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Speaker 1: Through no over the weekend is that the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: government had announced that there was going to be an

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Speaker 1: additional ten million dollars invested into the Northern Territory Police,

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Speaker 1: Fire and Emergency Services. So it's a one off payment

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Speaker 1: which the government says recognizes the ongoing service and dedication

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Speaker 1: from the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Service members

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Speaker 1: who've worked tirelessly to keep the community safe during the

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Speaker 1: COVID nineteen response. Now joining me on the line to

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Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about what this funding

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Speaker 1: is going to mean. From the Police Association, the President,

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Speaker 1: Paul Mchue.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Paul, very good morning Catie.

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Speaker 1: Paul. This ten million dollars, it's a funding boost obviously

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Speaker 1: announced by the Police Minister Nicole Madison on the weekend.

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Speaker 1: What does it mean and what's it for?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, obviously you know police, you know eighteen months

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Speaker 2: or so has had a huge impact from COVID and

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Speaker 2: you know this additional funding is welcome. It will certainly

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Speaker 2: help keep the wheels turning so to speak, in a

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Speaker 2: very difficult time. I mean we've got police deployed the

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Speaker 2: wallparts of the territory as we speak. Trying to contain

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Speaker 2: this virus and help those communities. So that will cost money,

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Speaker 2: and you know, the general police budget it clearly is

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Speaker 2: not enough to do what they're being asked to do

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Speaker 2: at the moment, and this will just go somewhere towards

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Speaker 2: helping that.

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Speaker 1: Paul talk us through how it is kind of working

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Speaker 1: for for our different you know, for our police force

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Speaker 1: in those different communities, because presumably there's been quite a

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Speaker 1: bit of work to be done in the likes of

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Speaker 1: Catherine Robinson, River Binjari, rock Hole and now La Jamano.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, there's a huge amount of work being done

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Speaker 2: by the teams, you know, certainly including the management team.

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Speaker 2: We've got a management team down there in Katherine, We've

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Speaker 2: got the emergency operations center up here in Darwin. They're

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Speaker 2: all doing huge hours to I guess get their heads together.

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Speaker 2: And it's a very fluid situation as you know, and

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Speaker 2: and you know Katherine and Bnjari in those areas down

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Speaker 2: there have been restricted for some time. That all takes

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Speaker 2: additional resources out of Darwin to help with that. And

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Speaker 2: now we're seeing a similar response in La Jamanu, where

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Speaker 2: we've had up to nearly twenty police from our springs

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Speaker 2: be deployed over the last twenty four hours to boost

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Speaker 2: some resources there and obviously try and restrict movement in

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Speaker 2: and around that area. And they're working in some extreme

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Speaker 2: conditions forty degrees plus for the next week, and that

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Speaker 2: management team of certainly doing all they can in terms

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Speaker 2: of making sure that those members have got what they

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Speaker 2: want down there.

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Speaker 1: Well, we actually had a caller getting contact with us

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Speaker 1: last week and said that they'd gone through the roadblocks

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Speaker 1: in Queensland around COVID and then when they got into

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory they've done the same near Catherine and

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Speaker 1: they commented on the fact that the police are doing

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal job, but the comparison to the infrastructure that

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Speaker 1: was in place in Queensland was very different to what

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Speaker 1: we've got here in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the infrastructure is always an issue. I know when

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Speaker 2: COVID first kicked off March April last year and the

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Speaker 2: infrastructure by security points was fairly makeshift initially, and of

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Speaker 2: course we had the defense assisting and then you know,

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Speaker 2: slowly but surely there was some better infrastructure put in place,

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Speaker 2: but nothing permanent, disappointingly, and of course now we're seeing

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Speaker 2: a requirement for that again. But what I will say is,

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Speaker 2: you know, we raised some concerns with the department, you know,

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Speaker 2: last week around some of those roadblock areas around Capturing

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Speaker 2: last week, those rectification was made immediately. Certainly, some air

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Speaker 2: conditioned vans were put in place so those people get

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Speaker 2: those core temperatures down, and that's certainly our concern working

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Speaker 2: in that extreme hate. But certainly the infrastructure is a

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Speaker 2: big concern. And you know, while we got COVID around,

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Speaker 2: there's no doubt we're going to need those areas for

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Speaker 2: some time to come.

