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Speaker 1: Well, as you've just heard on the show a little

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Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning, the Northern Territory Government is indeed

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Speaker 1: removing the bus interchanges in Darwin, Palmerston and Casarina as

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Speaker 1: part of reforms to enhance safety and reliability on the

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Speaker 1: bus network. Now the the interchanges are not being moved

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Speaker 1: anywhere else, as we've just heard, because I know somebody

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Speaker 1: had messaged through just a little while ago and said, Katie,

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Speaker 1: you know I feel like I've been lied to. They

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Speaker 1: said that they weren't going to move them to the

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Speaker 1: Leanna Water Park. Well, the government has confirmed they're not

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Speaker 1: moving it, so they're changing the way in which the

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Speaker 1: network runs. It is a move that's been welcomed by

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Speaker 1: the Property Council. And joining us on the line is

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Speaker 1: the executive director, Ruth Palmer. Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Ruth. Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Ruthie, why is this welcome news to the Property Council, Well.

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Speaker 2: We believe it's welcome news. We absolutely support it because

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Speaker 2: the public transport system is troubled at the moment and

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Speaker 2: this goes directly to the tackling the causes of those

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Speaker 2: known three hotspots that are really the root of any

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Speaker 2: social behavior, So we don't need people loitering around. There's

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Speaker 2: no need for people to be loitering. But unfortunately, these

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Speaker 2: three interchanges do see bad behavior happening. And I know myself,

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Speaker 2: my daughter has been caught up in a rock throwing

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Speaker 2: incident at Casarina ushered away by security guards. So you know,

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Speaker 2: we don't need to see this for our kids, for

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Speaker 2: our visitors and everyone else in the community.

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Speaker 1: And Ruth, I mean, like you touched on there, it

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Speaker 1: does mean that there's that anti social behavior, that element

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Speaker 1: of anti social behavior, and for business owners or for

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Speaker 1: property owners nearby, it's a nightmare in a lot of ways.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we've spoken about it on numerous occasions with

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Speaker 1: Casuarina Square. You then see the onflow of that anti

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Speaker 1: social behavior into businesses trying to run legitimate businesses.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And you know, when we did our

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Speaker 2: crime survey that we've put out in the last couple

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Speaker 2: of years, one of the big issues that people did

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Speaker 2: say was the direct any social behavior that then from

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Speaker 2: those hot spots with those interchanges that had that fall

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Speaker 2: and effect to their business, whether it's broken bottles out

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Speaker 2: the front, whether it's fight and yelling and all those

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Speaker 2: things that have been witnessed by these property owners. This

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Speaker 2: is going to hopefully which I would believe, will go

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Speaker 2: a long way in shaping our cities activity centers so

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Speaker 2: people can feel safe, people can go about their business,

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Speaker 2: but also that the retailers and property owners can now

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Speaker 2: feel safe in their own premises.

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Speaker 1: And obviously Ruth casuarinas first to go. Then it's going

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Speaker 1: to be the City Interchange and also Palmerston. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, it'll obviously take some time, but what do

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Speaker 1: you see then sort of happening particularly at that Casuarina Exchange.

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Speaker 1: Are their plans in terms of developing that site from

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Speaker 1: what you know?

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Speaker 2: Not that what I've heard, Katie, but what I would

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Speaker 2: expect to see is that you have people then moving

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Speaker 2: freely around, so we sort of get rid of that

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Speaker 2: loitering behavior, which is where we know the antisocialivities come from.

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Speaker 2: But also it's about our tourists. So people from down South,

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Speaker 2: they travel on public transfert in every capital city, it's

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Speaker 2: just a dumb thing to do. People going to work

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Speaker 2: everything like that. When they come to Darwin, they expect

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Speaker 2: to be able to jump on a bus and to

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Speaker 2: be able to get to where they want, but they

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Speaker 2: need to feel safe in doing so, because that message

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Speaker 2: that then gets sent back home is something that we

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Speaker 2: don't want and we know that it's already out there

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Speaker 2: because we know we have a troubled system at the moment.

