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Speaker 1: If you were listening to the show yesterday, you would

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Speaker 1: have heard a concerned parent contact us about some pretty

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Speaker 1: disturbing incidents on the bus and also on the well

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Speaker 1: around the bus area out there in Palmerston, around the

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Speaker 1: bus exchange. Now we also were sent some footage of

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Speaker 1: what had unfolded. There's kids in school uniforms, teenagers. First off,

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Speaker 1: you know, two boys having a fight with each other

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Speaker 1: and then it turns into will and all embrawl. But

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Speaker 1: one person on the receiving end of everybody sort of

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Speaker 1: having a crack at him. It's pretty disgusting stuff. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line to talk more about this

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Speaker 1: is the Minister for Education. It is Joe Hersey. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Joe.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to the listeners.

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Speaker 1: Joe, thanks so much for your time this morning. Now

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Speaker 1: have you seen that vision that's emerged from the Palmerston

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Speaker 1: bus exchange on Friday?

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Speaker 2: I have seen that vision, Katie, And to be honest

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Speaker 2: with you, I watched one of the videos. I couldn't

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Speaker 2: even finish watching the second video as a parent, I

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Speaker 2: was disgusted, appalled, I felt sick watching it. It was

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Speaker 2: so bad. It was just disgusting that kind of behavior,

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Speaker 2: and kids should be able to go to and from

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Speaker 2: school and be in school and be safe, and that

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Speaker 2: is certainly something that I am very firm on making

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Speaker 2: sure happens.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I felt exactly the same watching it. I thought

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Speaker 1: to myself, Oh my goodness, if one of my kids

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Speaker 1: who are around that age were on that bus or

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Speaker 1: there when that brawl was happening, I'd be horrified, and

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Speaker 1: I would be very very hesitant to ever let them

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Speaker 1: on the bus.

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Speaker 2: Again, absolutely, let alone the person that in that second

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Speaker 2: attack that was just I mean, the frenzied punching and

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Speaker 2: then the kicking of someone is It is absolutely appalling

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Speaker 2: that someone even thinks for one minute that that's acceptable behavior,

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Speaker 2: and then all the other people filming it and all

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Speaker 2: the other people cheering them on. It is absolutely disgusting.

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Speaker 2: And I think if that was my child, I would

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Speaker 2: be horrified. But if that was my child also doing

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Speaker 2: that act, I'd be disgusted.

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Speaker 1: So would I, So would I Joe. Yesterday we were

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Speaker 1: contacted by a couple of parents, one in particular, who said,

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Speaker 1: I'm writing to you because I'm at my wits end.

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Speaker 1: This morning my child refused to get on the bus

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Speaker 1: and go to school. Why because of the absolute chaos

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Speaker 1: and violence that they had witnessed at the Palmeston bus

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Speaker 1: exchange on Friday afternoon. Now she'd sent us that email

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Speaker 1: with the footage. She said, please look at it and

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Speaker 1: tell me is this what safe looks like in our community? Now?

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Speaker 1: What she wants to know is where were the police

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Speaker 1: on Friday? They were called at least four times by

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Speaker 1: different people. She's aware what's the Northern Territory government doing

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Speaker 1: to actually secure these hubs rather than just talking.

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Speaker 2: About Yeah, So to that parent, yeah, I absolutely feel

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Speaker 2: for them for their child not wanting to get on

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Speaker 2: the bus, and quite frankly, I wouldn't if I saw

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Speaker 2: that kind of behavior. But what I can let parents

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Speaker 2: know is that I've spoken to dl I, I DL

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Speaker 2: I have had conversations with CDC. I think the police

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Speaker 2: did end up getting there after phone calls. I think

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Speaker 2: maybe fifteen minutes after that, and depending on what they're doing,

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I don't know what a you know,

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Speaker 2: a responsible time to get to that incident is. But

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Speaker 2: I would say that's, you know, not acceptable when you're

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Speaker 2: the one getting kicked and punched. But you know the

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Speaker 2: police did get there. There is an ongoing investigation. But

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Speaker 2: what I've spoken to the Minister for Infrastructure about is

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Speaker 2: and also to education, is that these children, the ones

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Speaker 2: that were the ones you know, kicking and punching, then

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Speaker 2: they need to be suspended. I know that there's a

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Speaker 2: heap of children that have been suspended from school, but

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Speaker 2: I also want them suspended from the bus for six months.

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Speaker 2: That kind of behavior is absolutely not tolerated. And it

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Speaker 2: just goes back to I know, you know, there have

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Speaker 2: been ongoing bus issues for a very long time, and

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Speaker 2: I think we really need to have a look at

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Speaker 2: I know that there's going to be more transit offices

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Speaker 2: around the bus interchange between two thirty and three thirty,

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Speaker 2: which is that busy time, so I know that that's

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Speaker 2: going to be happening, you know, at least for the

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Speaker 2: rest of this week. But this is an ongoing issue

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Speaker 2: Katie that we need to children need to know this

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Speaker 2: behavior is unacceptable. But I think there needs to be

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Speaker 2: the bus driver can drive the bus and only do

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Speaker 2: so much. There needs to be somebody else responsible to

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Speaker 2: rain this in actually on the bus and not allow

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Speaker 2: it to happen.

