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Speaker 1: Joining me live on the line right now is Sky

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Speaker 1: News bureau chief for the Northern Territory, Matt Cunningham.

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Speaker 2: Get a Matt, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Matt, we have just had the Chief Minister Evil Ala

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Speaker 1: on the show. I'm not sure if you heard heard

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Speaker 1: much of that conversation, but mate, firstly, tell us what

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Speaker 1: happened for you and your little family on Friday night. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, it was just after midnight Friday night slash

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Speaker 2: Saturday morning, and my wife and I were already in

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Speaker 2: bed to sleep, and my wife saw the sense of

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Speaker 2: light come on outside and then we heard this sort

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Speaker 2: of sang and she thought that something had fallen over

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Speaker 2: outside or didn't know what was going on. Then we

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Speaker 2: looked out the windows and there were three kids there

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Speaker 2: with DOLG clubs who were trying to smash their way

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Speaker 2: into our house. So they sort of kept kept trying

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Speaker 2: to sort of bashing the glass door the side glass door,

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Speaker 2: probably smacked it about three or four times, and then

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Speaker 2: we started sort of going out at them, and then

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Speaker 2: they'd taken off and then run away. So yeah, it's

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Speaker 2: a pretty sight. In the review, I've got to say, I.

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Speaker 1: Bet it was. Do you have any idea. How old

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Speaker 1: they looked, Matt.

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess, I guess maybe twelve or thirteen. You know,

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Speaker 2: I've got a thirteen year old son, I reckon. They

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Speaker 2: seemed to probably similar, maybe slightly smaller builds than he is. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: but it was pretty worrying, I mean, the concern was.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I just wonder what would have happened if

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Speaker 2: that actually managed to get their ay, Yeah, Katie, I

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Speaker 2: mean that's three kids, you know, aged nine, eleven, and

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Speaker 2: thirteen asleep at the time, you know, and if they

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Speaker 2: if they'd gotten in and either I'd had to confront

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Speaker 2: them or one of the kids that had to confront them,

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Speaker 2: I mean, god knows where that ends.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, this is the thing, right, you know. And

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Speaker 1: then you hear a story, you know, in Alice Springs,

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Speaker 1: people get into a home of two senior Territorians, two

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Speaker 1: people in their seventies, and a woman's held at knife

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Speaker 1: point to her throat, Like, this is the kind of

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Speaker 1: stuff that's happening, and this is where Territorians are demanding change.

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Speaker 1: And at this point in time, it does not sound

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Speaker 1: as though the Northern Territories Chief Minister or the government

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Speaker 1: are prepared to look at anything urgent to change it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I heard your interview with the Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister and look, you know you can tell from listening

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Speaker 2: to her, like listening to anyone, she's just concerned as anyone.

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Speaker 2: You know. I do think there's probably some issues with

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Speaker 2: the Polish and settings that they've got them. And I

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Speaker 2: heard you asking you about the age of criminal responsibility.

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Speaker 2: She was basically saying, Oh, it's a recommendation from the

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Speaker 2: Royal Commission, so we have to do it. Yeah, I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure that's the case. We're the only jurisdiction I

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Speaker 2: think apart from the Act that and you know, you're

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Speaker 2: the government of the day. You can make whatever decisions

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Speaker 2: you want, so and then you know, I still thought

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Speaker 2: some sort of battered that question away. I would like

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Speaker 2: to say one thing, Katie. I know that you reported

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Speaker 2: and I reported this morning at the call Triple O,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's almost five minutes we were on

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Speaker 2: hold fort which is a bit of a worry, but

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Speaker 2: we know what police are dealing with. On the same

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Speaker 2: night our carlet was stolen twice, so it was held up.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is probably a long way down the

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Speaker 2: list of jobs they needed to respond to. But there

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Speaker 2: were two police officers who came around to my house

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Speaker 2: on Saturday morning, Sergeant Chris Humphreys and Comestable Emma Lacey

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Speaker 2: from Strikeforce Trident, and they were just amazing, like the

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Speaker 2: work that they did, you know, reassuring us, gathering evidence,

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Speaker 2: taking our statement, going around and checking all the houses

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Speaker 2: in the area of the CCTV, then killing out a

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Speaker 2: form put putting us in touch with victims of crime.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you couldn't ask for them to do anymore.

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Speaker 2: I think the thing with the folief is they just overwhelmed.

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Speaker 2: They've got so much on their blade at the moment

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Speaker 2: that they literally can't keep up. I mean, I heard

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Speaker 2: Martin Dole in your show a couple of weeks ago

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Speaker 2: so that the crime rate had tripled across the territory

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Speaker 2: in the past five years. Yep, you know, I don't

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Speaker 2: think there's been a subsequent tripling of the number of

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Speaker 2: police officers we have out there. So you know, you

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Speaker 2: can imagine why they might be under the company.

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Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, they're under the pump. And and you know,

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Speaker 1: like the thing is, though I don't know about you, Matt,

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Speaker 1: but I'm being told by some officers that they truly

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Speaker 1: feel all they you know that they're they're arresting some

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Speaker 1: of these young kids, and these young kids just have

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Speaker 1: no fear of the consequence because there really isn't any.

