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Speaker 1: Another community in the Barkley region has gone into lockdown,

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Speaker 1: with Tenant Creek's well expected to be extended beyond today.

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Speaker 1: Ali Krung, a community with a first I WAS vaccination

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Speaker 1: rate of forty four percent, was sent into that snap

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Speaker 1: lockdown yesterday afternoon. Joining me on the line is the

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Speaker 1: Member for Barkley, Steve Edgington. Good morning to you, Steve.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.

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Speaker 1: Steve, how are things going in Tenant Creek and in

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Speaker 1: the Barkley this morning?

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, look, there's no doubt Tenant Creek is facing

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Speaker 2: a one of the toughest times that we've ever come

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Speaker 2: across here in Tennant Creek. We do have seven positive

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Speaker 2: cases in Tennant Creek. The town is in lockdown, and

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Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon there was the identification of another positive case

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Speaker 2: in Ali Krung, and Ali Krung is roughly about one

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Speaker 2: hundred and seventy kilometers southeast of Tenant Creek. There was

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Speaker 2: a positive care possibly two cases, and that those cases

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Speaker 2: are connected with the with the ones in Tenant Creek.

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Speaker 2: So clearly this virus is moving very quickly around the

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Speaker 2: Barkley So we are facing some very tough times at the.

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Speaker 1: Moment, yes, Steve, I mean, are people quite concerned at

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Speaker 1: this point or how is the community feeling? Well?

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Speaker 2: There is you know, people in lockdown. People are very

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Speaker 2: concerned about what's going on. People are very concerned about

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Speaker 2: the lack of information coming from the from the Gunner

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Speaker 2: government at the moment, particularly around exposure sites. The coronavirus website,

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Speaker 2: for example, still does not have any list of exposure sites.

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Speaker 2: We don't know the numbers of close contacts. So whilst

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Speaker 2: we know that contact tracing is underway at the moment,

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Speaker 2: the community has really been left in the dark when

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Speaker 2: it comes to where are they exposure sites, how many

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Speaker 2: close contacts are there. This is the information that we

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Speaker 2: need to know to reassure people. People have been moving

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Speaker 2: around obviously in Tenant Creek for a number of weeks.

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Speaker 2: People are very concerned that they don't know whether they've

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Speaker 2: come into close contact with the people that may be

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Speaker 2: carrying the COVID virus.

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Speaker 1: And Steve, are you not getting that information from the government.

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Speaker 1: I know we've been critical over the weeks in terms

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Speaker 1: of that website not being updated as quickly as a

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Speaker 1: lot of people would like, particularly when it comes to

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Speaker 1: like you said those exposure sites and you know where

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Speaker 1: you can get tested and things like that. But is

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Speaker 1: there a lack of information coming to the people of

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Speaker 1: Tenant at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, clearly is, and that's where the frustration is coming

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Speaker 2: from at the moment, Codie, the lack of information coming

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Speaker 2: back from the government. Not only is there no information

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Speaker 2: about the exposure sites, close content, casual contacts. People are

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Speaker 2: doing the right thing here at the moment. People are

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Speaker 2: going to get tested. But now what we're finding is

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Speaker 2: that the results are taking anywhere between three three days

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Speaker 2: to get a result, and some people that have contacted

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Speaker 2: me have been waiting longer than three days to get

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Speaker 2: a result. It's clearly not good enough. Wow, more resources

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Speaker 2: need to be put into the testing. People want to

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Speaker 2: know what their results are. But importantly, while the testing

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Speaker 2: is going on, all of that information around close contacts,

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Speaker 2: people are worried, people are concerned. We need to have

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Speaker 2: that information as quickly as possible. And it's simply not

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Speaker 2: good enough that we went into lockdown on Friday and

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Speaker 2: none of that information is available to anyone in Tennant

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Speaker 2: Creek at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair enough for you guys to

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Speaker 1: ask those further questions, and particularly for you to want

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Speaker 1: those test results back more quickly than three days, as

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Speaker 1: you've just said, is the case for some territorians there, Steve,

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Speaker 1: are people generally doing the right thing and getting out

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Speaker 1: there and getting tested and how the vaccination's going.

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Speaker 2: What we're seeing at the moment is the Intenet Creek

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Speaker 2: on the main street of Tenant Creek, at the Transit Center,

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Speaker 2: there's a testing station which is open pretty much every

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Speaker 2: day of the week, so people can go to the

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Speaker 2: testing station here in TenneT Creek at the Transit Center.

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Speaker 2: It's open between seven and eleven in the morning and

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Speaker 2: between about four and eight in the evening, so there's

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Speaker 2: plenty of opportunities to get tested and people are doing

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Speaker 2: the right thing. I've driven past her a couple of times.

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Speaker 2: There's been a lineup of vehicles. People are able to

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Speaker 2: walk in there as well, So in general, people are

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Speaker 2: doing the right thing, and I really congratulate the people

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Speaker 2: in Tennant Creek. People that are out and about are

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Speaker 2: wearing masks, they're genuinely doing the right thing. There may

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Speaker 2: be a small number that I've heard might be gathering

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Speaker 2: in houses and those types of things, but in the

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Speaker 2: main people are doing the right thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So, Steve, how are the vaccination rates going for

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Speaker 1: you guys? Now, has there been any update in terms

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Speaker 1: of those numbers?