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Speaker 2: So if we've got a bus network that moves around

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Speaker 2: in loops like our minister and was talking about, then

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Speaker 2: we're going to have a more connected city. People are

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Speaker 2: going to feel safe. But you've got to see people

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Speaker 2: actually getting on those buses, and the more people that

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Speaker 2: take those buses, the more that we will see that

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Speaker 2: behavior sort of disappearing in the long term.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we can only hope. Hey, Roth, just a question

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Speaker 1: I was thinking of them while we were talking, just

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Speaker 1: because we've been talking a lot about Catherine as well

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Speaker 1: in recent days. Does the Property Council have members in

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Speaker 1: Catherine and are they talking to you much at the

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Speaker 1: moment about some of the issues that are being experienced there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And I'm heading down in June. I'm going

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Speaker 2: to be meeting with the members down there, and we're

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Speaker 2: looking at putting on a round table to speak with business,

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Speaker 2: to speak with retailers, property owners and just the community

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Speaker 2: in general, just to sort of really start tackling some of

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Speaker 2: the core issues down there and obviously getting the local

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Speaker 2: member involved. So that's currently underway, so we are having

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Speaker 2: those conversations. I've had people reaching out to me to

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Speaker 2: come on down to Catherine, So that's now a plan

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Speaker 2: for June, so hopefully we can get down there and

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Speaker 2: really start you know, it's getting getting some answers around,

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Speaker 2: giving the community some certainty, but also those business owners.

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Speaker 2: So we really want to make Catherine safe. I mean

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Speaker 2: we've we're seeing some activities, some changes happening around our spring,

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Speaker 2: so you know, hopefully that we start to see a

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Speaker 2: drop in crime down there. You know, Catherine needs to

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Speaker 2: be a focus. It is a major hub. And when

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Speaker 2: you've got tourists coming up, you know, we know that

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Speaker 2: they can turn off anywhere sort of from Catherine, whether

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Speaker 2: they're going to Western Australia or then up here to

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Speaker 2: Darwin and and you know if they're going on to

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Speaker 2: Tenant Creek and then going over to Queensland. So we

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Speaker 2: need to really make sure that Catherine is a vibrant

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Speaker 2: hub again where people feel safe. But we need to

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Speaker 2: make sure that we are protecting our business owners, our

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Speaker 2: retailers and ensuring that they've got thriving businesses. I mean,

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Speaker 2: they've put their heart and soul into being in Katherine,

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Speaker 2: so let's make sure we get behind them and support

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Speaker 2: them as much as we can.

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Speaker 1: Ruth another quick one obviously, the government saying this morning

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Speaker 1: that they're now going out for an expression of interest

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the CBD Art Gallery. What do

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Speaker 1: you make of that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I've only just heard about that this morning

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Speaker 2: as well. So I obviously follow the State Square master

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Speaker 2: Plan quite closely. It's something that we had supported within

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Speaker 2: that twenty fifteen doll And City Center master Plan, so

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Speaker 2: it'll be interesting to see where that goes. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly when that's due to be open,

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Speaker 2: but it's something that again we can create that vibrancy

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Speaker 2: within the CBD. We need to get that connectivity between

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Speaker 2: the waterfront and the CBD. So hopefully, you know, we

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Speaker 2: get a good proponent in there that's really going to

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Speaker 2: make that place really you know, vibrant, accessible and just

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Speaker 2: really showcased it through social media, but also you know

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Speaker 2: the broader networks around it as well, so really getting

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Speaker 2: that foot traffic through and again, if we've got a

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Speaker 2: really safe and supported bus system that can bring people

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Speaker 2: into the city and drop them off to the gallery.

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Speaker 2: You know that's another benefit as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on well. Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Executive Director Ruth Palmer, good to speak to you this morning.

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Speaker 2: Ruth, thanks a lot. Katie had a great game you too,