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Speaker 1: We heard yesterday. We certainly had a couple of people

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Speaker 1: get in contact with us about concerns that the Araf

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Speaker 1: you're a medical center in Berry Springs is closing at

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Speaker 1: the end of the month. Now it's leaving locals in

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Speaker 1: the lurch when it comes to seeing a GP. But

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Speaker 1: it's also a situation where I guess a bit further

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Speaker 1: a field, So in the likes of you know of

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Speaker 1: Dundee people traveling from Dundee to get to the Berry

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Speaker 1: Springs Medical Center there for the nearest sort of medical appointments.

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Speaker 1: Now I know that Crystal had contacted the clinic to

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Speaker 1: find out if that is the case in terms of

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Speaker 1: them closing down and really why, But joining me to

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Speaker 1: shed a bit more light I guess on the situation

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Speaker 1: is the member for Daily Duran Young. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Katie, thanks so much for joining us now, Duran, what

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Speaker 1: have you heard or what have you been told about

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Speaker 1: the Arafia Medical Center at Berry Springs in terms of

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Speaker 1: them closing and the I guess the broader impact on

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Speaker 1: the community even in your electrash.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.

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Speaker 3: Look, I showed up to work yesterday my office is

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Speaker 3: straight across from the Araf You're Medical Center, and I

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Speaker 3: was just as shocked and disappointed as the community. I'd

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Speaker 3: only found out yesterday that unfortunately the Arafa Medical Center

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Speaker 3: had made a business decision to close their doors. So

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Speaker 3: I had a lot of people coming into the office

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Speaker 3: quite concerned about that, and it's going to have a

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Speaker 3: huge impact on the rural area around Berry Springs. But also,

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Speaker 3: as you mentioned residents from Dundee. I live at Waggaite Beach,

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Speaker 3: so a lot of people from Waggote Beach access that

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Speaker 3: clinic as well. So yeah, it was very disappointing to

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Speaker 3: see the closure of that.

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Speaker 1: Duram, What were locals saying to you yesterday as I

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Speaker 1: was sort of starting to learn this news, I suppose.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're coming in.

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Speaker 3: I think they were mainly just shocked a bit concerned

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Speaker 3: about where they're going to.

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Speaker 2: See a local GP.

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Speaker 3: Now they've been that they'll need to go to Humpty

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Speaker 3: Dew and that's another forty minutes drive on top of that,

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Speaker 3: and for people from Waggai and Dundee, you know that's

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Speaker 3: even further again for them, So you know, it's a

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Speaker 3: lot of people from the Berry Springs area Dundee Cox Peninsula.

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Speaker 3: They come into Berry Springs to use the shops there

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Speaker 3: and it's just easy access for them to just go

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Speaker 3: down and see the GP.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, what other alternative options are they going to be?

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Speaker 1: Do you think for those in the rural area. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've touched on where else they could go, but do

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Speaker 1: you look, do you think we're going to see a

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Speaker 1: situation where there's potentially more stress like on you know,

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Speaker 1: on the hospital for example, if people can't look in

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Speaker 1: to see a doctor.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, potentially.

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Speaker 3: Look, our government's been working with the federal government. We

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Speaker 3: have announced that there will be two new urgent care

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Speaker 3: units to address the primary health care. So one of

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Speaker 3: those will be set up in Palmerston, the other one

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Speaker 3: in other springs. But for my region especially, that will

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Speaker 3: take a bit of the pressure off the hospital at

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Speaker 3: Palmerston and Darwin also some of those clinics GP specialists

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Speaker 3: in Humpty do But ultimately, yeah, it's not ideal that

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Speaker 3: we've seen the closure in Berry Springs because you know,

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Speaker 3: people had built a rapport with a local doctor there

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Speaker 3: as well, So that's a bit of a concern for

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Speaker 3: those patients.

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Speaker 1: And we are being told that it's going to be

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Speaker 1: about ten thousand patients that are going to be impacted

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Speaker 1: by are if you're a medical service closing down there

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Speaker 1: at Berry Springs. So there's no doubt it's going to

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Speaker 1: be a big impact for the whole region, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, it will be a big impact for

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Speaker 3: the region. But you know, it's a business decision that,

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Speaker 3: unfortunately are if you're a medical center made. I've already

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Speaker 3: sent off a letter to the Primary Health Network yesterday

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Speaker 3: just to address them to see what support and assistance

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Speaker 3: they can do to help with the closure of this clinic.

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Speaker 3: You know that the Primary Health Network they're ultimately responsible

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Speaker 3: for local GPS, and is.

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Speaker 1: There anything like I'm assuming that they haven't come back

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Speaker 1: to you yet, but is there anything that do you

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Speaker 1: think the primary Health Network could be doing in this space,

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Speaker 1: because you know, as we've touched on, you know, ten

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Speaker 1: thousand odd patients, but also out it you know, like

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Speaker 1: we've already had concerns out at Dundee that there's not

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Speaker 1: a clinic out there, or that there's not a medical

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Speaker 1: service out there. So it is a I guess it's

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Speaker 1: a broader issue for the region and for your.