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Speaker 1: Now, Paul, you know you've touched on the work that

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Speaker 1: obviously our police are doing in those different areas. We

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Speaker 1: know that the ad Force called into support as well

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Speaker 1: the week before early last week. Has that made much

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Speaker 1: of a difference and do you think that we are

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Speaker 1: going to need to see more of that in the future.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I can't see any avoiding it, to be honest.

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Speaker 2: I mean they have certainly assisted again this time around.

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Speaker 2: The first time round we had obviously Australian Federal Police

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Speaker 2: as well as defense because quite frankly, the police force

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Speaker 2: here is very small in comparative to the size of

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Speaker 2: the area where we're trying to look after. And of

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Speaker 2: course day to day policing doesn't stop. The other requirements

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Speaker 2: for policing doesn't stop because we've got COVID here as

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Speaker 2: well now, so those resources are very finite. You know,

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Speaker 2: We've got lots and lots of situations now where sections

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Speaker 2: are strip bare to try and deal with this COVID situation.

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Speaker 2: So I cannot see in avoiding the federal assistance being

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Speaker 2: required again, whether that's through federal police or defense, to

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Speaker 2: be frank, it doesn't really matter. But certainly police in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory don't have the numbers if the situation

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Speaker 2: continues to develop some of those communities, and obviously that's

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Speaker 2: the fear fear right now.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I would assume as well, as the country

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Speaker 1: opens up, and as in Northern Territory opens up as well,

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Speaker 1: that we are you know, that we are maybe going

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Speaker 1: to see more police or need to see more police

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Speaker 1: in different areas around the place.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. And look, I'm absolutely certain the Commissioner

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Speaker 2: and his management team would be would be having those

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Speaker 2: considerations and those discussions at the federal level, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we certainly support any assistance, you know, through that avenue

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Speaker 2: because as I said, you know, as I said, we've

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Speaker 2: had twenty just in our springs in the last twenty

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Speaker 2: four hours, just about pulled out to go and help

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Speaker 2: in larger Mania and surrounding areas. Now, that obviously affects

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Speaker 2: the ability for our springs now to do it's core

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Speaker 2: policing down there, and you know that's not sustainable in

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Speaker 2: the long term, and certainly that there needs to be

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Speaker 2: some other assistance brought in for those offices. That is

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Speaker 2: a larger working some huge hours at the moment, Cadam

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Speaker 2: and they are working twelve hour shifts extreme weather, and

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Speaker 2: that is only sustainable for a very very short time,

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Speaker 2: not long, not in the lockdown.

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Speaker 1: So with these ten million dollars, is it going to

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Speaker 1: be invested to try and like to make sure that

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Speaker 1: we've got more people or more police on the ground.

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Speaker 1: How exactly is it going to work and kind of

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Speaker 1: come into play quite immediately.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I mean, thankfully we've just had a graduation

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Speaker 2: twenty eight constables last Friday. We've got another squad of

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Speaker 2: constables graduating towards the end of December, so that'll be

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Speaker 2: nearly fifty or so extra boots on the ground which

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Speaker 2: are going to be absolutely needed over the Christmas New

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Speaker 2: Year period. And then that additional funding, we hope is

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Speaker 2: obviously going to be towards some additional infrastructure and logistical

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Speaker 2: requirements to try and keep those members safe in those

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Speaker 2: roadblock areas. And who knows, we may see biosecurity measures

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Speaker 2: come back in that will require additional resources and infrastructure,

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Speaker 2: and of course that money will naturally flow onto that,

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Speaker 2: but certainly any funding is necessary, and of course looking

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Speaker 2: into the coming year, so there's no doubt the NT

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Speaker 2: government will need to review that and look at boosting

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Speaker 2: that budget even further.

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Speaker 1: Well, Police Association President Paul McHugh, I always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for having a chat with us

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Speaker 1: this morning and just sort of making us a bit

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Speaker 1: more aware of those different roles that our police are

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Speaker 1: doing at the moment. Good on, Thank you,