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Speaker 1: Now we know we're just four days away from polling

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Speaker 1: day for the federal election. Thousands of Territorians have already

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Speaker 1: cast their votes, with remote voting services in full swing.

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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line for an update is

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Speaker 1: the Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory, Jeff Bloom.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Jeff, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show. Jeff, do we

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Speaker 1: know how many Territorians have already voted?

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Speaker 2: We do. Twenty five thousand people were issued with a

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Speaker 2: vote last week. Well that's actually up until close business

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Speaker 2: yesterday and that includes our mobile teams, remote mobile teams

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Speaker 2: and of course people going to early voting centers.

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Speaker 1: Well we twenty five thousand. How does that compare sort

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Speaker 1: of for the same period last election, So.

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Speaker 2: We don't necessarily compare the numbers now with the referendum.

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Speaker 2: Of course that was in twenty twenty three. So we're

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Speaker 2: going to do a like forul light comparison, we go

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Speaker 2: back to the twenty twenty two federal election and to

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Speaker 2: be honest, the numbers are pretty much the same. We've

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Speaker 2: been doing that comparison ourselves just as a matter of interest,

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Speaker 2: but i'd say, right now it's looking very very similar

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Speaker 2: to three years ago.

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Speaker 1: And how are our remote services going or heading out

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Speaker 1: there to those remote communities for voting.

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Speaker 2: Well, we've certainly issued a lot of votes there, over

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Speaker 2: five thousand votes being issued. We visited eighty communities last

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Speaker 2: week and of course the teams are out there this week.

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Speaker 2: We've got thirty teams out there for this election. So

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Speaker 2: it's the biggest service offering that we've had here in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory visiting communities, outstations and homelands and so forth.

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Speaker 2: But of course there's weather around and in the top

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Speaker 2: end here. We've still got it mating across in some

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Speaker 2: of the islands in the north there. So some of

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Speaker 2: the charter planes that we had to leave a particular

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Speaker 2: time have left late, and of course if you leave late,

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Speaker 2: you'll arrive at your destination late, so there's been a

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Speaker 2: couple of late opening times well that some other challenges.

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Speaker 2: For example, on Grood Island, we had a team going

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Speaker 2: to Unbecoming yesterday couldn't get past a flooded roadway, so

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Speaker 2: we've had to say, well we can't go through there.

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Speaker 2: It's not safe and we don't know that we'll get

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Speaker 2: back out again, so we'll reschedule that so we don't

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Speaker 2: get to a location. I think that's the key point

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Speaker 2: here is we'll reschedule and we'll go back at a

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Speaker 2: later time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And so Jeff, in terms of the voter

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Speaker 1: turnout in some of those remote communities, has it been good.

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Speaker 2: It's been solid. I mean, I think it's great when

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Speaker 2: we get there and people actually appreciate the fact that

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Speaker 2: we're going to this location. Their options are very few,

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Speaker 2: very limited. If we don't go to people in those

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Speaker 2: community settings, then it's very difficult for them to be

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Speaker 2: involved at all. So we've had a really good reception

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Speaker 2: in the communities. Just as an example, I was out

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Speaker 2: in Perling Gimpy myself in the Tuohey Islands and it

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Speaker 2: was really really heartening to see the level of engagement

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Speaker 2: out there by the local people. There's a key out

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Speaker 2: the door of that pilling place there. So again, now

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Speaker 2: that's what we're looking for. That's what we're looking for

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Speaker 2: of a high level of engagement from people, and we're

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Speaker 2: really hopeful of for the time we get to the

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Speaker 2: end of our remote voter service delivery, which is Saturday

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Speaker 2: coming up. So we do open in a small number

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Speaker 2: of locations on Saturday that we're going to have a

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Speaker 2: really good turnout across the board.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of postal vote applications, have they now closed?