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Speaker 3: Electros yeah, definitely, I think, you know, the primary healthcare,

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Speaker 3: could you do an assessment or consultation work with the

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Speaker 3: community to see what that primary health need is for

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Speaker 3: the region. So it was a bit of a shock

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Speaker 3: to see such a sudden decision made to close down

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Speaker 3: the clinic next week, and I would have liked to

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Speaker 3: have seen the primary health network out there consulting with

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Speaker 3: the community to make sure that this would have happened.

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Speaker 2: So it's it is disappointing, is really disappointing.

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Speaker 1: And I just you know, when you look at at

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Speaker 1: you know, we have got an aging population, but also

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Speaker 1: when you look at the the huge surge of tourists

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Speaker 1: that we see out towards Dundee as well. And I

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Speaker 1: know that in this instance we're talking about that you

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Speaker 1: know about the GP service. So it's quite separate then

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Speaker 1: to like an emergency situation. But there have been calls

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Speaker 1: over the years as to whether there's maybe a clinic

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Speaker 1: sort of needed. I suppose out that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it's it's something that.

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Speaker 3: You know, we need to work with the federal government

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Speaker 3: on and you know that's ultimately GPS are the responsibility

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Speaker 3: of the federal government through the primary health network so

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Speaker 3: for me, you know, I've spoken to Marian's office, Scrimjaw's

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Speaker 3: office as well. So I'm ultimately just you know, trying

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Speaker 3: to navigate this and work we've ever run and try

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Speaker 3: and get an outcome.

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Speaker 1: When do you reckon that you might hear back from

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Speaker 1: the primary health network? Any idea?

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Speaker 3: Look, I only sent the email off yesterday. Oh sorry,

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Speaker 3: the letter off to the primary health network yesterday. I

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Speaker 3: sent an email off to the Arafuial Medical Management. But

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Speaker 3: I would hope you know, pretty quickly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope.

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Speaker 1: I hope so, because like I said, there's quite a

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Speaker 1: few people in contact with us concerned. Judy had emailed

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Speaker 1: through now, she had emailed through yesterday and she said, Hi, Katie,

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Speaker 1: we live out at Dundee and we heard that the

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Speaker 1: Berry Springs Medical Center is closing as well as local

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Speaker 1: residents in the area. What impact is it going to

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Speaker 1: have on the shopping center? There is a chemist, IgA cafe,

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Speaker 1: hardware shop, and others. I mean, there's no doubt it's

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Speaker 1: going to have a bit of an impact, isn't it. Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Potentially. Look, I think.

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Speaker 3: In that regard, we do have a number of services there.

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Speaker 3: We've got a hairdressers there. We have the local IgA,

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Speaker 3: we have the hardware shot there and the cafe, so

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Speaker 3: people do naturally come there to access those services and

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Speaker 3: you have a coffee on a Saturday morning or access

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Speaker 3: the local IDA.

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Speaker 2: So I think.

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure whether we'll have a big impact or not,

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Speaker 3: but I suppose time will tell, yeah, and.

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Speaker 1: I guess as well, like it points to the fact

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Speaker 1: that across the board around Australia at the moment, there

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Speaker 1: does seem to be a real shortage of GPS. It's

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Speaker 1: something we've spoken about before with Robin Carl from out

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Speaker 1: at the Palmerston GP Superclinic, and not so much the shortage,

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Speaker 1: but how we kind of entice people to come to

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory to become GPS. And I know that

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Speaker 1: that is more something that needs to be discussed on

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Speaker 1: a federal scale, but I just wonder whether there could

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Speaker 1: be more happening to try to, you know, to try

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Speaker 1: to make it more attractive to get people to move

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Speaker 1: to regional parts of Australia to either workers GPS and

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Speaker 1: in other areas where we do have skills shortages. But

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Speaker 1: it's something that I hope we're over able to overcome

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Speaker 1: at some point because it is going to have an

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Speaker 1: impact on the liveability if we're not able to get

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Speaker 1: those some of those health services you know, operating it

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Speaker 1: at full capacity.

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Speaker 2: I guess yeah, that's right.

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Speaker 3: And we have seen the shortages of GPS in our

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Speaker 3: regional areas right across Australia. You know, this isn't unique

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Speaker 3: to Berry Springs and we're seeing a lot of the

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Speaker 3: younger doctors. I prefer to stay in the bigger cities

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Speaker 3: and the urban areas where there's a lot more activity

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Speaker 3: down south. So for me, you know, it's about I'll

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Speaker 3: be working with the federal government. I'll be working with

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Speaker 3: the Primary Health Network, and also with the Chief Minister's Office,

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Speaker 3: which I've already speaking to her and her office and

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Speaker 3: just getting an answer from the arafire and medical management.

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Speaker 3: I believe doctor Crompton was on radio this morning as

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Speaker 3: well and he talked about those shortages of doctors and

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Speaker 3: that was a big decision on why you know they

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Speaker 3: had to shut the clinic down.

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Speaker 1: Well, Daran Young, the member for Daily, we really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. I think we've got in for

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Speaker 1: the week that was tomorrow. First time in for the

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Speaker 1: week that was.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is and the first time in the studio

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Speaker 3: here i've called in before tomorrow morning.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it.

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Speaker 1: Thanks mate, we'll talk to you tomorrow