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Speaker 2: Well, in regard to the vaccination rates, Look, this has

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Speaker 2: been a problem as well, Kadie. If you go to

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Speaker 2: the Coronavirus website, there is no information about the vaccination

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Speaker 2: rates for Tenant Creek specific, nothing at all. And this

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Speaker 2: has been a problem right from the start when the

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Speaker 2: government rolled out their border plans. You know, we know

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Speaker 2: that the first cut of those border plans was completely

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Speaker 2: bungled by the Gunner government. But one of the issues

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Speaker 2: that came to everybody's attention was that initially we were

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Speaker 2: classed as a low vaccination area. We've had various reports

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Speaker 2: from the government during press conferences that once we were

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Speaker 2: sixty nine percent, now it's up to seventy percent. I

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Speaker 2: do know that ANNANINGI are doing a wonderful job out

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Speaker 2: in the community giving vaccinations, but at the moment, we

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Speaker 2: still don't know what the vaccination rate is in Tenant Creek. Now.

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Speaker 2: This is extremely poor when it comes to communication, because

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Speaker 2: when you start aiming for a higher vaccination rate, it's

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Speaker 2: okay to have targets, But if you don't know what

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Speaker 2: the vaccination rate is, how do you get to that target?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, fair enough. I think that you know that

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Speaker 1: plenty of people in the community would want to know

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Speaker 1: as well, exactly where those vax rates are at. Hey, Steve,

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Speaker 1: I know that all of the eleven cases for the

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Speaker 1: cluster in Tenant Creek are Indigenous. How is the health

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Speaker 1: system coping at this point in time? I mean, I'm

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Speaker 1: assuming that the Tenant Creek Hospital is always a pretty

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Speaker 1: busy one, like the other hospitals around the territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly the Tenant Creek Hospital. And again, the feedback

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Speaker 2: that I've had on the ground is that there's been

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Speaker 2: additional nurses brought in, an additional police brought in. But

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Speaker 2: the Tenant Creek Hospital we have had people moved to

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs Hospital.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 2: There's at least two patients in the ward here in

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Speaker 2: Tenant Creek which are being monitored by health staff. At

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Speaker 2: the moment, the health system seems to be coping. But

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Speaker 2: should we have any further cases, I suspect that it's

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Speaker 2: really going to be a struggle to bring on other

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Speaker 2: beds in the hospital. But that remains to be seen

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Speaker 2: at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Now, just before I let you go, have you had

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Speaker 1: much of an update as to how things are going

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Speaker 1: in Ali Kerraung.

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Speaker 2: I haven't yet. My understanding is that a team was

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Speaker 2: heading there last night. I've been told that the Defense

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Speaker 2: Force will be assisting in Ali Kurung with the roadblocks. Now,

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Speaker 2: when you look at Ali Kurung one hundred and seventy

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Speaker 2: kilometers southeast of here, to maintain roadblocks is going to

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Speaker 2: be a very resource intensive task. But at the moment

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Speaker 2: that community is in lockdown, and I encourage anyone that

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Speaker 2: may be listening to stay where they are. All everyone

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Speaker 2: in the barkley should stay where they are at the

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Speaker 2: moment until we can get further information on how wide

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Speaker 2: the spread here is right across the barkley, but very

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Speaker 2: resource intensive, But there are teams on the ground and

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Speaker 2: there's a further resources on their way to Eli Current.

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Speaker 1: Now we are expecting at some point today there to

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Speaker 1: be an update from the Northern Territory government. But the

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Speaker 1: Health Minister Natasha Files had flagged yesterday that Tenant Creek's

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Speaker 1: lockdown could be well, it could be extended. What are

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Speaker 1: you guys being told at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's the only information that we've heard as well

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Speaker 2: from the Health Minister has gave an indication that the

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Speaker 2: lockdown will be extended. Other than that, we don't have

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Speaker 2: any additional information. As I said earlier, one of the

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Speaker 2: crucial issues is the getting the results of COVID testing,

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Speaker 2: and I suspect while there's still a whole range of

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Speaker 2: testing going on and results still in the pipeline so

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Speaker 2: to speak, it would be difficult to lift the lockdown

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Speaker 2: at this point.

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Speaker 1: Can you see plenty of foods in the supermarket and

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Speaker 1: everything that you need when it comes to resources, though.

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Speaker 2: At the moment there is sufficient food. One of the

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Speaker 2: of course, one of the difficulties is that we don't

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Speaker 2: have a large supermarket that we've been purchasing food from

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Speaker 2: a temporary supermarket for well over twelve months now. But

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Speaker 2: that supermarket is well stopped and at the moment they've

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Speaker 2: increased their number of orders, so there should be sufficient

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Speaker 2: food there, not only now, but certainly over the Christmas

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Speaker 2: period and into the new year. We do at the

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Speaker 2: local caravan park there's a small grocery store there. Service

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Speaker 2: stations carry grocery lines and I know that yesterday, a

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Speaker 2: truck did leave Tenant Creek to go and pick up

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Speaker 2: some more supplies in Alice Springs, and I suspect they'll

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Speaker 2: be back here sometime today. So at the moment, things

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Speaker 2: are looking okay. There's been good compliance, there hasn't been

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Speaker 2: any panic buying, and again I think everybody for the

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Speaker 2: way that they've conducted themselves through this crisis.

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Speaker 1: Well, Steve Edgington, the local member for Barkley, we really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us and letting all of our

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Speaker 1: listeners know just how things are going in Tenant Creek.

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Speaker 1: At this point. I always think we're in this together.

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Speaker 1: We are all Territorians, and I know that we don't

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Speaker 1: broadcast all the way down there to Tenant, but I

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Speaker 1: think that it's really important that we're all aware of

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Speaker 1: exactly what's going on.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thanks, thank you,