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Speaker 1: But we know the government, the coalition government or a

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Speaker 1: coalition government, so that they're set to invest thirty million

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Speaker 1: dollars to improve mobile and internet connectivity in indigenous communities

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Speaker 1: across the country. So that is something that the Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister is going to be speaking about while he's in

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Speaker 1: Darwen this morning and he joins me on the line

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Speaker 1: right now, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning for here in Dara.

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Speaker 1: Great have you here, Prime Minister. Now what exactly are

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Speaker 1: you going to be announcing while you're in town.

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Speaker 2: We've got thirty million to improve mobile and internet connectivity

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Speaker 2: right across Indigenous communities in the entire country and that's

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Speaker 2: been the marked as part of our Connecting Regional Australia initiative.

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Speaker 2: And it's very important about the economic opportunities that are

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Speaker 2: created from that to close the gap for Indigenous communities.

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Speaker 2: So we'll work in close partnership with the indigenous organizations

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Speaker 2: to ensure our investments are tailored to those local needs.

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Speaker 2: Our funding new mobile based station is community wife BI

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Speaker 2: or high speed broadband will help. This will help achieve

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Speaker 2: that important target on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

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Speaker 2: Target seventeen. It's known as which is equal levels of

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Speaker 2: digital inclusion for Aboriginal and Terreustralia and the people by

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. And it builds on one hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty seven million already marked for Northern Australia under the

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Speaker 2: Connecting Regional Australia program announced by Ministers Mackenzie and Little Proud,

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Speaker 2: and the more than twelve hundred mobile base stations we've

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Speaker 2: funded right across regional and made Australia so far, I'm

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Speaker 2: already built.

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Speaker 1: Is it new money or is it money that was

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Speaker 1: already flagged in the budget.

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Speaker 2: This is money that was flagged in the budget.

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Speaker 1: Okay. Now I know that there is going to also

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Speaker 1: be some money flowing when it comes to gamba grass

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Speaker 1: and weed management.

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Speaker 2: Yes, this has been an important project that Damon Ryan

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Speaker 2: has been highlighting over his time as a candidate for

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Speaker 2: US and I announced that when I was down there

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs with him couple of weeks back. That's right.

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Speaker 1: And so back in Darwin. You've been here a few

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Speaker 1: times on this selection campaign, Prime Minister. Are you feeling

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Speaker 1: as though the seat of Lingiari is one that is

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Speaker 1: up for grabs?

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Speaker 2: Well, the Northern Territory is an immensely important part of

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Speaker 2: our economic plan. I mean, in the budget we put

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Speaker 2: record investments in what's called the Middle Arm Project, which

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Speaker 2: is really about unlocking the great economic opportunities right across

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. And so that is great for the territory,

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Speaker 2: of course, but it's also incredibly important for Australia. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory was at the center of what I

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Speaker 2: call our Frontier Region's Plan, which is about investing not

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Speaker 2: only here but in the Pilbra in the Hunter Region

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Speaker 2: and in the Berdicin Region in Central and North Queensland.

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Speaker 2: But it's Middle Arm in the Northern Territory that is

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Speaker 2: the showcase of where we see the big games that

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Speaker 2: we can make to really improve the wealth of the

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Speaker 2: nation by unlocking the great opportunities here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: So it's not surprising that where the center of my

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Speaker 2: economic plan is for regional Australia, that I'll be coming here,

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Speaker 2: and particularly with Damien and Tina McFarlane, they are the

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Speaker 2: right ones, the right candidates for the COORP who can

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Speaker 2: help us implement that incredibly important program on the ground.

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Speaker 1: Now Prime Minister, since you were last here, we have

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Speaker 1: had a change in chief Finister Michael Gunner out Natasha

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Speaker 1: Files in. Have you had the chance to meet with

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Speaker 1: the Natasha Files.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I've spoken to Natasha and congratulated. As you know,

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Speaker 2: I worked. I worked with all the state and territory governments.

