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Speaker 1: Well. The Supreme Court trial of Matt Wright is set

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Speaker 1: to enter its third week, with pilot Sebastian Robinson, who

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Speaker 1: survived the crash that killed Chris Willow Wilson, finishing his

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Speaker 1: evidence on Friday. Now, mister Wright's facing three counts of

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Speaker 1: perverting the course of justice over his alleged actions after

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Speaker 1: the fatal chopper crash back in twenty twenty two, and

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Speaker 1: has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Now, mister Robinson

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Speaker 1: told the court on Friday, mister Wright became hostile after

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Speaker 1: pilots called off an egg collecting mission due to safety

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Speaker 1: concerns a month before the crash. Joining me on the

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Speaker 1: line is Matt Cunningham from Sky News, who has closely

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Speaker 1: been following this trial. Good morning to you, Matt, Morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Pretty good, Matt. What happened in court on Friday

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Speaker 1: in that cross examination of Sebastian Robinson?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is interesting. It came out in the re

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Speaker 2: examination of Sebastian Robinson. So obviously the prosecution gets to

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Speaker 2: lead the evidence in chief first. Then we had a

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Speaker 2: couple of really heavy days of cross examination by Matt,

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Speaker 2: writes Barrister David Edwardson Casey and then on Friday afternoon

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Speaker 2: the re examination of Sebastian Robinson where we heard about

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Speaker 2: this blow up that occurred on Australia Day twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 2: so that was basically just over a month before the

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Speaker 2: fatal helicopter crash that killed Chris Willow. Wilson now Sebastian

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Speaker 2: Robinson told the court that he had been out on

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Speaker 2: the morning of Australia Day on a crocodile egg collecting

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Speaker 2: mission around the Daily River area with Sebastian Robinson. Michael

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Speaker 2: Burbidge had also been there flying another helicopter. There had

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Speaker 2: been a big storm that was rolling in and so

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Speaker 2: they decided it was not safe for them to be

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Speaker 2: there and they flew back to Nouonamar. They had messaged

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Speaker 2: Mick Burns, who owns a Wild Harvest MT or WHNT,

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Speaker 2: the company that does this crocodile they're collecting, and he'd

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Speaker 2: been all fine with the fact that they had turned

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Speaker 2: it around and gone home due to safety concerns, But

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Speaker 2: later that day Sebastian Robinson said he then went to

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Speaker 2: the pub for a beer and a feed and to

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Speaker 2: watch the youth run. He sent an angry phone call

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Speaker 2: from Matt Wright, who was really quite abusive. He said

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Speaker 2: about the fact that they called off that crocodile leg

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Speaker 2: collecting mission on that morning and chosen to come back

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Speaker 2: to Nunamar. And so Matt Wright, he said, had really

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Speaker 2: fired up about that fact. He was asked what he

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Speaker 2: had said in response to Matt Right, and Sebastian Robinson said,

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Speaker 2: I told him to get f to get vaccinated and

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Speaker 2: fly his own helicopter. Now, of course, the court to

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Speaker 2: previously Katie that Sebastian Robinson was doing a lot of

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Speaker 2: flying for Matt Right's company and in rights helicopter in

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Speaker 2: the leagues of months leading up to that fatal crash

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Speaker 2: because of the fact that Matt Wright was not vaccinated

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Speaker 2: and therefore couldn't fly to remote indigenous communities. So the

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Speaker 2: court then heard that Matt Wright the next day would

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Speaker 2: send a text pessige to Sebastian Robinson apologizing. However, Sebastian

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Speaker 2: Robinson was asked about whether that blow up on Australia

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Speaker 2: Day had prompted in any way his decision to want

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Speaker 2: to stop working from that right, and he said that

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Speaker 2: it had. So we've actually heard as well during this trial,

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Speaker 2: that that day that he flew the helicopter and it

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Speaker 2: crashed was actually the last day that Robertson intended to

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Speaker 2: fly helicopters for Matt Right. He was getting his own AOC,

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Speaker 2: which is his own operating certificate for his own company.

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Speaker 2: He owned a couple of his own helicopters, and he

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Speaker 2: was planning to just work for himself from that day forward.

