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Speaker 1: Now we know that the scenes coming out of New

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Speaker 1: South Wales and also out of Queensland have been devastating

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Speaker 1: to see that flooding interstate and the impact that it's

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Speaker 1: having on so many of our fellow Australians. And joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line right now from Northern New South Wales,

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Speaker 1: it is the commanding officer of the fifth Battalion, Lieutenant

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Speaker 1: Colonel Chris Gilmore. Good morning to you, Chris.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, good morning. Hell are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, very well, thank you so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Now, I understand that a number of our

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Speaker 1: territory troops are obviously in New South Wales at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Where are you guys, Yeah, that's right. We've got five

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Speaker 2: hundred troops from Middleland Territory at the moment based in

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Speaker 2: Casino in our northern New South Wales.

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Speaker 1: Five hundred goodness may.

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Speaker 2: No y. So we've pretty much picked up, got the

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Speaker 2: word to move on Monday Tuesday and we move down

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Speaker 2: and we're all here by our Thursday mid morning. At

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Speaker 2: the moment, we're just on the ground here just trying

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Speaker 2: to help out. Look, you know, we're here to help

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Speaker 2: and we're.

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Speaker 1: Going to do any we can to help and so

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Speaker 1: based in Casino at this point, and what kind of

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Speaker 1: work Chris are you are you sort of doing to

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Speaker 1: help the community at this point.

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Speaker 2: Katie, We're just here to do whatever it is we can.

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Speaker 2: What we have is five hundred people who are really,

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Speaker 2: really keen. They've seen they're here to help. Within a

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Speaker 2: number of soldiers with families from both Lismore and also

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Speaker 2: the surrounding areas. So there's a bit of a personal

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Speaker 2: there's a personal touch and all their friends have got

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Speaker 2: around them as well. It's really important they're here to help.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know it's not the first time that

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Speaker 1: the Fifth Battalion has been deployed to different locations, not

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Speaker 1: only around Australia but also overseas to help out in

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Speaker 1: these times of need. How important is it for our

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Speaker 1: troops to really get out there, get on the ground

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Speaker 1: and try to help their fellow Aussies.

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Speaker 2: Katie, they're having a they're just they feel a really

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Speaker 2: meaningful thing from to do. But I've got to mention

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Speaker 2: it's not just the fifth Battalion, It's across all the

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Speaker 2: units from the first Brigade basin Darwin, from the eight

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Speaker 2: to twelfth Regiment, the ut To the Regiment, the Combat

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Speaker 2: Service Support Battalion and the Combat Signal Regiment. It's a

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Speaker 2: conglomerate of everyone has come together to help out here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah goodness, So how many do you know how many

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Speaker 1: Territory soldiers we're talking about at this point that are

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Speaker 1: obviously in New South Wales helping out, not just from

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Speaker 1: the Fifth Battalion, No, no, no.

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Speaker 2: Katie, that's five hundred titles in total. Yes, the fifth

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Speaker 2: bato we're providing the headquarter element for that, right, but

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Speaker 2: again from all the units of the first Brigade here

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Speaker 2: in Northern Territory where we've all come together to come

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Speaker 2: down as a group.

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Speaker 1: Mate, talk us through some of what you're seeing there,

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Speaker 1: because I know that for a lot of us, we're

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Speaker 1: seeing this imagery obviously on the news, and we're seeing

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Speaker 1: photos in our newspapers of some really devastated communities, some

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Speaker 1: real devastation for a lot of people. Talk us through

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Speaker 1: what you guys are seeing.

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Speaker 2: Katie, are particularly driving through Lismore. It's really it's really

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Speaker 2: heartbreaking the CEA, to be completely honest. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: seeing families who've just lost everything, including their houses. So

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Speaker 2: it's really it really divides meaning as to why we're here. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it does.

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Speaker 1: And I think you know, for us in the territory,

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Speaker 1: we know what it's like to have terrible weather. We

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Speaker 1: live through cyclones, we see flooding in the likes of

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Speaker 1: Catherine and other parts of the Top End at different times,

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Speaker 1: even in Central Australia. But yeah, it is absolutely heartbreaking

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Speaker 1: when you see you know, some of those families just

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Speaker 1: losing everything.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is, you know, And that's the thing

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Speaker 2: that really makes again, it gives it really specific meaning

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Speaker 2: for all the territory and soldiers on the ground here. Again,

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Speaker 2: it's there's not much more we can say than other

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Speaker 2: than when we're walking around just trying to make sure

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Speaker 2: people know where we're here to do whatever we can

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Speaker 2: to help them.

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Speaker 1: How long are you going to be there for.

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Speaker 2: Where? I'm sure Katie, and we don't really get to

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Speaker 2: we don't really decide that, yep. But at the moment

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Speaker 2: we're just here to do as much as we can

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Speaker 2: and until we're told to either stay here or do

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Speaker 2: something else.

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Speaker 1: All A big shout out to all the territory troops

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Speaker 1: that are there helping out in northern New South Wales

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Speaker 1: at the moment, I know for a lot of people,

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Speaker 1: and particularly for you guys. I know that you probably

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Speaker 1: feel as though it's the least you can do when

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Speaker 1: you look at the plight that some of those families

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Speaker 1: are going through, But I think it's really it's wonderful

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Speaker 1: to see our troops there on the ground helping out.

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Speaker 2: Yes, thanks Katie, and really we're really appreciable the support

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Speaker 2: we get from the territory community and all our family

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Speaker 2: and friends back home as well. Yeah, we get down

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Speaker 2: where we get to come down here and do this.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, we really appreciate your time this morning, Chris,

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Speaker 1: and all the best to all the troops.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for your tom.

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Speaker 1: Thank you