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Speaker 1: Now I know that one person who is probably I'm assuming,

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Speaker 1: wishing that that old mask mandate would have been lifted

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Speaker 1: for Friday so we could all enjoy a beer without

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Speaker 1: wearing one on the weekend rather than Monday. Is the

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Speaker 1: sea of hospitality here in the Northern Territory. Alex Bruce,

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Alex.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Alex.

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Speaker 1: I mean, were you hoping that this had been made,

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Speaker 1: or the decision had been made that you could lift

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Speaker 1: the mask off for the weekend rather than Monday morning?

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Speaker 2: Oh, without a doubt, And you know we wanted it

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Speaker 2: lifted last Friday. At least yesterday we heard from the

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Speaker 2: shows delegate that they believe mandates are no longer the

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Speaker 2: way to go from this point forward when it comes

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Speaker 2: to masks. That quite rightly then poses the questions about, okay, well,

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Speaker 2: why Monday not Friday? You know, we had venues reopening

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Speaker 2: for the first time since New Year's Eve this weekend,

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Speaker 2: gearing up for Mardi Grass celebrations and all the rest

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Speaker 2: of it. So that's damp and that. But I'm told that,

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Speaker 2: you know, pleasingly, the show will go on and as

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Speaker 2: many people that do want to come out and about

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Speaker 2: this weekend, you know, please do, But yeah, it was

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Speaker 2: just disappointing. We don't know why the so called science

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Speaker 2: says that twelve oh one on a Sunday night Monday

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Speaker 2: morning is somehow different to a Friday or Saturday night. Also,

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Speaker 2: we know, you know, we we've spoken about it previously.

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Speaker 2: Our trade is down and our trade is depressed. Everyone

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Speaker 2: that's going and getting COVID, they know themselves. That's from households,

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Speaker 2: from the school kids bringing it back into that household,

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Speaker 2: from office towers, from work sites. So why is hospitality

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Speaker 2: continued to have the boot on our throat whilst that

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Speaker 2: spread is going on in other parts of the community

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Speaker 2: wholly and solely unrelated to us.

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Speaker 1: So, Alex, do you think that this weekend, do you

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Speaker 1: think you're going to see increased numbers out at all?

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Speaker 1: Or do you think that we're going now have to

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Speaker 1: wape that extra week real before people feel as though

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Speaker 1: they can relax without those masks on.

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Speaker 2: Importantly, Katie and you know, to pick up one of

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Speaker 2: your texts in if people feel more comfortable wearing masks

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Speaker 2: in our venues, absolutely welcome to continue to do so

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Speaker 2: even beyond Monday. You know, we want open tolerant environments

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Speaker 2: for masks and unmasked alike. But you know, you only

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Speaker 2: have to look at what's going on in the Eastern States,

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Speaker 2: the Southern States. Even before they lifted their masks, no

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Speaker 2: one was wearing them. Even before they lifted their check

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Speaker 2: in requirements, no one was checking in. You know, compliance

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Speaker 2: and enforcement is not a real issue up here either.

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Speaker 2: The police quite rightly do have better things to do.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we're seeing that already. We're seeing the community,

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Speaker 2: you know, when they're faced with rigid rules that don't

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Speaker 2: no longer make sense. They're not man in the protests,

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Speaker 2: but they're just peacefully rejecting the rules.

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Speaker 1: Alex, there will be some listening this morning who were thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: we did actually still have two COVID deaths yesterday. Those

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Speaker 1: numbers are still hovering around six hundred. Do we really

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Speaker 1: need to be taking the masks off?

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Speaker 2: Yes, And I would say, you know, the health advice

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Speaker 2: is that the mandate is not the appropriate way. Arguably

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Speaker 2: it never should have been. It should have always been

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Speaker 2: public health messaging strongly encouraging like previously. But as of yesterday, Katie,

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Speaker 2: sixty percent less hospitalizations than when we peaked twenty three

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Speaker 2: days ago. So we are beyond not only the case peak,

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Speaker 2: but the absolute hospitalization peak twenty three days ago. Sixty

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Speaker 2: percent less hospitalization since then, and only two people in

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Speaker 2: our ICU after two years of preparation. Are we honestly

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Speaker 2: saying that we are not able to cope within our

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Speaker 2: health system with the numbers that they are facing now.

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Speaker 2: To be honest, there's other questions that should be asked

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Speaker 2: about that far removed from whether hospitality should continue to

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Speaker 2: be singled out as the only ones that have to

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Speaker 2: do QR codes log books that haven't been collected in

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Speaker 2: December and will never be collected again and VA's customers only.

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Speaker 1: So are you telling me that with those venues that

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Speaker 1: have been doing the manual checking, that those log books

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Speaker 1: have not been collected ever by the department, not.

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Speaker 2: Since mid December. So when they opened the borders and

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Speaker 2: empty community transmission became real, you know, for the first

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Speaker 2: real time, those books have stopped being collected. So, yes,

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Speaker 2: the territories that are coming into our businesses and they're

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Speaker 2: filling out their details because otherwise they face right now

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Speaker 2: a five and a half thousand dollars fine if they don't,

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Speaker 2: we keep those details for twenty eight days and then

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Speaker 2: we shread them because we're not allowed to keep them

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Speaker 2: beyond that because it's personal information, right, there is a

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Speaker 2: zero health benefit to a katie. So when rules are

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Speaker 2: that rigid and you can't get a straight answer out

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Speaker 2: of anybody, there's a lot of finger pointing as to

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Speaker 2: who makes the decisions in government when it comes to

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Speaker 2: this stuff, and no one wants to claim responsibility for Yep,

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Speaker 2: we just like control, or you know, we we like

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Speaker 2: that it keeps the idea that COVID's reel in people's minds.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's some of the garbage that we get

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Speaker 2: when we query some of this stuff.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you certainly sound pretty fine up about

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Speaker 1: it this morning, Alex. The thing that I do want

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Speaker 1: to ask you about is the check in the check

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Speaker 1: in app. We know that it is being scaled back,

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Speaker 1: so you don't need to check in everywhere go anymore.