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Speaker 2: But as we know, in that crash, Chris Wilson was

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Speaker 2: killed in Sebastian Robinson suffered life altering injuries.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, that's certainly a really interesting, really

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Speaker 1: interesting situation now that the core has sort of well,

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Speaker 1: everybody's heard now and you've already touched on the fact

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Speaker 1: that he's then looking at he had been taking steps

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Speaker 1: to go out on his own and leave mister Wright's company,

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Speaker 1: Helly Brook, did he? I mean, was that one of

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Speaker 1: the reasons why? I mean, you sort of touched on that,

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Speaker 1: but it seems like it was.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he said that it certainly, I mean, he started

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Speaker 2: taking those steps already, Yeah, I think his own AOC.

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Speaker 2: But he said that that certainly sort of confirmed in

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Speaker 2: his mind that that was right. It was sort of well,

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Speaker 2: certainly as an outsider, a little bit of a complicated

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Speaker 2: arrangement they had going on. So Sebastian Robinson was what's

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Speaker 2: known as the ham C, the head of aircraft Airworthiness

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Speaker 2: and maintenance control for Matt Wright's company, Hallibrook. But then

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Speaker 2: Sebastian Robinson was also reliant on Matt Wright and his

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Speaker 2: AOC when he flew his own helicopters. So when Sebastian

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Speaker 2: Robinson was flying his own helicopters, he had to do

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Speaker 2: so under Matt Right and how he brooks AOC because

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Speaker 2: Sebastian Robinson didn't have his own AOC, So when he

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Speaker 2: was flying his own helicopters, he was paying Matt Right

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Speaker 2: a royalty to use his AOC to fly them. When

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Speaker 2: he was flying Matt Rights helicopters, obviously he was flying

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Speaker 2: under Matt Wright's AOC, but he was also, you know,

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Speaker 2: this head of airworthiness for Matt Rights company. So it

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Speaker 2: sounds like it was a bit of a confusing and

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Speaker 2: complicated arrangement that went on between the two men.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, it does sound that way, and Matt I

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Speaker 1: know that there's been some reporting as well of the

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Speaker 1: jury sort of struggling with the different perspectives and witness accounts.

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Speaker 1: Has that been the case from what you've sort.

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Speaker 3: Of observed, there have been some questions that have been

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Speaker 3: put to the judge by the jury and some requests

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Speaker 3: for clarification.

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Speaker 2: On some matters. I mean, it was a pretty it

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Speaker 2: was a pretty long and heavy four last week from

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Speaker 2: Tuesday to Friday, while Sebastian Robinson was giving evidence and

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Speaker 2: his evidence went for almost the entirety of those four days.

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Speaker 2: And of course, you know, as we've been talking about,

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Speaker 2: we heard all sorts of allegations over those four days.

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Speaker 2: We heard allegations about what Matt Right is alleged to

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Speaker 2: have done when he attended that hospital in Brisbane where

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Speaker 2: Sebastian Robinson was recovering, and obviously the allegations aren't and

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Speaker 2: he tried to get Sebastian Robinson to falsify documents relating

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Speaker 2: to that helicopter id w all sign that was involved

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Speaker 2: in that crash. And then we heard all sorts of

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Speaker 2: allegations put by the defense about Sebastian Robinson and his

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Speaker 2: use of cocaine and allegations that he was trafficking cocaine,

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Speaker 2: including to you know AFL footballers, so, you know, I

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Speaker 2: think it was probably a pretty long week Drury last week,

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Speaker 2: because there was a lot to take in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there certainly was and was. So then did somebody

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Speaker 1: else give evidence on on Friday? I thought Sebastian Robinson's

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Speaker 1: brother did as well, late in the afternoon.

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Speaker 2: That's Friday, brother Jacob Robinson gave evidence on Friday afternoon

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Speaker 2: and that evidence was basically around the Brisbane hospital. So

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Speaker 2: Jacob Robinson had flown to Brisbane. I mean, Jacob Robinson

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Speaker 2: told the court on Friday that after this crash first happened,

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Speaker 2: you know, Sebastian Robinson's family had been told that they

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Speaker 2: didn't think he would make it. Eventually, he was stabilized

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Speaker 2: in Darwin was flowing to the Royal Brisbane Hospital. But

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Speaker 2: we heard from Jacob Jacob Robinson, Sebastian's brother, that while

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Speaker 2: he was there in Brisbane, a few days after the crash,

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Speaker 2: an associate of Matt Wrights by the name of Kim

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Speaker 2: Johnston came to the hospital in Brisbane and asked Jacob

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Speaker 2: Jacob Robins for Sebastian Robinson's mobile phone and for his

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Speaker 2: diary or his log book. And Jacob Robinson wouldn't give

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Speaker 2: him the phone, but gave him the log book. But

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Speaker 2: Sebastian Robinson's mother, Nolan Chillingworth, the court was told, subsequently

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Speaker 2: called Tim Johnson and asked him to return that log book,

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Speaker 2: and he did so.

