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Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.

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Speaker 1: Now this week is set to be a busy one,

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Speaker 1: with Parliament sitting for the first time for twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Some legislation set to be passed and also introduced around

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Speaker 1: the scrapping of the floor price and big changes when

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Speaker 1: it comes to corrections. The Chief Minister also set to

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Speaker 1: deliver her year a head speech this morning, so she

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Speaker 1: spoke to me a little bit earlier.

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister, good morning.

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

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Speaker 1: Now you are set to deliver your year ahead speech

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Speaker 1: this morning. You're on your way there.

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Speaker 2: What are you.

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Speaker 1: Hoping that twenty twenty five is going to bring for territorians.

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Speaker 3: Well, twenty twenty five is shaping up to be a

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Speaker 3: great year, Katie, and we want the year to be

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Speaker 3: framed around three key things, action, certainty and security for territorians.

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Speaker 3: So we're really looking forward to a bumper years starting

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Speaker 3: with tomorrow in Parliament where we have a wide range

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Speaker 3: of legislation ready to go. It's a big year of reform,

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Speaker 3: but we've got to get this right in order to

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Speaker 3: put the territory on her best foot forward, and that

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Speaker 3: is what we're determined to do.

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Speaker 1: So talk me through some of that legislation and what

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Speaker 1: you think really needs to to kick off very quickly

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Speaker 1: in order to try and get the Northern Territory to

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Speaker 1: prosper well.

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Speaker 3: We know that our debt is at eye watering levels, Katie.

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Speaker 3: We're set to hear the fifteen billion dollar debt ceiling

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Speaker 3: and you know this is a legacy we've inherited from labor.

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Speaker 3: So we have to grow our economy if we're going

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Speaker 3: to give territories every opportunity to have the services that

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Speaker 3: they expect and deserve, and of course then the opportunities

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Speaker 3: for themselves and for their kids. So kicking off this week,

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Speaker 3: we'll have Territory Coordinator legislation introduced into the Parliament. Our

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Speaker 3: payroll tax reforms should be passed during the parliament tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: We're also going to be introducing a removal of the

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Speaker 3: debt ceiling. We've got our Merits Review, which is a

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Speaker 3: big new announcement from today Katie, where third party Merits

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Speaker 3: Review will be scrapped from the Petroleum, Water and Planning legislation.

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Speaker 3: So there's lots going on and there's no time to lose.

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Speaker 3: We've got to put our best foot forward, including continuing

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Speaker 3: to keep the pressure on law and order. And I've

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Speaker 3: also got legislation this week to give police better powers

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Speaker 3: about entry into premises.

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Speaker 1: I do just want to ask, in terms of the

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Speaker 1: third party Merits Review and also the changes and the

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Speaker 1: legislation there around the Territory Coordinator, there is no doubt

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Speaker 1: you're going to get some pushback from those you know,

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Speaker 1: on the more green side of the fence, I guess,

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Speaker 1: or those that are really quite worried about the environment.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what do you say to those people that

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Speaker 1: are listening this morning that have got concerns that this

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Speaker 1: is going to mean that you know that there could

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Speaker 1: be projects going through here in the NT that are

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Speaker 1: maybe going to damage the environment.

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Speaker 3: It's a great question. I'm glad you asked, because what

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Speaker 3: third party Merits review is is it gives people who

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Speaker 3: have no actual connection to a project the opportunity to

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Speaker 3: slow it down through the courts. Now, that doesn't protect

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Speaker 3: the environment. It's not a type of regulation that ensures

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Speaker 3: that we've got the right safeguards in place. All it

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Speaker 3: does is give people with no connection at all the

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Speaker 3: opportunity to engage in law fare and protract the length

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Speaker 3: of project times. So what this doesn't do is, I

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Speaker 3: mean it still protects people who do have a connection

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Speaker 3: to the project, so they still have all of their

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Speaker 3: review options, and of course it still maintains judicial review.

