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Speaker 1: Sarah here filling in for Katie Wolf this morning. She'll

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Speaker 1: be back on board tomorrow and it's myself and producer

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Speaker 1: Kathleen holding down the fort bringing you as many updates

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Speaker 1: as we can out of Catherine following a huge weekend.

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Speaker 1: So just a few moments ago, Kathleen did have a

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Speaker 1: chat with the Member for Catherine, Joe Heersey, to get

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Speaker 1: that update.

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Speaker 2: Authorities have begun assessments as floodwaters slowly received across Katherine

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Speaker 2: and the Big Rivers region. Joining us on the line

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Speaker 2: now is the Member for Catherine and Education Minister Joe Hersey.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Minister, Good morning Kathleen, Good morning listeners. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's your birthday today, so happy birthday. But what a

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Speaker 2: weekend it's been for the town of Catherine and the surrounds.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what a weekend, and what a week it's been.

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Speaker 3: The extremely chyme but you know, we're extremely resilient here.

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Speaker 3: Everyone's just sort of getting on with things. The floodwaters

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Speaker 3: have receded considerably overnight and I think the river was

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Speaker 3: down to round about seventeen point two when I checked

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Speaker 3: earlier on So that's a good thing, and you know,

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Speaker 3: potentially it might just hold there for the next twenty

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Speaker 3: four to forty eight hours because we did have seventy

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Speaker 3: mil of rain overnight at Kyindle.

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Speaker 2: How did it feel watching the rivers continue to rise

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Speaker 2: on Saturday morning, reaching that nineteen point two meters, which

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Speaker 2: is shy of that ninety eight level? I mean, did

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Speaker 2: you feel? And being a long term Catherine resident and

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Speaker 2: others that remember that time, was it a bit worrying

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Speaker 2: to see it continuing to increase?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Absolutely, And the fact that just six days ago

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Speaker 3: I had an operation. I'm very immobile at the moment.

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Speaker 3: It has been extremely trying and to watch that. I

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Speaker 3: got my son to take me for a drive it

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Speaker 3: was Saturday morning, just to go and have a look.

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Speaker 3: And even just in that hour and a half we

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Speaker 3: were out, the bridge ended up getting closed. We got

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Speaker 3: escorted back over to my daughters where I've been in

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Speaker 3: Catherine East here and the water was just yeah, my

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Speaker 3: husband stayed at home. It's been you know, for everyone

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Speaker 3: that's been through their third flood, and there's many of

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Speaker 3: us here in Catherine. It was pretty devastating on us.

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Speaker 2: Say, and around seven hundred people in evacuation centers, is

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Speaker 2: that right? So many many houses were inundated.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct. My understanding is there's maybe about five

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Speaker 3: hundred or so here in Katrin. Some of those other

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Speaker 3: numbers might take him because obviously, as well as Cathern

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Speaker 3: being flooded, we've also got juke Mengen which have been flooded.

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Speaker 3: We've got Palumpa, and we've also got Daily So there's

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Speaker 3: a bit going on with the weather in the territory

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Speaker 3: at the moment. But I went to the shelter yesterday

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Speaker 3: with the mayor and we spoke to a lot of

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Speaker 3: people there, a poor couple from the UK that was

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Speaker 3: stuck just here on holidays. But we're enjoying a bit

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Speaker 3: of downtime. But you know, everyone there was people from Kolano,

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Speaker 3: there was people from other areas in town that I've

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Speaker 3: known for a long time. Everyone was being well looked after.

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Speaker 3: The only thing that someone asked for was potentially extra

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Speaker 3: blankets or a bit more warmth over night. But everyone

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Speaker 3: was in good spirits and understanding of the emergency situation.

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Speaker 2: And you mentioned obviously this being the third significant flood

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Speaker 2: for the town. I mean, the community really seemed to

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Speaker 2: band together. I was glued to Trent Dewit's social media

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Speaker 2: updates of you know, he was doing it Ali or

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Speaker 2: two Ali and giving some information and writing around the town,

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Speaker 2: obviously being contacted by others to go look at a

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Speaker 2: certain area to tell them what was going on. I mean,

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Speaker 2: has the key community really banded together and you know

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Speaker 2: now preparing once the waters do receive completely all pitching

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Speaker 2: in to help out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct, and you know, a huge shout out

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Speaker 3: to Trent. Not only has he you know, I've run

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Speaker 3: him and asked for a couple of things to go

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Speaker 3: and check on because I haven't been over there as well.

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Speaker 3: He has been. His updates have been really good. I've

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Speaker 3: been updating what I can from you know, Catherine East

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Speaker 3: and due to my being incapacitated, but you know, Trent

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Speaker 3: has done a good job and it's been It's great

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Speaker 3: to see community come together in this way as we

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Speaker 3: do here in Catherine, but also just all of the

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Speaker 3: government agencies working together at the shelters. I want to

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Speaker 3: give a huge shout out to the education the teachers

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Speaker 3: here in Catherine from all of the schools that have

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Speaker 3: all gone to either McFarlane Catherine High School or Casuarina Street,

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Speaker 3: and you know some of those people are flood affected themselves.

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Speaker 3: I know at Casarina Street, you know, the principle and

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Speaker 3: the staff there, they've been affected and so you know,

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Speaker 3: whilst they're supporting others in the community, they still have

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Speaker 3: to go back at some stage and clean up their own.