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Speaker 1: That's so maybe have transit offices on all of those

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Speaker 1: buses or what are you saying now?

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Speaker 2: I don't know, And they're ongoing conversations that I'll need

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Speaker 2: to be having, and I've certainly been having, because it

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Speaker 2: is not acceptable that people don't feel that they can

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Speaker 2: put their child on the bus and be safe to

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Speaker 2: get to and from school. It's so totally unacceptable.

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Speaker 1: If someone's banned from the bus, can they still go

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Speaker 1: to the exchange? Though?

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Speaker 2: Oh, that's a very good question. I'm actually not sure.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I know here if someone was banned

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Speaker 2: on the bus, it's a little bit easier when you're

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Speaker 2: in a smaller community, but you know, if they're banned

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Speaker 2: from the bus and there's a lot of buses, or

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Speaker 2: maybe the bus driver has a photo of them up

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Speaker 2: there and knowing that this person's banned, name and shame them.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I don't care that it's unacceptable behavior,

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Speaker 2: and you know, quite frankly, they shouldn't be allowed on

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Speaker 2: the bus for at least six months. And there's a

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Speaker 2: whole lot of As I said, it's an ongoing police

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Speaker 2: investigation in that area.

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Speaker 1: Minister. Can I just can you just clarify for me

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Speaker 1: how many of those kids have now been suspended from school.

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Speaker 2: There's at least twelve from one school that I know of,

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Speaker 2: and I've just I've got to follow up some other.

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Speaker 1: Things in school.

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Speaker 2: So there's at least twelve kids that have been suspended.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what for what period of time?

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Speaker 2: No, I'm not sure how long they have been suspended for.

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Speaker 1: Minister. Very mindful of your time this morning, so I

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Speaker 1: don't want to take up too much more of it,

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Speaker 1: but I do want to ask you. You know, the

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Speaker 1: final question from this mum yesterday was how are we

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Speaker 1: supposed to tell our children that they're safe when the

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Speaker 1: footage shows them otherwise? What can you tell that? Mum?

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Speaker 2: Yees? So that's right, Katie, you know, I mean, as

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Speaker 2: a government, we came in on a reducing crime right

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Speaker 2: across the territory and that needs to go on to

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Speaker 2: children at school, children traveling to and from on the buses.

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Speaker 2: We must make sure that you children get to and

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Speaker 2: from school safe. And that's you know. I mean, it's

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Speaker 2: one thing to have phones outside of the school environment,

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Speaker 2: but that is why I have a very strong stance

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Speaker 2: also in the school environment that we have that no

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Speaker 2: phones in school policy. We don't need kids filming fights

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Speaker 2: that go on and then sending them around like this

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Speaker 2: has been sent around as if it's some kind of

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Speaker 2: badge of honor. It's absolutely disgusting. But I can let

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Speaker 2: that mother know there is an ongoing investigation. There will

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Speaker 2: be more transit officers at the Palmeston interchange, and I

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Speaker 2: will be certainly seeing what we can do to make

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Speaker 2: sure there is an adult on the school bus. And

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Speaker 2: I've said that even down here in Catherine when there's

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Speaker 2: been issues, you know, working with you know, some of

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Speaker 2: the other NGOs to potentially have an adult on that

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Speaker 2: school bus to make sure those children feel safe. Because

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Speaker 2: I know this is not an isolated thing in Katherine.

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Speaker 2: In the Darwin it happens, I know a ser here,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: So is there potential here that any of the young

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Speaker 1: people that are filming this kind of thing happening that

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Speaker 1: they can be charged with, you know, with the filming

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Speaker 1: of crime laws? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, that one, yep.

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Speaker 2: I think that would be a matter for the police.

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Speaker 2: And the age of what those children were so I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure of the age of those kids. I mean

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Speaker 2: the fact that they're in high school then obviously.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, some of them looked like they were twelve thirteen,

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Speaker 1: some of them looked older. And I will say that

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Speaker 1: there was you know, there was at least a kid

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Speaker 1: then in the one where there was a big brawl

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Speaker 1: where one person stepped in and grabbed the guy and

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Speaker 1: got it away. You know, so obviously some people have

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Speaker 1: a bit of a conscience, but I just cannot. I

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Speaker 1: just think it's a real dog's act. When somebody's in

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Speaker 1: a fight and then you've got other people coming over

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Speaker 1: kicking them and punching them and carrying on like thugs.

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Speaker 1: It's terrible to see.

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Speaker 2: It is absolutely terrible, and I think, you know, maybe

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Speaker 2: those students need to have a good look at themselves

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Speaker 2: and think about their behavior towards others because you don't

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Speaker 2: get away with that in the workplace. You certainly don't

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Speaker 2: get away with doing that to someone if you were

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Speaker 2: going through the shopping center, and you should not be

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Speaker 2: able to get away with that while you were traveling

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Speaker 2: to and from on a school bus. It's totally totally unacceptable.

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Speaker 2: It's disgusting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Joe Hersey, Minister for Education and Training, I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for speaking with

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Speaker 1: us

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Speaker 2: No ways, Katie, thank you,