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Speaker 3: But this is about giving certainty to investors that there's

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Speaker 3: just not going to be this continued obfuscation of projects

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Speaker 3: because we need them now more than ever.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister, there is no doubt that for the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory to prosper we need to see some serious changes

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the issues of crime. Now, early

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Speaker 1: yesterday we learned a woman had been killed dan Allie Springs,

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Speaker 1: a thirty nine year old man is in custody. Some

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Speaker 1: media reporting this is another horrific domestic violence incident.

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Speaker 2: Is that your understanding.

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Speaker 3: I've seen the reporting as well, Katie, and I know

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Speaker 3: that police have apprehended the alleged offender and so more

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Speaker 3: details I'm sure will come to light over the coming days.

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Speaker 3: But it's horrific, Katie, and we know this year alone,

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Speaker 3: we're set to spend thirty six million dollars on prevention

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Speaker 3: and family and domestic violence. We know it's a major

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Speaker 3: issue right across the Northern territory. But you know, so

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Speaker 3: is alcohol, field harm and a range of other things

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Speaker 3: that are a big part of our plan for this year.

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Speaker 3: You know, this year we will will next this week

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Speaker 3: we will be scrapping the minimum flaw price. This year

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Speaker 3: we will be doing our consultation on what our mandatory

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Speaker 3: alcohol treatment will look like going forward and review the

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Speaker 3: ban drinker registers. So there's plenty of work to be

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Speaker 3: done in the territories, unquestionably and bad shape, Katie, but

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Speaker 3: there is a way forward and that's why we've got

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Speaker 3: to stay the course and get it done.

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Speaker 1: When do you anticipate that we are really going to

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Speaker 1: see that domestic violence funding sort of hit the ground

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Speaker 1: and mean some genuine change in this space.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's certainly. I mean we're obviously expending a lot

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Speaker 3: of money right now, but at thirty six million kicks

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Speaker 3: in up you know when the budget happened in May,

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Speaker 3: and we hope it makes a huge impact. Of course,

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Speaker 3: this is about personal responsibility above anything else. Governments can

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Speaker 3: throw tens of millions of dollars supporting women and children

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Speaker 3: with safe places to live, We can pay in goos

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Speaker 3: to deliver behavior or change programs, but at the end

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Speaker 3: of the day, this is about people, particularly men, standing

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Speaker 3: up and being responsible for their behavior and how they

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Speaker 3: treat people. So we'll throw everything at Katie and we

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Speaker 3: certainly hope that makes a big impact on the numbers.

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Speaker 2: Chief Finister.

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Speaker 1: Over the weekend, we also learned the horrific news that

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Speaker 1: a five year old boy was allegedly raped in a

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Speaker 1: remote Northern Territory community last week. Its triggered calls for

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Speaker 1: greater public disclosure of child sexual abuse. Now multiple sources

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Speaker 1: have confirmed to the Australian newspaper that a nineteen year

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Speaker 1: old male was arrested and charged following the alleged rape,

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Speaker 1: which occurred in a small community in the northern part

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Speaker 1: of the territory near the Gulf of Carpenteria is my

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Speaker 1: understanding on Tuesday last week. Now the nineteen year old

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Speaker 1: is set to face the Darwin Local Court today charge

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Speaker 1: with sexual intercourse of a child under the age of ten,

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, it is utterly horrendous.

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Speaker 2: The news broke.

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Speaker 1: Just hours after the Prime Minister was in Alice Springs

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Speaker 1: making the announcement with you when were you made aware

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Speaker 1: of this?

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Speaker 3: Oh, it is absolutely abhorrent. Katie. I was probably made

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Speaker 3: aware I would stay within about twenty four hours possibly, Katie,

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Speaker 3: I'd have to go back and check that, but I

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Speaker 3: just want there's absolute need for transparency in police reporting,

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Speaker 3: and I'll be the first person to advocate for that.

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Speaker 3: It's just from time to time police have to be

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Speaker 3: very careful because the last thing we ever want to

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Speaker 3: do is to do anything that would jeopardize a conviction.

