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Speaker 1: We know the Northern Territory government has said that they're

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Speaker 1: going to allocate sixty million dollars over the next six

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Speaker 1: years to install underground power in Darwin suburbs that still

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Speaker 1: have polls and overheadlines. If you live in an older

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Speaker 1: suburb you'll certainly understand, particularly if you're out without power

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Speaker 1: for some time during cyclone markers. Now we know that

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Speaker 1: the Essential Services Minister, Ever Lawla, is going to be

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Speaker 1: announcing further details about how the money will be allocated

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory budget. But essentially it will mean

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Speaker 1: that some of those older suburbs work is going to

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Speaker 1: get underway. And joining me on the line to tell

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Speaker 1: us a little bit more is the Minister for Essential Services,

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Speaker 1: Evil Lawla, good morning to you. Good morning Cathy Minister.

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Speaker 1: What infrastructure are we talking about with this announcement? Is

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Speaker 1: it is it the lines that go into each and

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Speaker 1: every street or is it some of that larger infrastructure

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Speaker 1: in different suburbs.

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Speaker 2: So it is the high voltage line. So it's sixty

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Speaker 2: million dollars over six years and this will underground those

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Speaker 2: high voltage things structure. So this is the next stage.

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Speaker 2: The first stage obviously worked for the schools. It was

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Speaker 2: obviously important to make sure that our classroom stayed open

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Speaker 2: in the advent of a cyclone or the recovery period.

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Speaker 2: I just had a big storm. But this funding is

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Speaker 2: for the next stage, which is around the high voltage line.

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Speaker 2: There will then be subsequent stages with the low voltage

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Speaker 2: and then finally the customer of property connections.

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Speaker 1: Minister. I know some people will be questioning just how

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Speaker 1: far it's going to go. I know that when the

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Speaker 1: initial sort of announcement was made many years ago, I

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Speaker 1: thought it was about three hundred million that was going

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Speaker 1: to be spent on undergrading the powers.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so it will be substantial. And this is for

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Speaker 2: the first stage KDI, which is sixty million, which will

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Speaker 2: do the high voltage and power and water of its

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Speaker 2: size that will make significant improvements in the system. So

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Speaker 2: it will mean that that we less outages and the

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Speaker 2: return to power will be much quicker. So the low

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Speaker 2: voltage so will be the next stages, and then the

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Speaker 2: customer property connection. So the customer ones are literally the

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Speaker 2: ones that go from the power line into behind so

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Speaker 2: you can imagine how complex that is. So there is

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Speaker 2: still work to be done, but it is a project

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Speaker 2: that needs to be done in parts, and that's what

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Speaker 2: we're doing. So we'll do the next dage, which is

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Speaker 2: just sixty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: I know it is going to be a project which

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Speaker 1: a lot of people will want to see happen, but

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Speaker 1: it's going to be massively expensive. How many suburbs is

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Speaker 1: this sixty million going to cover?

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Speaker 2: So the sixty million dollars will cover all of those

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Speaker 2: high voltage lines, and there are broad range of suburbs,

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Speaker 2: so it is the older suburbs in the northern the

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Speaker 2: Northern Suburbs area, so you know, you're jingly, you're moyle

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Speaker 2: Ala coming back to coconut growth peraps as well, So

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Speaker 2: it is those original suburbs I guess of Darwin. But

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Speaker 2: the high voltage the work. This sixty million will cover

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Speaker 2: the high voltage lines. So the tender is being prepared

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Speaker 2: now by Power and Water that will look at the

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Speaker 2: profiles of those those lines, so you know, it's looking

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Speaker 2: at evidence such as the duration of the you know,

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Speaker 2: the outages, the density of the population around that vegetation,

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Speaker 2: the ground conditions because they've seen that with Saint John.

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Speaker 2: Saint John's is the last school to be underground out

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Speaker 2: of those nine, and what they're found is that there

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Speaker 2: is substantial rock in Stuart Park and so that has

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Speaker 2: delayed the work at Saint John. So yeah, there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of work to be done to get the tender ready.

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Speaker 2: It will be a nice big civil projects for a

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Speaker 2: territory company to roll out. But as said, this is

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Speaker 2: the next stage, which is the high voltage and it

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Speaker 2: will make a big impact on making sure that our

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Speaker 2: lines are resilient.

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Speaker 1: Minneso. Which suburbs are going to be first and how's

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Speaker 1: it going to be determined?