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Speaker 1: Matt, who are we expecting to hear today here? From

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Speaker 1: today and indeed for the week ahead.

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Speaker 2: Well, we are expected this week to hear from Sebastian

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Speaker 2: Robinson's mother, Nolan Cholliqurth. She was at the hospital as

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Speaker 2: you would expect, in the days after this hospital crash,

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Speaker 2: and she was present when Matt Wright made those visits

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Speaker 2: to Sebastian Robinson in the hospital in Brisbane on the

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Speaker 2: eleventh and thirteenth of March. We're also expected to hear

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Speaker 2: from another of Sebastian Robinson's brothers, Zach Charllingworth, who was

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Speaker 2: also there at that time. So we've already heard a

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Speaker 2: little bit about these visits that were made to the

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Speaker 2: Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital where Sebastian Robinson was recovering,

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Speaker 2: and we've been played as secretly recorded conversation. So Sebastian

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Speaker 2: Robinson's uncle Jim Caru, actually made a recording of Matt

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Speaker 2: Wright during that second visit to the hospital. So the

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Speaker 2: allegation it's been made, is that Matt Wright was trying

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Speaker 2: to get Sebastian Robinson to falsify these records relating to

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Speaker 2: the helicopter involved in the crash. Essentially, they were trying

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Speaker 2: saying that Matt Wright was trying to get Sebastian Robinson

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Speaker 2: to transfer ours flown from the helicopter involved in the

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Speaker 2: crash IDW to one of his helicopters. Now, Matt Wright

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Speaker 2: obviously denies these allegations, and what defense has said at

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Speaker 2: times during last week's evidence was that they're saying that

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Speaker 2: Sebastian Robinson was a poor record keeper and that Matt

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Speaker 2: Wright was just trying to get Sebastian Robinson to get

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Speaker 2: his records up to day.

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Speaker 1: Matt just very quickly before I let you go on.

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Speaker 1: I know it's a busy morning and indeed a busy

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Speaker 1: week for you, but the Australian newspaper as well today

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Speaker 1: reporting that a new lawsuit has been filed against the

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Speaker 1: back wrangler Matt Wright over the helicopter crash. Now it's

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Speaker 1: obviously we know that he is on trial, as you

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Speaker 1: and I have just been speaking about, but it also

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Speaker 1: named in Well, he's also named, I should say, in

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Speaker 1: a civil lawsuit brought by mister Wilson's widow, Danniel, seeking

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Speaker 1: damages from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and mister Wright

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Speaker 1: as well as his involvement is insolvent company, I should say,

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Speaker 1: helly Brook for her husband's death. Well, now Kassa has

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Speaker 1: launched a cross claim against mister Right in an attempt

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Speaker 1: to ensure he puts the bill for any damage that

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Speaker 1: are awarded to miss Wilson by the federal court.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't read that story. We're pointing out that

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Speaker 2: in this criminal trial, Matt Wright is not facing any

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Speaker 2: allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the crash itself. It's

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Speaker 2: his alleged actions after the crash, you know, namely that

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Speaker 2: he allegedly interfered with the investigation into the crash. That

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Speaker 2: is that he's facing those three charges of attempting to

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Speaker 2: pervert the course of justice for you. But you know,

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Speaker 2: as you say, and as that story in the Australian

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Speaker 2: today makes clear, there are civil, other civil claims that

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Speaker 2: are happening at the moment. I think that's due back

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Speaker 2: in court next Friday, so that this trial will probably

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Speaker 2: be still running at the same time that civil matter

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Speaker 2: returns to the federal court next week.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt Cunningham, thank you very much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning, Thanks for keeping our listeners up to date

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Speaker 1: with what is going on, and we'll talk to you

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Speaker 1: again through out the wake.

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Speaker 2: No worries, thanks, thank you,