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Speaker 3: And so it took the police a couple of days

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Speaker 3: to put that out into the media, but that's because

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Speaker 3: they're treading very very carefully to make sure nothing jeopardizes

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Speaker 3: our opportunity to deliver justice for victims. And I just

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Speaker 3: that's a really important test that police have to undertake

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Speaker 3: every single time a crime happens before they put it

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Speaker 3: out into the public.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister, we know today the Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi,

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Speaker 1: he's going to be delivering his well closing the Gap

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Speaker 1: speech in Canberra, you know, the same time we've got

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Speaker 1: this report by Liam Mendez that this case has led

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Speaker 1: child safety advocates to call for more information to be

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Speaker 1: made public about is sexual assaults on children to increase

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Speaker 1: awareness of widespread child abuse in the Northern Territory. I

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Speaker 1: mean we're i'm e merging a couple of issues here,

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Speaker 1: but we're talking about closing the gap.

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Speaker 2: Yet we every single week.

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Speaker 1: Just about I'm reporting on terrible rates of domestic violence

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, reporting on this horrendous, horrendous sexual

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Speaker 1: assault of a child under the age of five years old.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it is like, it's appalling that this kind

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Speaker 1: of thing is still happening in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it is appalling, Katie. There's no sugarcating this stuff.

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Speaker 3: It's absolutely abhorrent. And that's why a stronger focus on

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Speaker 3: law and order is required. I know, out of the

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Speaker 3: funding we received from the federal government that we announced

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Speaker 3: last week, a big portion of that is for remote policing,

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Speaker 3: which is incredibly helpful for the territory. But that's why

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Speaker 3: we walk into Parliament every sittings, Katie, and we're giving

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Speaker 3: police better powers. That's why we're trying to build prisons

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Speaker 3: faster than you can blink. You know, we've got to

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Speaker 3: be putting law in order for and for so long,

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Speaker 3: I mean for nearly a decade, the rights of people

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Speaker 3: doing the wrong thing have been put above people's right

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Speaker 3: to be safe it's just so wrong. That's why we're here, Katie,

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Speaker 3: and we've got to take all the actions we can

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Speaker 3: from a legislative, from a policy perspective, and from making

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Speaker 3: sure our justice system is strong, to make sure that

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Speaker 3: we're protecting particularly our most vulnerable, our children.

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Speaker 1: I mean, at the same time, though, you've got these

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Speaker 1: discussions about closing the gap, and these discussions about the

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Speaker 1: high incarceration rate of Indigenous people.

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Speaker 2: I mean, what do you make of that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, you know there's a lot of focus on

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Speaker 3: closing the gap, and of course that's important, and I

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Speaker 3: think some people then point to incarceration numbers and sort

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Speaker 3: of draw the two together. I think the reality is

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Speaker 3: the law is the law, and people who do the

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Speaker 3: wrong thing end up in front of the justice system.

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Speaker 3: That's how it works now. Yes, unfortunately, Aboriginal people are

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Speaker 3: well and truly overrepresented, and our crime data, you know,

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Speaker 3: in people in prison. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: what we need is strong communities. We need people not

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Speaker 3: to break the law. And that's also why this year,

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Speaker 3: kad part of our plan is to do the consultation

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Speaker 3: on what can future local community government look like. The

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Speaker 3: super Shires have disempowered people living in the bush have

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Speaker 3: completely failed to create economic growth and opportunities for Aboriginal people.

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Speaker 3: So this again is something we have to tackle so

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Speaker 3: that we can deal with those root causes of crime.

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Speaker 3: And a big part of that is also getting kids

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Speaker 3: to school at all costs, and our forty seven School

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Speaker 3: Attendance Officers are really helping go part of the way

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Speaker 3: there to make sure we are absolutely focused on supporting

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Speaker 3: young people above everything else.