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Speaker 2: That's the job of the Prime minister. And I certainly

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Speaker 2: worked with Michael and I've wished him all the best

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Speaker 2: for his future and thanked him for the ability to

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Speaker 2: work together with him. And I will work with the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory government under Natasha as well, and we had

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Speaker 2: a brief conversation about that. But obviously we're in the

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Speaker 2: middle of an election campaign, so this Saturday people have

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Speaker 2: the opportunity to ensure but by supporting the COORP here

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory, we can get on with the

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Speaker 2: job of making the territory stronger by delivering that massive

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Speaker 2: investment we're putting in here to realize the economic opportunities

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Speaker 2: up in the top end.

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Speaker 1: Now, Prime Minister, I know that you certainly get interviewed

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Speaker 1: by a lot of people, but last time that you

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Speaker 1: were on the show, you and I had spoken about

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Speaker 1: the issues that we're experiencing in the Northern Territory when

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Speaker 1: it comes to crime, particularly in Alice Springs. This is

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Speaker 1: an issue that plenty of people feel is still going

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Speaker 1: to be one which a lot of people look to

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Speaker 1: when it comes to Saturday to vote if they haven't

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Speaker 1: voted already. It's not ordinarily an issue that we speak

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Speaker 1: to federal ministers about because it should be managed locally.

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Speaker 1: But are you worried about the state of crime in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory right now based on what you're being told?

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Speaker 2: Well, I am, and so's Damien and Tina. And when

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Speaker 2: I was recently in Alice Springs with Damien, we sat

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Speaker 2: down with Matt, the local mayor there, and we worked

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Speaker 2: out our plan, which is around about fourteen million dollars,

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Speaker 2: which is supporting local communities to deal with crime in

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Speaker 2: Ourice Springs specifically, and it's a range of programs. It's

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Speaker 2: both dealing with early intervention programs with youth, it's supporting

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Speaker 2: our youth to get into jobs. It's also supporting patrols

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Speaker 2: and working with local Indigenous leaders to ensure that we

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Speaker 2: can address many the challenges that we're facing in Alice.

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Speaker 2: But we face this right across the Northern Territory. Law

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Speaker 2: and order is a very important issue and what Damian

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Speaker 2: Ryan has been able to do as a mayor in

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Speaker 2: our springs, he gets this, He totally gets it and

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Speaker 2: he understands what needs to be done and I so

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Speaker 2: pleased that we could work up that law and order

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Speaker 2: plan that can be part of the broader initiative. Of course,

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Speaker 2: the Territory government has to be doing their job when

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Speaker 2: it comes to dealing with law and order in this territory,

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Speaker 2: but we've been certainly stumping up to work both on

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Speaker 2: the preventative and supportive positive measures you can do, but

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Speaker 2: as well as on the law enforcement side with patrols.

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Speaker 1: Well, we did just catch up with the Property Council

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Speaker 1: of Australia's Northern Territory branch. They're calling for a commissioner

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Speaker 1: to actually be looking into some of those issues that

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Speaker 1: we've got when it comes to crime in Central Australia.

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Speaker 1: They are concerned that we keep pouring money in that

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Speaker 1: money going into the appropriate places. Is that a worry

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Speaker 1: from your perspective.

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Speaker 2: Well, of course it is, and we really need the

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Speaker 2: Territory government to get on top of a lad or

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Speaker 2: issues here in the territory. That's their job, and we're

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Speaker 2: turning up certainly, and the community based plan that Daman

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Speaker 2: Bryan and I put together working with the local mayor,

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Speaker 2: I think we'll make a real improvement to that and

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Speaker 2: that shows our willingness to be a partner and to

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Speaker 2: turn up and to try and help solve this problem.

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister. One of the other issues that we're experiencing

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory right now, I know it's felt

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Speaker 1: across the board is the cost of living. We receive

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Speaker 1: calls and messages every single day about the price of petrol. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: when that fuel excise was passed down that it announced

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Speaker 1: a bit earlier in the year, it didn't seem to

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Speaker 1: make a big impact here in the Northern Territory. We

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Speaker 1: continuously see the terminal gate price go up and down.

