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Speaker 1: Now we know that the Northern Territory Industry Group is

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Speaker 1: calling on the Northern Territory Government to appoint an independent

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Speaker 1: commissioner in an effort to assess the resources that are

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Speaker 1: currently available when it comes to youth and youth justice

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Speaker 1: programs in Alice Springs. It is all in response to

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Speaker 1: the rising issues that they are seeing in Central Australia

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Speaker 1: right now when it comes to crime, particularly with youth crime.

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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line is the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory Branch Director Ruth Palmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Ruth, I understand we spoke to you last week

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Speaker 1: obviously when you were in Alice Springs and heard about

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Speaker 1: some of the concerns that you had upon heading to

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Speaker 1: Alice speaking to property owners about the issues that they

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Speaker 1: are facing there when it comes to crime. Now you've

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Speaker 1: prepared a report which you are going to be presenting

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory Government. Talk us through what you

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Speaker 1: found or what you've got in that report.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie. This was a community led idea basically built

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Speaker 3: up from the conversations we were having with businesses in

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs. Myself and my vice president went down last

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Speaker 3: week and had back to back meetings and from that

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Speaker 3: we managed to build this idea that we could then

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Speaker 3: present the government and I have actually sent this off

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Speaker 3: to the Chief Minister's office yesterday. So I spent the

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Speaker 3: weekend sort of building this report knowing that we could

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Speaker 3: get this out asap to get some outcomes for the

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Speaker 3: people of Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: So, Ruth, with that report, what does it show you know,

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Speaker 1: what exactly are you going to be presenting to the government.

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Speaker 1: So what we've done, Katie, is we've called for an

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Speaker 1: independent commissioner to basically conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all

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Speaker 1: the departmental.

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Speaker 3: Resources in and around Alic Springs. So that could include education,

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Speaker 3: families and children, housing, police, BIA, emergency services, domestic violence,

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Speaker 3: and the law. Basically to sort of see what's working

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Speaker 3: and what's not when it comes to use so crime,

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Speaker 3: but also what's happening in communities, because we know a

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Speaker 3: lot of it starts with education. So from our report,

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Speaker 3: I researched through a lot of inquiries that have that

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Speaker 3: have been done over the years and across fifteen communities.

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Speaker 3: One of the main things that people confided into the

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Speaker 3: report was that they were having that they didn't know

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Speaker 3: how to parent propably, they didn't know how to parent

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Speaker 3: their children, and that they wish they had more support

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Speaker 3: with that.

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Speaker 2: And also they.

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Speaker 3: Couldn't they felt that they couldn't enforce boundaries or rules

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Speaker 3: on children, and that was highlighted across many reports that

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Speaker 3: I looked through, which I then included into this report

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Speaker 3: to then analyze what's working, what's not, and what resources

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Speaker 3: could be spent more effectively on the things that are working.

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Speaker 2: So we know that as part of that report as well.

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Speaker 1: You'd also said that the Northern Territory government had a

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Speaker 1: Youth Action Plan in twenty nineteen and there were a

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Speaker 1: number of different objectives in there. You know, according to

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Speaker 1: the different industry groups and community groups and support groups

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Speaker 1: that you.

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Speaker 2: Spoke to, do we all us? Is that plan working?

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Speaker 1: No?

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Speaker 3: So what I'm hearing is that it's not. And it's

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Speaker 3: very similar to Darwin's five point Holistic Plan as well.

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Speaker 3: So what the Independent Commissioner would look at is okay,

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Speaker 3: so where were those things that are implemented? Why haven't

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Speaker 3: they been implemented? Okay? If they are implemented, is it

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Speaker 3: being successful. If not, why and really put some key

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Speaker 3: accountability back on where the department or the government as

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Speaker 3: to where and why the things that were promised or

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Speaker 3: implemented aren't working the way that they should be and

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Speaker 3: if they're not working, can they or if they're not required,

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Speaker 3: could the resources be better utilized in something that is working. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, we've seen countless reports, We've had a lot

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Speaker 3: of inquiries, and we've had a lot of programs that

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Speaker 3: have been emrt to be implemented. So what this Commissioner

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Speaker 3: will do would look at, Okay, have those recommendations from

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Speaker 3: the inquiries been implemented or where are they? Where are

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Speaker 3: they in the timeline? You know, the Royal Commission had

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Speaker 3: a lot of recommendations, The Sacred Children's had a lot

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Speaker 3: of recommendations. So basically we were to expect this commission

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Speaker 3: appointment to actually look at all that and provide a

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Speaker 3: comprehensive order into where our funds are being spent and

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Speaker 3: whether they could be used in areas that are actually

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Speaker 3: going to make a difference.

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Speaker 1: So ultimately, I guess that is what you're wanting to

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Speaker 1: see the commissioner looking into, you know, because it does

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Speaker 1: feel as though an enormous amount of money gets poured

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Speaker 1: into some of the social issues that we've got in

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Speaker 1: the Northern territory, but where are those KPIs to actually

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Speaker 1: determine whether they're working and whether that money is being

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Speaker 1: spent where it needs to be.