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Speaker 1: All right, Chief Minister, I know you are pressed for time,

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Speaker 1: but I want to you. Last week, of course, your

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Speaker 1: government shocked correctional staff across the Northern Territory announcing contractors

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Speaker 1: are going to be used in a number of roles

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Speaker 1: across the Northern Territory correction system. Now, when Parliament resumes

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Speaker 1: this week, I know the Government set to introduce these

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Speaker 1: targeted amendments to the Correctional Services Act. It is subject

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Speaker 1: to passage through the Legislative Assembly. But the Commissioner of

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Speaker 1: Corrections spoke to us on the show on Friday he's

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Speaker 1: going to have the power to appoint special officers to

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Speaker 1: supplement the core Correction's workforce. Now, these changes are going

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Speaker 1: to include the condment of interstate officers and the appointment

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Speaker 1: of specialist officers. Correctional officers have raised serious concerns about

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Speaker 1: these changes. They are telling me that this is the

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Speaker 1: first step they believe in privatizing corrections and they worry

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Speaker 1: that the appointment of these special officers is going to

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Speaker 1: mean private security are effectively dealing with some of the

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Speaker 1: territory's worst criminals. Chief Minister, why are these changes to

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Speaker 1: corrections happening.

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Speaker 3: They're happening because we've got our corrections offices currently spending

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Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty eight thousand hours every year moving

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Speaker 3: prisoners back and forward from court to the watchhouse, to

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Speaker 3: the prison and to hospital. I mean, it's an unbelievable

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Speaker 3: waste of time and it's contributing to around eleven million

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Speaker 3: dollars in overtime costs. So that means our corrections officers

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Speaker 3: aren't getting the rest they need, They're not spending time

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Speaker 3: at home with their families because they're being called back

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Speaker 3: on overtime to escort prisoners to hospital, for example, sit

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Speaker 3: there for four ten hours, two days, whatever it takes

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Speaker 3: drives them back. Every day. We have police and corrections

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Speaker 3: shuttling people to and from watchhouses and courts backwards and forwards,

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Speaker 3: up and down from Darwen and Palmerston every day and

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Speaker 3: it is a total waste of their time. So by

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Speaker 3: being able to bring in highly trained professionals to do

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Speaker 3: those services, we're going to free up literally hundreds of

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Speaker 3: thousands of hours of correctional officers to be able to

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Speaker 3: focus on their core job, which is in sign prisons.

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Speaker 3: And of course that means we also have a much

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Speaker 3: bigger opportunity to deliver the rehabilitation that we've committed to

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Speaker 3: focusing on. Because corrections, the actual word is to correct.

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Speaker 3: Correcting behavior is what our hard working prison officers do,

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Speaker 3: not very people around like a taxi.

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Speaker 1: Service, Chief Finister, can you guarantee that you aren't going

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Speaker 1: to privatize corrections?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie, we have no interest in doing that. What

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Speaker 3: we're interested in is dealing with our crisis. And you know,

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Speaker 3: the unions can't have it both ways, Katie. They're screaming

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Speaker 3: out saying the correction staff are overworked and doing too

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Speaker 3: much over time. This is an absolute solution to that,

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Speaker 3: and they don't like that solution either. I mean, it

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Speaker 3: doesn't pass the reasonableness tests. The everyday territory thinks, yep,

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Speaker 3: this is a solution to a big problem, and that's

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Speaker 3: what we're going to do.

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Speaker 2: Chief.

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Speaker 1: I have spoken to numerous corrections officers. Some have said

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Speaker 1: to me, Katie, I feel like Lea has been doing

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Speaker 1: a great job despite how overcrowded things are. We've agreed

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Speaker 1: to the moves that she's been making. But they feel

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Speaker 1: like this is a kick in the face. They're worried

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Speaker 1: about safety, and they're worried that they're going to be

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Speaker 1: left to clean up the mess when things fall apart.

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Speaker 1: What do you say to those officers who are feeling

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Speaker 1: like you've let them down.