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Speaker 2: So as I said, that's the work that parent Water

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Speaker 2: will do through their tender process. So they'll be looking

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Speaker 2: at the data around the duration, how many outages are there,

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Speaker 2: what is it, you know, issues around vegetation, the density

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Speaker 2: of those suburbs or those areas. So parent Water do that,

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Speaker 2: so it probably makes it a bit fairer. Otherwise I'll

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Speaker 2: have lots of local members, you know, lobbying me very

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Speaker 2: hard to make sure their suburbs are done. But it

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Speaker 2: is around those high voltage lines, so it's across all

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Speaker 2: suburbs the high voltage lines rather than specifically, so you know,

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Speaker 2: I think it was around two thousand that Nightcliff was done.

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Speaker 2: That was a specific suburb. But now the program is

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Speaker 2: looking at looking at another way, which is all the

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Speaker 2: high voltage lines, then the low voltage and then those

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Speaker 2: customer property connections. So it's looking at it from a

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Speaker 2: different angle. Rather than going suburb by suburb, it is

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Speaker 2: across all suburbs.

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Speaker 1: And what's the timeline for Power and Water in terms

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Speaker 1: of determining which suburb will go first and how long

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Speaker 1: each suburb is going to take.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we want works to commence in June. So

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Speaker 2: this is a budget announcement. So they're doing the work

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Speaker 2: to get the tender underway as soon as possible. We'll

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Speaker 2: get that tender out so that we're in the new

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Speaker 2: financial year we can start to to roll out this project.

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Speaker 1: How many years do you reckon it's going to take

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Speaker 1: before we do actually have all of those suburbs underground?

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Speaker 1: Because I've worked for Power and Water about twelve years ago,

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Speaker 1: and I reckon this. You know, we've been talking about

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Speaker 1: this for so many years. It's so time consuming and

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Speaker 1: it is incredibly hard work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So I mean, you know, I'm a politician, so

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Speaker 2: I can be political. But the CLP abandon the program

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Speaker 2: in twenty twelve, so Labor government did have a roll

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Speaker 2: out of that program. It was then abandoned and then

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Speaker 2: after Cycloe Marcus has been reinstated. But it all depends

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Speaker 2: on funding. So you know, our government has committed sixty

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Speaker 2: million dollars and so we're doing it bit by bit.

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Speaker 2: But there may be opportunity to get the federal government

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Speaker 2: also to commit from additional funding for this project as well.

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Speaker 2: And there's been talk around the resilient fund that shange

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Speaker 2: Phone's overseen, whether there is access for funding through that

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Speaker 2: avenue as well. So at this stage it is about

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Speaker 2: is based on where we can get the fund from

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Speaker 2: the mormn turd. To government point of view, it is

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Speaker 2: expensive and we'll do it bit by bit, but the

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Speaker 2: bank of the buck around doing the high voltage is

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Speaker 2: very positive.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister Evil all that we are going to have

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Speaker 1: to leave it there. Actually, before I let you go,

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Speaker 1: I understand that there was another announcement this morning as

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Speaker 1: well about Phinislithia miss that yeah.

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Speaker 2: So cool on Vickim. They have had their environment management

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Speaker 2: plan approved for their underground mind so they have to

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Speaker 2: put out a media release to the Stock Exchange today.

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Speaker 2: So if you have a lithium shares, it might be

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Speaker 2: positive for you, but it was from Wilster to government.

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Speaker 2: We've done the rigorous work that needed to be done

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Speaker 2: to assess the underground, the proposal for an underground mind

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Speaker 2: at poor Lithium out at the Coxtoninsula there.

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Speaker 1: When do you reckon that's all going to get obviously

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Speaker 1: the environmental approval is a major part of that process.

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Speaker 1: But when do you reckon that's going to get underway

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Speaker 1: and be operational.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's lots, there's quite a lot already underway out there.

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Speaker 2: I know they have a worker's camp being set up.

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Speaker 2: They want to have local employed out there. But there's

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Speaker 2: already substantial work that's occurring out there. So this is

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Speaker 2: the green light to get moving in a much more

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Speaker 2: quicker way. So really good news is beach jobs the

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Speaker 2: territorians out there and as I said, we know the

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Speaker 2: demands look him across the Australa, across the world.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister for Essential Services, also Environment and plenty of

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Speaker 1: other portfolios. Evia Laula, we always appreciate your time. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for chatting with me this morning. Thank you Katie, thank

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Speaker 1: you