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Speaker 2: No. I think I get that impression as well. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we had to figure out the victims of crime form

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Speaker 2: and there's there's a section at the end that sort

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Speaker 2: of says, you know what, you know, what message you'd

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Speaker 2: like to give to the judge and intent you sort

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Speaker 2: of want to say, well, can you please take these

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Speaker 2: kids off the street, just so that one so that

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Speaker 2: people can be safe, and two so police aren't having

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Speaker 2: to go around and the rest the same people. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was only just over a week ago, Katie, the

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Speaker 2: stolen car comes screaming past my house before police cars

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Speaker 2: chasing it, and we definitely find out that the twelve

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Speaker 2: and thirteen year olds who were in that vehicle we're

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Speaker 2: all out on bail. So I mean, you know that's

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Speaker 2: shows you what the issues And I've heard you say

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Speaker 2: this before as well, like no one's saying that we

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Speaker 2: need to lock all these kids up in don Dale.

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Speaker 2: You know, I don't need to make sure the programs

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Speaker 2: are in place so that if it's ten eleven, twelve

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Speaker 2: year old. You know he's caught doing the wrong thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know they're taking to a place where you know

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Speaker 2: that be rehabilitated exactly well.

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Speaker 1: And the problem is, Matt, you know, we learned from

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Speaker 1: the from the Police Minister on Friday that it's not

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Speaker 1: compulsory for those kids under the age of twelve as

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Speaker 1: it is, so then you're reliant on them, you know,

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Speaker 1: their family agreeing to them doing that, you know, doing

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Speaker 1: some kind of back on track program or or the

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Speaker 1: services wrapping around them. And the Chief Minister saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: territory families wrapping around them, and you know, support for

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Speaker 1: those families. Where's the support for the victims?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've heard I've heard the police saying for

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Speaker 2: to their frustration, where you know, some of these kids

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Speaker 2: that are taken to these sort of territory family homes

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Speaker 2: or secure facilities, but you know, they just have the

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Speaker 2: ability to just wander straight out. I wanted so you

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Speaker 2: know that, you know, I just I do think you know,

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Speaker 2: you go back to when we had the Royal Commission,

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Speaker 2: and the one thing the Royal Commission never heard from Katy.

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Speaker 2: In my views as victims of come. And I think

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Speaker 2: the other issue the Royal Commission had was that it

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Speaker 2: was the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children,

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Speaker 2: but a treated child protection as an after thought. And

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Speaker 2: if you look now sort of seven years on, you know,

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Speaker 2: and there were horrific stories told in that Royal Commission,

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Speaker 2: particularly if the ability I had them has the former

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Speaker 2: chief and adgistrates of some of the neglects and who's

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Speaker 2: suffered by some of these kids, you know. And she

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Speaker 2: was saying at the time that we have a relative

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Speaker 2: approach to these kids. You know, we were happy to

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Speaker 2: leave these kids in a sity situation where there's no

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Speaker 2: way we would leave a non indigenous kid in that

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Speaker 2: same situation because you know, relatively, you know, that kid's

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Speaker 2: situation is not that bad relative to the kid up

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Speaker 2: the roads and situations ten times worse. Ye. I think

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Speaker 2: the fact that these kids are left in these dysfunctional homes,

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Speaker 2: you know, where they're being clearly being neglected. You know,

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Speaker 2: by the time they're eleven, twelve years old, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm probably no surprise that they're trying to break in

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Speaker 2: their houses. I think my kids are the lucky ones. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and these kids, you know they've had I've heard the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister say She's right, they've had terrible lives. They've had,

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Speaker 2: you know, probably witnessed things at the age of eleven

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Speaker 2: or twelve that no child should ever have to witness.

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Speaker 2: But we're the ones who are leaving them in these situations.

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Speaker 1: Well, this is the thing, and you know, and it

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Speaker 1: doesn't give you the right to go out and break

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Speaker 1: the law and do whatever you want. It doesn't give

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Speaker 1: you the right to hold somebody up at knife point,

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Speaker 1: you know. And this is the point that I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to to get across to the Chief Minister. And I

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Speaker 1: know it's not lost on her, but I just feel

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Speaker 1: like they've run out of ideas.

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Speaker 2: Matt Well, I don't know whether they run out of ideas.

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Speaker 2: I know, you know you asked if she was there's

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Speaker 2: anything she was going to introduce on her I think

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Speaker 2: that's pretty cooked. I think you know, there needs to

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Speaker 2: do her. I think the mission, I know they're doing

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Speaker 2: a review of the Youth Justice that but it won't

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Speaker 2: continually go after the election. But I'm surely blind Freddie

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Speaker 2: can see that the changes that they made over the

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Speaker 2: past seven and a half years, I'm not working. They're

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Speaker 2: certainly not the community safety point of view that the

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Speaker 2: crime rates have never been high.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right, they are right now. Yeah, Matt,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to have to leave it there because we

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Speaker 1: are going to catch up with a member for blaming

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Speaker 1: Mark Turner. He's actually planning on introducing a private member's

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Speaker 1: bill one about changes to the criminal Code for neglected children.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to find out a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about that, Matt Cunningham, mate, I really appreciate your time,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sorry to hear what happened to you and

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Speaker 1: your family. It is just ordinary, to put it very mildly.

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Speaker 2: Thanks.

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Speaker 1: Thanks, my