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Speaker 2: They closed tomorrow at six pm Wednesday six pm for

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Speaker 2: the closer post to vote applications. But as we all know,

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Speaker 2: if you leave it too late, the chances of us

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Speaker 2: getting a postal vote or the ballot papers to people

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Speaker 2: by Friday of this week have to be received on

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Speaker 2: Friday filled out before six pm on Saturday. It becomes

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Speaker 2: much more difficult with the postal delivery times as we know,

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Speaker 2: and particularly for people who are in those regional and

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Speaker 2: remote parts of the territories. So really, if anyone's putting

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Speaker 2: in a post postal vote application, it would have to

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Speaker 2: be today and then it's sort of fingers crossed that

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Speaker 2: we can process that and get the ballot papers out

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Speaker 2: to people.

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Speaker 1: Now, what do people need to know as we approach

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Speaker 1: election day if they're planning on voting this week or

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Speaker 1: on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: I think the key here is for people to plan

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Speaker 2: their I think a little bit ahead here. If you

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Speaker 2: are doing things on Saturday that don't allow you to

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Speaker 2: vote for the pilling place on Saturday. I mean, we've

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Speaker 2: got pilling places right across the territory open on the day.

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Speaker 2: But so actually I don't think I'm going to be

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Speaker 2: able to do that. So go to an early voting center,

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Speaker 2: because if you can't get to a polling place on Saturday,

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Speaker 2: you are eligible to go to one of our early

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Speaker 2: voting centers. And there's a number of them across the territory.

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Speaker 2: To be eight early voting centers open across the territory,

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Speaker 2: Six of them are open already, two more to come

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Speaker 2: online tomorrow in Melmboe and tenant Cree. So not thinking

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Speaker 2: about it early enough you might get caught out of

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Speaker 2: the last minute and they're not have your opportunity to participate.

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Speaker 1: For Darwin, Palmerston and sort of the Greater Darwin region.

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Speaker 1: What are some of those early voting centers. I guess

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Speaker 1: just if anybody's in their car now, they're listening and

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Speaker 1: they're thinking, oh, actually I'm not going to be able

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Speaker 1: to vote on Saturday. I've got to spare ten minutes.

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Speaker 1: Might be able to duck in somewhere now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we've got our Darwin, Darwin City, We've got

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Speaker 2: a in Smith Street we've got our dah and City

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Speaker 2: pre Pole. We call them Prepole voting centers. Early voting

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Speaker 2: centers go on at Eton which is right next to

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Speaker 2: Kingpin in the Darwin Eirport precinct. There in Palmerston, Cooling,

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Speaker 2: Katherine and Our Springs. They're all open now and the

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Speaker 2: details of the addresses for those locations are on our website.

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Speaker 1: Henry from Darwen Rivers just called in to ask he

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Speaker 1: keeps going to look to where to go vote in

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Speaker 1: Darwen River and Burry Springs and said the suburbs are

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Speaker 1: not listed. Where's the closest place for him?

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Speaker 2: So Barry Springs this is one example. We'll have a

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Speaker 2: Saturday offering in Berry Springs. Depends on the service offering,

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Speaker 2: I mean that particular one. Oh sorry, Berry Springs is

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Speaker 2: one of our static polling places yet and has been

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Speaker 2: for a very long time. Darn River I'm not quite

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Speaker 2: across from this distance, but we do have polling places

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Speaker 2: in the rural areas in the rural area open on

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Speaker 2: polling day, including Humpty Do, Berry Springs, Howard Springs and

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Speaker 2: so forth. So should be able to see it on

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Speaker 2: the website there. If the gentleman goes to the area

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Speaker 2: there so static polling places or polling on the day

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Speaker 2: which in his post code it should come up with one.

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Speaker 1: Of those sites, all right, But there will be a

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Speaker 1: spot at Berry Springs on Saturday, that's correct.

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Speaker 2: It's the Verry Springs Primary School off the top of

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Speaker 2: the head and it's a location we've been going to

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Speaker 2: for a very long time.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. Well, i'll tell you what. It's going to

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Speaker 1: be a busy few days for you guys, for all

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Speaker 1: of the staff there at the Australian Electoral Commission here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. So, Jeff Bloom, we always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. Thank you very much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for the opportunity, Kay, thank you