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Speaker 3: But you know, Police Fire, Emergency Services, we've got the

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Speaker 3: ambulance station being as the emergency department. Everyone is doing

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Speaker 3: everything they can to continue on and support the community.

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Speaker 2: And it's been such an enormous logistical effort to even

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Speaker 2: evacuate those remote communities as well. It wasn't there over

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Speaker 2: a dozen helicopters and up to nine fixed wing planes

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Speaker 2: to evacuate Plumpa and Daily River and the other areas.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct. It's probably been a you know, thankfully

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Speaker 3: that's my job, but I think it's been a logistical

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Speaker 3: feat right across the territory. And I know yesterday here

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Speaker 3: in Catherine, you know, there's been helicopters that have gone

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Speaker 3: out and dropped food to outlying communities that haven't been

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Speaker 3: able to access food. And some of those missions were

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Speaker 3: aborted yesterday because of bad weather that came in at

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Speaker 3: the very last minute. They had to land in the

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Speaker 3: elders Car Park or on Florina Road or you know

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Speaker 3: wherever they could land just because the weather got so bad.

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Speaker 3: And then you know, our police commander was I think

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Speaker 3: he was rescued by a boat going to get him

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Speaker 3: because they landed on Florina Road. So it has been

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Speaker 3: you know, ever said, everyone is working to the best

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Speaker 3: they can with the weather condition and just soldiering on,

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Speaker 3: which is really good to see.

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Speaker 2: And so the Catherine River itself is at the moderate

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Speaker 2: flood level. Now what is the next steps over the

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Speaker 2: next twenty four forty eight hours. I understand the Stuart

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Speaker 2: Highway north of Catherine is going to be open to

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Speaker 2: all transport and now south will only be open to

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Speaker 2: essential services and food to get that supplies in through

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Speaker 2: the top end.

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Speaker 3: So yesterday there was an assessment done on the Edith

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Speaker 3: River Bridge and then there is a lot of work

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Speaker 3: being done on the actual road on the pavement. There

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Speaker 3: was significant damage there and so as soon as that

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Speaker 3: is finished, the Edith River Bridge will be open. And

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Speaker 3: in Catherine Township itself, there is a huge effort to

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Speaker 3: get the power back onto the CBD, and that is

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Speaker 3: that it's very frustrating for residents because I know I've

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Speaker 3: got people messaging me even now from Gorge Road and

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Speaker 3: you know it is frustrating for them because people have

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Speaker 3: not had power there for a few days. The main

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Speaker 3: concern is to get the CBD up and running and

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Speaker 3: then it will be domess s. I don't have any

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Speaker 3: further update from that, but it is about getting those

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Speaker 3: es central services up and running in the main CBD area,

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Speaker 3: just so that you know, we can get back to normal.

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Speaker 3: The woolwork shop can open, the butcher's in the main

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Speaker 3: street can open. You know, Town and Country have teamed

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Speaker 3: up with blue Hole in Crawford Street and because they

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Speaker 3: haven't had power and so they've transported all their meat

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Speaker 3: out to blue Hole, and you know there's a bit

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Speaker 3: of a competition on for a joint name for the

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Speaker 3: next week while they work in together. So but you

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Speaker 3: know there have been places in Crawford Street that have

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Speaker 3: been open for fruit and bedge and for meat and

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Speaker 3: also Catherine Mini Shop. But it just gets back to

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Speaker 3: this is another instance where one supermarket in our community

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Speaker 3: is you know, we do really need to look at

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Speaker 3: food security in the future. It's a very timely reminder

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Speaker 3: we do need another supermarket here or at least an

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Speaker 3: Ida or something out of the flood area.

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Speaker 2: And I know there would have been so many people

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Speaker 2: like myself in Darwin watching what was in Catherine. It

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Speaker 2: might be too early, but you know, for anyone up

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Speaker 2: here who wants to lend a hand or do anything,

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Speaker 2: would you have any advice yet for them as to

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Speaker 2: how they can help out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So there's been plenty of people, and I thank

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Speaker 3: all those people that have reached out for support, whether

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Speaker 3: it be in donations or you know, giving a lending

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Speaker 3: hand themselves. But we're just not at that point at

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Speaker 3: the moment. We're still waiting for the floodwaters to recede,

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Speaker 3: and you know, then there will be a big cleanup,

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Speaker 3: and so then there's places like Salvation Army, places like

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Speaker 3: Red Cross. I mean, my office doesn't have powering the CBD.

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Speaker 3: There's probably from about maybe second Street back they have power,

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Speaker 3: but the main CBD on the Stuart Highway doesn't have

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Speaker 3: power just at the moment. So we're waiting for that

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Speaker 3: power to come back on so that we can all

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Speaker 3: get back into work. And then you know, potentially people

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Speaker 3: can either get in contact with my office or the

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Speaker 3: Salvation Army or Red Cross at the moment, so.

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Speaker 2: Just still earlier, yes, ye, all right, well I know

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Speaker 2: that you've got a very busy day today, minister. Thank

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Speaker 2: you so much for your time, and Katie will be

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Speaker 2: back on deck tomorrow so we will no doubt reach

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Speaker 2: out again and check in on how everyone's going down there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no worries, okay, thanks very much and thanks listeners.

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Speaker 3: I'll talk to you soon all about thanks Cathleene. Cheers,