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Speaker 3: I think change can sometimes be hard, but this is

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Speaker 3: not a new thing, Katie. This happens in other jurisdictions,

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Speaker 3: and it even happens here. For example, in our Supreme Court,

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Speaker 3: we have the sheriff and the Sheriff's staff are the

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Speaker 3: ones who look after prisoners in the cells at the

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Speaker 3: Supreme Court. Now it's just an habitual thing. The Territory's

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Speaker 3: done is to have police and corrections officers do these transfers.

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Speaker 3: But it's certainly not the only way this can be done.

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Speaker 3: So we're not breaking the mold here. This is not

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Speaker 3: a brand new thing that's happening, and ultimately it's going

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Speaker 3: to give our corrections officers the time they need actually

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Speaker 3: working inside our coreational facilities instead of sitting in the

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Speaker 3: car driving between Darwen and Palmerston and roll Darwin Hospital

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Speaker 3: every day. So we hear you. This is going to

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Speaker 3: make their life safer, better, easier and provide that really

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Speaker 3: important respite that they need.

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Speaker 2: All right, Chief Minister, just quickly.

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Speaker 1: The Prime Minister last week obviously in Alice Springs with

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Speaker 1: you announcing eight hundred and forty two point six million

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Speaker 1: dollars over six years.

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Speaker 2: It's set to deliver.

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Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment, which includes continuation of

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Speaker 1: essential services for remote communities including policing, women's safety, education

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Speaker 1: and alcohol harm reduction. How is this money going to

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Speaker 1: roll out in a practical way for territorians to.

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Speaker 3: Seek, Well, that's the detail we've got to go through now, Katie.

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Speaker 3: We certainly welcome the announcement. This is a lot of

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Speaker 3: money coming into the territory and it's for really essential services.

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Speaker 3: We're talking about health services out in the bush. There's

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Speaker 3: about two hundred million of that allocator for remote policing,

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Speaker 3: for example, and so now our job is to make

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Speaker 3: sure as best as we can as a territory, the

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Speaker 3: federal government are spending that money. Well, we know in

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Speaker 3: the past we've called for audit to federal spending and

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Speaker 3: we always get worried about a lack of KPIs around outcomes.

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Speaker 3: Is it is actually delivering outcomes. But we really welcome

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Speaker 3: the news. We welcome the Prime Minister into Alice Springs

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Speaker 3: and we're looking forward to this money hit him the

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Speaker 3: ground where it needs to go.

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Speaker 1: All right, just a very quick one, Chief Minister, from

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Speaker 1: out in your electorate. We've had a few questions come

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Speaker 1: through last week in fact, about there being a lot

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Speaker 1: of rubbish around the place in Palmerston. Now Oki got

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Speaker 1: in contact with us. He'd actually sent us through some

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Speaker 1: photos of you know, of of rubbish sort of all

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Speaker 1: around the place. One of the very highly visible spots

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Speaker 1: is near Gateway shopping Center there. He's saying, we need

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Speaker 1: visible policing and what is being done about the homeless

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Speaker 1: people or the people that are out in that area

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Speaker 1: just leaving mess everywhere.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we have had quite a number of complaignts as

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Speaker 3: local members about things happening in Palmerstand and a meeting

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Speaker 3: with POKED together early last week amongst the local members

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Speaker 3: and police and a range of keyy stakeholders. So this

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Speaker 3: is something we continue to work on. Obviously, our police

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Speaker 3: numbers aren't we they need to be, and our police

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Speaker 3: powers up where they need to be either, which is

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Speaker 3: why we just continue to bring those into the Parliament.

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Speaker 3: But it is about all services working together and thengos

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Speaker 3: and also the Council has an important role to play,

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Speaker 3: so I appreciate everyone sending through the feedback. It's really

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Speaker 3: important and as local members are exactly the type of

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Speaker 3: on the ground information we need to be able to

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Speaker 3: take action.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister Leah Finocchiaro will let you go. I know

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Speaker 1: you've got to get in to deliver that speech. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie, take care everyone.

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Speaker 2: Thank you