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Speaker 1: From the opposition leader.

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Speaker 2: We are now heading across and going to catch up

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Speaker 2: with the Minister for well, she's a minister for a

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Speaker 2: number of different things, but for trade, business and Asian relations.

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Speaker 2: Robin Carl, Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie in, Good morning to all the Territorians

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Speaker 3: out there listening to you today.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, how concerned are you about this?

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Speaker 2: Well, is it a suspension or is it a cancelation

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Speaker 2: by Air Asia when it comes to these flights from

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Speaker 2: Darwin to Bali.

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Speaker 3: I'm incredibly concerned and I cannot begin to say how

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Speaker 3: disappointed I am that less than a year after we

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Speaker 3: celebrated their decision to come and do business in the

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Speaker 3: territory and give territorians the option of flying to Bali

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Speaker 3: and to Kuala Lumpa, that they've pulled a pin. And sadly,

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Speaker 3: this is not the first time Air Asia has done this,

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Speaker 3: so I would be incredibly reluctant to consider doing business

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Speaker 3: with them again in the future.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So you feel like they're burning a bit

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Speaker 2: of a breeche here by the sounds.

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Speaker 3: Of us, absolutely, because this project was two years in

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Speaker 3: the making, so there was two years of discussions and

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Speaker 3: negotiations and looking at how it would work, looking at

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Speaker 3: what could happen, and without even giving particularly the k

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Speaker 3: Or flight, a year to bed down, they've made a

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Speaker 3: decision to suspend services. And given they have just announced

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Speaker 3: in the last hour or so that they've actually increases

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Speaker 3: services to other parts of Australia, I'm getting that they're

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Speaker 3: parking us in the in the far distance, which is

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Speaker 3: really really disappointing, really disappointing, Robin.

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Speaker 1: That makes me furious.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think did they look what did they

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Speaker 2: receive from the Northern Territory government as well in terms

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Speaker 2: of you know, a you know, the new route subsidy

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Speaker 2: and in terms of a bit of an incentive to

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Speaker 2: try and get them here.

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Speaker 3: So the Barley flight was absolutely purely a commercial decision

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Speaker 3: or Air Asia. It didn't receive any government TAS money

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Speaker 3: for that flight. Certainly the Kuala Lumpa flight was a

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Speaker 3: TAZ supported flight. I can't give the specifics of what

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Speaker 3: that involved because those types of deals are commercial and confidence,

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Speaker 3: but it was one that we thought was worth investing in.

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Speaker 3: We saw it as a really important route, particularly when

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Speaker 3: you talk about our international students and their ability to

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Speaker 3: connect to their families back in their home countries and

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Speaker 3: with all of the really exciting things that are happening

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Speaker 3: in the territory. I actually took it that the areas

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Speaker 3: you could see what the future for the territory looked like,

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Speaker 3: and they wanted to be part of the journey with us,

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Speaker 3: and they've basically just walked away.

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Speaker 1: Minissa, I get that you can't.

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Speaker 2: You know that you can't reveal how much because it's

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Speaker 2: commercial and confidence.

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Speaker 1: But are you able to demand that money.

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Speaker 3: Back under the arrangements that were set up for this

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Speaker 3: program under the previous government. The answer to that question

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Speaker 3: is no. But what I did instruct around four or

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Speaker 3: five months ago, when we had the you might recall

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Speaker 3: the flights to Ularu were suspended, the Sydney sorry, the

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Speaker 3: Melbourne and Brisbane flights to Ularus were suspended. I sat

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Speaker 3: down with the department and said, look, what other consequences

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Speaker 3: if something gets pulled, And essentially there really wasn't any

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Speaker 3: So I said, well that can't be the case in

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Speaker 3: the future. So that entire program is under review and

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Speaker 3: we will absolutely be reframing it so that if it

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Speaker 3: does proceed in a future, any agreements will involve consequences

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Speaker 3: what that might look like. I can't really articulate at

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Speaker 3: the moment. I know what I'd like to do, but

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Speaker 3: commercially it may not be possible.

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Speaker 1: What would you if you do what you wanted, what

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Speaker 1: would it be?

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Speaker 3: I think if they make a commitment to do a

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Speaker 3: flight into the territory to assist territori ands, that there

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Speaker 3: should be a minimum time frame, and if they walk

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Speaker 3: away from that timeframe, there should be a penalty.

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Speaker 2: I'm so pissed off about these flights between these and

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Speaker 2: the way that we feel like we get shafted by

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Speaker 2: the other airlines.

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Speaker 1: I get it that our population is not.

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Speaker 2: As great as other capital cities, but it just feels

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Speaker 2: like we constantly copy it when it comes to flights.