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Speaker 3: That's right, So there has to be accountability. These programs,

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Speaker 3: implementation plans have to carry some accountability across them or KPIs,

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Speaker 3: Otherwise what's the point of having them. So we need

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Speaker 3: to make sure we've got some real specific targets and

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Speaker 3: some actual outcomes that are going to be attached to

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Speaker 3: these things, and I would expect that the Commissioner would

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Speaker 3: look at that and from there. Also we've called for

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Speaker 3: a youth summit in our springs. That was another thing

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Speaker 3: we heard very loud and clear is getting all ground

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Speaker 3: up ideas, grassroots ideas and especially from the youth as

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Speaker 3: well youth support services, the police, principles of schools, business owners,

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Speaker 3: community leaders TOOSD land councils, getting them all together in

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Speaker 3: a facilitated forum where that built up ideas come from

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Speaker 3: there and that's where you're going to see your action.

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Speaker 3: And this is where this report come from from actually

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Speaker 3: being physically on the ground in Alice Springs last week

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Speaker 3: talking to the people, listening but actually coming back with

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Speaker 3: an outcome. So we've said to them we will do

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Speaker 3: whatever we can and we've absolutely done that. So we

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Speaker 3: have put this forward to government and I just hope

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Speaker 3: that in having a new Chief Minister that we can

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Speaker 3: reset and re establish some priorities around the crime and

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Speaker 3: unacceptable behavior.

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Speaker 2: Ruth.

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Speaker 1: I know that you know in previous weeks and months

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Speaker 1: we have seen a situation where the likes of Robin Lanley,

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Speaker 1: the Independent Member for our Law, had indeed called in

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Speaker 1: Parliament for there to be a Parliamentary select committee to

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Speaker 1: look into this very issue in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: That was knocked back.

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Speaker 1: We also saw last week the colp in Parliament call

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Speaker 1: for there to be a select committee across the territory

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Speaker 1: into crime, into the issues with youth crime and also

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Speaker 1: into some of the concerns that we've got within the

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Speaker 1: police force when it comes to mental health and attrition.

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Speaker 2: That was also knocked back.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that you're going to wind up in

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Speaker 1: a situation here where the government actually stands up and

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Speaker 1: listens or do you think you're just going to be

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Speaker 1: added to that list of groups and people who've been

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Speaker 1: knocked back.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think like we was sort of saying, now

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Speaker 3: is the time or the government to regain trust and

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Speaker 3: credibility within the community. So we have an opportunity now

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Speaker 3: we have a new Chief Minister, we have the Prime

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Speaker 3: Minister in town today, we've got Barnaby Joyce down in

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs. This is the time we're going to be

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Speaker 3: able to make change we are. We're at a situation

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Speaker 3: now where it's not getting better. So the first step

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Speaker 3: is acknowledging that there is a problem and that there

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Speaker 3: is a solution to be able to work forward. And

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Speaker 3: the framework we're putting forward can be part of that solution.

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Speaker 3: So it's a step.

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Speaker 2: So and here at the.

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Speaker 3: Property Council, we've always been solutions focused, so we can

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Speaker 3: talk about issues, we can talk about problems, but we're

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Speaker 3: always going to come back with an idea or a

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Speaker 3: plan or a solution as the waves that we can

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Speaker 3: make the territory better for everyone. We want to increase

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Speaker 3: the population, we want to grow tourism, we want to

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Speaker 3: have workforce attraction. None of that's going to happen unless

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Speaker 3: this court issue is targeted. At first, it has to

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Speaker 3: be at the forefront of the policies that the government

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Speaker 3: looks at immediately.

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Speaker 1: Ruth, based on those conversations in that you have with

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Speaker 1: property owners, with business owners, with the residents of Alice

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Speaker 1: Springs last week, how important is it.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that this actually happens, well.

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Speaker 3: Kar Katie, Well, doubt the moment. They've got violent assaults

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Speaker 3: down there on people. So these are people who are

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Speaker 3: going day to day, going to their jobs getting pinned

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Speaker 3: down or assaulted while their business premises gets ransacked and

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Speaker 3: their cars stolen.

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Speaker 2: Not only does this cause.

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Speaker 3: Fear of safety, but it's the cost of right, cost

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Speaker 3: of rising insurances, it's the cost of replacing everything, and

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Speaker 3: it's just that, oh, here we go again, kind of

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Speaker 3: feeling like the people in our springs are so resilient

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Speaker 3: I could have. You know, I'm amazed at their strengths,

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Speaker 3: their determination, and that they were absolutely screaming for support.

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Speaker 3: And we had so much support while we were down there,

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Speaker 3: and people just wanting to meet with us. So we

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Speaker 3: were back to back from you know, from morning till afternoons,

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Speaker 3: back to back meeting. People were keen round tables with counsel.

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Speaker 3: You know, it is a real concern people aren't able

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Speaker 3: to get staff, people are having staff leaves because they

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Speaker 3: don't want to say because they fear for their lives there.

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Speaker 3: It's tourists as well, So if that fundamental issue doesn't

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Speaker 3: change first, and the rest of the things that make

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Speaker 3: sounds great aren't going to happen. Tourism, the economy, population community,

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Speaker 3: none of that's going to work unless this is addressed immediately.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 1: Ruth Palmer, the Northern Territory Property Council of Australia's executive

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Speaker 1: director for the Northern Territory, we really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Let us know whether you do.

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Speaker 1: Hear back from the government and we'll certainly be asking

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Speaker 1: them about it as well.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie finger Crossed, Thank you.