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Speaker 1: The price at the bowser doesn't seem to be doing

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Speaker 1: the same for us in the NT. Is there something

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Speaker 1: that can be done on a federal level to make

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Speaker 1: sure that these petrol companies are actually treating territorians in

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Speaker 1: a fair way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's strong laws to support that. But what

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Speaker 2: we have seen is the price move around a bit.

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Speaker 2: I mean it came down a lot faster when we

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Speaker 2: first introduced the harving of the fuel tax. That's what

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Speaker 2: we've done. We've harved it all around the country. In

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Speaker 2: the territory everywhere else are a twenty cents a leader

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Speaker 2: of cutting off the excise every time you go to

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Speaker 2: the bowser, and that's been put in place to really

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Speaker 2: assist with those cost of living pressures, particularly driven by

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Speaker 2: the changes to fuel prices caused by the war in Europe.

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Speaker 2: Now they'll move around, they are going up and down.

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Speaker 2: But what I can assure you is that the fuel

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Speaker 2: cap what we're responsible for, which is fuel tax, the

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Speaker 2: fuel excise, we have cut that by twenty two cents

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Speaker 2: a liter, and we expect that to follow through on

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Speaker 2: every time you go to the bounder.

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Speaker 1: What would you say to territories.

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Speaker 2: That they can be prosecuted.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, what would you say

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Speaker 1: to territory instead are listening this morning that it's thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: it hasn't worked for us.

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Speaker 2: Well, if they have specific bowser prices or anything they're

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Speaker 2: concerned about, I'd encourage them to bring that to the

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Speaker 2: attention of the a Triple C because that is their

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Speaker 2: job to police those things. And we've given them strong

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Speaker 2: powers to deal with it well.

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Speaker 1: Scott Morrison, I know that you are pressed for time

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Speaker 1: this morning while you're in Darwin. Anything else that you're

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Speaker 1: going to be announcing that you can give us a

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Speaker 1: heads up on. I know Barnaby Joyce announced yesterday on

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Speaker 1: the show that there was going to be ten million

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Speaker 1: for the Pool and Catherine.

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Speaker 2: Oh Well thirty million dollars to improve mobile and internet

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Speaker 2: can activity in Indigenous communities. I think pretty important and

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Speaker 2: that builds on that broader plans. But you know the

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Speaker 2: most important thing at this election is if we don't

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Speaker 2: have a strong economy, then we can't support the services

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Speaker 2: that are so essential up here in the territory. And

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Speaker 2: we've provided unprecedented support to the Northern Territory government up

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Speaker 2: here with budget support over and above what has come

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Speaker 2: through ordinarily, whether it's been on remote Indigenous housing or

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Speaker 2: through to GST top ups which we've given to the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory government. We've been stepping in and supporting to

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Speaker 2: ensure that we can keep important services being provided here

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Speaker 2: in the territory. But you can't do that if you've

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Speaker 2: got a government in Canberra that doesn't know how to

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Speaker 2: manage money and Antony now Benezi, he's just a lease

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Speaker 2: unit on the economy and Australia cannot afford that. What

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Speaker 2: we need is to continued strong economic plan and that's

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Speaker 2: why with Tina McFarlane and there In Solomon and Damien

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Speaker 2: Ryan in Lingiari, they're going to be a great team

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Speaker 2: to get it with just in the price to ensure

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Speaker 2: that we can get the best outcomes for services in

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Speaker 2: the territory and the territory needs it.

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Speaker 1: Schom A very random question from Howie in Humpty Doo.

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Speaker 1: He wants to know he'd really like answered. Is tomato

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Speaker 1: sauce kept in the cupboard or the fridge? Oh?

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Speaker 2: We keep it. We keep it in the cupboard. That's

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Speaker 2: where we keep it.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, Scott Morrison, and I don't.

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Speaker 2: Put it on the Humpty Dew Barry Monday either. My

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Speaker 2: own source for that good idea.

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Speaker 1: Scott Morrison. We really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks about correct good the baby.

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Speaker 1: Thank you