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Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, And it's one of my greatest frustrations. Having

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Speaker 3: said that, though, I can say that there are supportive

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Speaker 3: flights that are doing really really well. So the Darwin

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Speaker 3: Perth flight is doing really well. The flights onto the

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Speaker 3: Gold Coast have been really effective. I think the internal

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Speaker 3: flights where we've supported those routes are really positive. So

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Speaker 3: there is an absolute argument to be working with airlines

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Speaker 3: to do this. And a couple and the domestic airlines

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Speaker 3: we've spoken to and dealt with. They understand that these

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Speaker 3: things take time. You can't just introduce the service and

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Speaker 3: expect it to overnight be a raging success. You have

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Speaker 3: to actually bet it down. You have to make sure

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Speaker 3: that people learn to trust it and that they have

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Speaker 3: time to actually change their behavior and realize that this

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Speaker 3: is an option they should take. Unfortunately, I think in

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Speaker 3: this situation, Air Asia have not done that. And they

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Speaker 3: have they've made the decision, they say for commercial reasons

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Speaker 3: to suspend the flights, but really at the end of

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Speaker 3: the day, they haven't really given at the time that

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Speaker 3: it needed to really take hold.

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Speaker 2: Robin, Are there any I mean, like, are there any

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Speaker 2: other alternative carriers or anything else we can look at

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Speaker 2: here to maintain those strong air links between Darwin and

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Speaker 2: our key Asian markets.

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Speaker 3: So we immediately started discussions with a couple of the

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Speaker 3: other airlines once we got this advice that this was happening.

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Speaker 3: Are in the last twenty four hours, No, they're about four, okay,

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Speaker 3: so it's a good broad number of airlines. I have

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Speaker 3: publicly said that I have an absolute commitment to getting

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Speaker 3: a flight between Chakata and Darwin in play and we

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Speaker 3: are in discussions with an airline about that. We're also

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Speaker 3: looking at routes to places like Kupung and Lombok. But

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Speaker 3: I think the thing that Territorians it's the good news,

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Speaker 3: is that we do still have these flights between Bali

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Speaker 3: and Darwin with Jetstar. We have a really good connection

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Speaker 3: into a very very good hub in Singapore with six

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Speaker 3: day a week flights between Quantus and Singapore Airlines. So

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Speaker 3: my goal right now is to ensure that any Territorians

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Speaker 3: who have been impacted by this decision by Air Asia

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Speaker 3: that we minimize that. And we are in discussions with

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Speaker 3: a couple of airlines to see if they can assist

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Speaker 3: to ensure that Territorians who have been impacted are able

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Speaker 3: to still enjoy their holidays. I think one of the

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Speaker 3: really most disappointing things is that when this announcement was made,

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Speaker 3: there was a guarantee given that any sale made would.

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Speaker 2: Be on it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and they've walked away from that.

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Speaker 1: Robin.

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Speaker 2: It's disappointing, to say the least. Before I let you go,

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Speaker 2: a quick but very important question. The front page of

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Speaker 2: the paper this morning, the horrific story about that young

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Speaker 2: girl who was married to a man, well you know,

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Speaker 2: she's half his age, then impregnated.

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Speaker 1: He was jailed for two years.

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Speaker 2: But the whereabouts and safety of that young girl is

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Speaker 2: unknown according to this report in the NT News. Does

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Speaker 2: the Department know where she is and is it in

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Speaker 2: the public's interest to know that measures have been put

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Speaker 2: in place to protect her and other girls like her

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Speaker 2: who might end up in a similar situation.

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Speaker 3: What I can say, Katie, is that the safety and

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Speaker 3: well being of children is absolutely my most paramount concern

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Speaker 3: and the case of this young girl was absolutely horrific,

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Speaker 3: and I can assure the public that the Department, as

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Speaker 3: with any child who is at risk, has taken every

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Speaker 3: step possible to protect that child and will continue to

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Speaker 3: do so any child who is identified as being at risk.

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Speaker 3: It's a real challenging area, and I think one of

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Speaker 3: the challenges is that the legislation in this space is

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Speaker 3: not as strong as it should be, and I have

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Speaker 3: made it absolutely clear that a reform of that legislation

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Speaker 3: is my agenda, and some might say I hope it

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Speaker 3: will be the lasting legacy of this government that we

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Speaker 3: actually whenever these sorts of issues happen again, people will

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Speaker 3: know that every possible step that can be taken is taken,

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Speaker 3: and that the best interest and safety and wellbeing of children,

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Speaker 3: no matter who they are or where they're from, is

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Speaker 3: the only thing that matters. And every single child in

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Speaker 3: our community deserves to be safe and secure and that

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Speaker 3: is the work that we're doing. And there's a huge

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Speaker 3: amount being done at the moment to ensure that legislative

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Speaker 3: frameworks reflect community expectation because currently I don't believe that

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Speaker 3: it does well.

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Speaker 2: Minister for Children and Families also Minister for Trade, Business

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Speaker 2: and Asian Relation, Robin Carl. We'll leave it there, thank

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Speaker 2: you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you