker 2: all the way through this the rule apply to everybody equally.

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Speaker 2: We don't discriminate on that. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I didn't attend to this, so I don't know

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Speaker 1: what the situation was, and I'm literally just going off

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Speaker 1: emails that have come through to us here at the station.

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Speaker 1: There are a couple of listener questions. I'm very mindful

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Speaker 1: of your time. I know you've got to step into

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Speaker 1: that SAMSI meeting. I've got one here. It says Hi, Katie.

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Speaker 1: I rang the station on Friday to let you know

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Speaker 1: that nurses who are not double vaccinated are not being

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Speaker 1: allowed to work at Royal Darwin Hospital. Following this, you

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Speaker 1: air the directive saying that this was incorrect, Just like

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Speaker 1: to let you know that this is still the case

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Speaker 1: today and that nurses are being told that they cannot

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Speaker 1: work unless they're double vaccinated.

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Speaker 2: I'll double check. We've got the Daily the CEO of Health,

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Speaker 2: so it might be the hostel has a specific rule

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Speaker 2: in place. Obviously the direction is that unvaccinated and vaccinated

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Speaker 2: the central workers can work during the lockout. That will

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Speaker 2: change come the Veember twelve. We don't want to clasher

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Speaker 2: that never betwold day. So there's a frustrating inconsistency there.

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Speaker 2: But the whostle may have a separate rule in place.

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Speaker 2: I'm happy to ask dot the Daily that question.

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Speaker 1: Another one here somebody wondering when does the half price

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Speaker 1: at Howard Springs quarantine kick in for those people who

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Speaker 1: aren't able to home quarantine.

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Speaker 2: So from November twenty two when the option to home

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Speaker 2: quarantine becomes available. If you're in a position where you're

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Speaker 2: eligible for home quarantine ex at double backs, et cetera,

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Speaker 2: but you you haven't got a home available to you

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Speaker 2: or an airbnb or a hotel or something like that.

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Speaker 2: Then obviously we still need to quarantine CNR be available,

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Speaker 2: but reflecting your circumstances, will half the price to tour

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Speaker 2: fifty and I think that's a very generous price for

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Speaker 2: the food and roof for two weeks.

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister. One of the other things that is continuously

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Speaker 1: raised with us. I know it's something that I've raised

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Speaker 1: with the Health Minister on numerous occasions. And yourself, why

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Speaker 1: are our vaccination numbers so different to the federal government.

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Speaker 1: Somebody has just messaged through and said the numbers that

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister is saying, the eighty nine percent in

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Speaker 1: terms of the first facts and in the nineties now

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Speaker 1: with the second VACS or sorry, in the nineties with

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Speaker 1: the first vacsine, in the eighties with the second vacs

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Speaker 1: as of all those vaccinations over the weekend and Friday,

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Speaker 1: are simply wrong compared to the federal government data.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it better reflects the mobility of the territory's population.

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Speaker 2: I obviously had this conversation in the Australian government. A

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Speaker 2: lot of the austrain government accepts our data. Obviously they

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Speaker 2: report nationally and since the data and the way they

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Speaker 2: report is how it consisted for every single state. Territories

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Speaker 2: is a different spot. So Health obviously do this work.

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Speaker 2: Is it the figures at Health and the Trowe and

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Speaker 2: others believe are the most accurate figures that best reflect

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Speaker 2: vaccination rate in the NT that they make the decisions against.

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Speaker 2: So obviously we want to use the most robust, most

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Speaker 2: accurate data. To use the Australian government data here, which

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Speaker 2: is important the same way as is in this a

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Speaker 2: Wales and Victoria et cetera. Would lead to stehifically bad

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Speaker 2: decisions in the NT. Would that be unnecessary? So we

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Speaker 2: obviously use the right data and the best data as

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Speaker 2: opposed to it to simply aligning with a bunch of

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Speaker 2: data that helps people in Sydney make their decision.

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Speaker 1: Chief Manessua, I know you've got to go one last,

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Speaker 1: very quick one. Isn't it excessive that those who were

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Speaker 1: double vaxed and those locals doing the right thing, we'll

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Speaker 1: still have to wear a mask post midnight tonight.

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Speaker 2: It will just be based off the health of vice

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Speaker 2: around being careful about spread. So the unbacked so the

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Speaker 2: double vax significantly reduce the risk of spread, but it's

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Speaker 2: not guaranteed, so there'll be a mask mandate, but memory

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Speaker 2: last time the mask mandate wasn't as stricted as it

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Speaker 2: was during the lockout. I'll double check this. Obviously, we'll

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Speaker 2: make some decisions, but for example, you don't have to

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Speaker 2: wear it while exercising. I think with the rule last time,

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Speaker 2: so there'll be some differences in the mask mandate from

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Speaker 2: lockout to non lockout.

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Speaker 1: Chief Minessua, I'll let you go and get into that

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Speaker 1: SEMSI meeting. Thanks so much for your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,