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Speaker 1: It is only licensed those licensed venues for you guys.

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Speaker 1: So for your different hospitality businesses, does that mean that

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Speaker 1: they still need to keep that check in infrastructure there

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Speaker 1: or are they having to just check people's vaccine status

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Speaker 1: as they enter? From your perspective, what's the guy.

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Speaker 2: They have to keep everything while everyone else got to

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Speaker 2: take down their QR code and remove their books yesterday. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, leave the question about whether we should be

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Speaker 2: vax checking our customers or not alone for another day.

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Speaker 2: We don't think that has much life left in it either,

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Speaker 2: but you know, leave that aside. Why in addition to that,

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Speaker 2: are we the only ones now with QR codes and

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Speaker 2: log book requirements on us? It does not make sense.

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Speaker 2: No one can hand on heart show a shred of

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Speaker 2: health based evidence or science that an outdoor cafe that

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Speaker 2: is licensed has any higher risk than when you go

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Speaker 2: to your mate's house, when you're working in your office building,

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Speaker 2: when you're on the tools of the trade site. The

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Speaker 2: community knows this, Katie, and more and more of our

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Speaker 2: venues and our customers are querying why they're being singled out.

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Speaker 1: Alex. We did get in contact yesterday with the Chief

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Speaker 1: Finess's office because we're a bit unsure on this one,

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Speaker 1: and it was their understanding that you can show your

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Speaker 1: Medicare Digital vaccine pass when you're entering license venues. While

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Speaker 1: that language at the press conference introduction yesterday obviously stated

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Speaker 1: that the check in app would still be required at

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Speaker 1: those venues. So from what you're saying, you do actually

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Speaker 1: still need those businesses are still going to need the

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Speaker 1: check in system and the QR code if they're licensed.

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Speaker 2: We put to the government exactly the advice that you

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Speaker 2: got yes yesterday when you queried that that would have

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Speaker 2: been our preference there. And can I just make a

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Speaker 2: clear not everyone uses their smartphone to check in. Not

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Speaker 2: everyone has a smartphone, but there are people that choose

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Speaker 2: to not use the smartphone and fill out the books.

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Speaker 2: And there are also people that choose to show they're

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Speaker 2: printed out PDF of their VAC statement or the medicare

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Speaker 2: app to prove their ness. In addition to the check

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Speaker 2: in system which you can go and access your green

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Speaker 2: tick without needing to QR scams. So there's three different

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Speaker 2: ways that the requirement could be satisfied, you know, if

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Speaker 2: the customers proving their VAC status far removed from QR

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Speaker 2: codes and logbooks. Unfortunately, has the day progressed yesterday and

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Speaker 2: we drilled down into the detail. We've got absolute confirmation

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Speaker 2: we need all three two redundant systems and we still

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Speaker 2: need to VAX check.

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Speaker 1: Wow, how is that going to be for you guys

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Speaker 1: to manage I mean, I know that you've been managing

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Speaker 1: it now for quite some time, but what are those

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Speaker 1: hospitality venues telling you today.

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Speaker 2: Look, they're frustrated that they want to know why they've

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Speaker 2: got another weekend of suppressed trade and some of them

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Speaker 2: potentially opening for losses when by Monday the mask mandate

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Speaker 2: is being lifted, and they want to know why all

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Speaker 2: of a sudden we are being singled out and targeted.

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Speaker 2: And just following this through Katie, they're continuing to send

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Speaker 2: the consumer message stay out of hospitality where somehow higher risk.

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Speaker 2: And I just challenge everyone that's listening think about everyone

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Speaker 2: you know and where they've got it from. It's often

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Speaker 2: from your loved one within the household, and it's often

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Speaker 2: from childcare or school's reopening and coming back in. That's

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Speaker 2: the lived experience of more and more territoriums. So why

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Speaker 2: are they sheeting all of that back to us?

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Speaker 1: Look, Alex, some people listening this morning will be thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, in some cases someone might have picked it

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Speaker 1: up from a hospitality venue. Well they might feel that

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Speaker 1: it is a higher risk being in a crowded pub, But.

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Speaker 2: I mean, at the end end of the day, away

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Speaker 2: you know individual responsibility. Katie, that's fine if people are

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Speaker 2: cautious by all means, get your boot off the throat

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Speaker 2: of the rest of us.

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Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, we really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: I know it's not the celebration. I don't think that

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Speaker 1: the hospitality venues were hoping for prior to that announcement

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Speaker 1: being made yesterday. I'd say that it would have been

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Speaker 1: a well certainly much more much more positive. Have we

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Speaker 1: known exactly or have we been able to get those

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Speaker 1: masks off by Friday?

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Speaker 2: Ar I that's it. And look, I know that people

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Speaker 2: will be arguing, well, what's in a couple of days, Well,

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Speaker 2: this is such a rollercoaster. Why drip feed two weeks

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Speaker 2: ago that this thing was coming in days, not weeks,

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Speaker 2: to then announce that it would be lifted two weeks

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Speaker 2: from when that original statement was made.

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Speaker 1: Well, Alex Bruce, we appreciate your time. I will talk

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Speaker 1: to you again very soon.

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Speaker 2: J Katie all, thank you,