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Speaker 1: Now, yesterday on the show, I actually read out a

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Speaker 1: text from a listener who's also a Cyclone Tracy survivor,

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Speaker 1: who raised concerns about a secret event, as he called it,

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Speaker 1: that the city of Darwin is planning for the unveiling

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Speaker 1: of the Kinetic sculpture at Bundela Beach or November twenty nine. Now,

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Speaker 1: the message from Anthony Bullock said the event excludes the

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Speaker 1: very group of people that it is supposed to represent,

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Speaker 1: being Cyclone Tracy survivors, with a public commemoration planned for

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Speaker 1: November thirty at the Darwin Ski Club. Now Anthony joins

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Speaker 1: me on the line. Now, good morning to you, Anthonyah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you Yeah, not too bad? Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for your time. Now, how did you come to

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Speaker 1: learn about this event that's happening on the twenty ninth

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Speaker 1: of November, and and what are your concerns?

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, it came to me through a

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Speaker 2: retired journalist who had been doing investigations into this and

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Speaker 2: I then from that information, I then gathered a lot

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Speaker 2: of information, including from the ski club themselves, who confirmed

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Speaker 2: the event, and that made it was confirmed through another

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Speaker 2: journalist who actually saw an invitation to that meeting. So

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Speaker 2: the concern is is that the Council hasn't published this

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Speaker 2: event at all. It appears to be just going to

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Speaker 2: a few dignitaries that will be coming up for the

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Speaker 2: event and doesn't involve any Cyclone Tracy survivors. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is this is typical of what the Council has

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Speaker 2: done with us all the way along.

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Speaker 1: I've got to tell you, Anthony, to begin with, I

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Speaker 1: was confused because I thought that it was just all

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Speaker 1: one event, you know, I thought that everything was happening

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Speaker 1: on you know, on whatever date it was, on the

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Speaker 1: thirtieth or the twenty ninth. I didn't realize it was

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Speaker 1: there was two events. And you'll probably be horrified to

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Speaker 1: learn this, but I'm a very open and honest person.

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Speaker 1: I know I received an invitation for the one on

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Speaker 1: the twenty ninth, and I thought to myself, this is

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Speaker 1: not an event for me. This is an event for

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Speaker 1: Cyclone Tracy survivors.

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Speaker 2: Well there you go, Okatie. I mean, the Council has

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Speaker 2: only advertised the thirtieth, that's that period, and nothing has

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Speaker 2: been said of the twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I can't wrap my head around this, like

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Speaker 1: why do you think, Well, from what you can gather,

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Speaker 1: why are there two events.

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Speaker 2: I'll be as honest as I can, Katie. Yeah, this

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Speaker 2: decision by the council has been manifestly unpopular from the

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Speaker 2: get go. I mean they've excluded Cyclone Tracy survivors from

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Speaker 2: there been involved in the planning of the memorials, getting

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Speaker 2: involved in the engagement of it. As you know through

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Speaker 2: your own show, Yep, it's been absolutely unpopular. You go

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Speaker 2: across the whole Internet looking for comments, you will not

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Speaker 2: find a single person who supports the council. Now that

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Speaker 2: you know, I would presume what's been happening. Now this

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Speaker 2: has been done on the side, there will be no

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Speaker 2: negative publicity that will come from it, and it'll be

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Speaker 2: done in Dustint.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I look, you know, for me, what I've

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Speaker 1: learned over the last sort of six months, and I

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Speaker 1: knew it anyway, Like I knew that Cyclone Tracy. I

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Speaker 1: knew what it did to the Northern Territory. I knew

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Speaker 1: what it did to Darwin, and I knew the impact

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Speaker 1: that it had on people. But from my conversations with

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Speaker 1: Cyclone Tracy survivors over the last few months, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's quite heartbreaking actually when you hear the way

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Speaker 1: in which the event is remembered. It's heartbreaking when you

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Speaker 1: hear the impact that it still has on those survivors.

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Speaker 1: And I just think we've got to get it right

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Speaker 1: when it comes to this fifty years we have absolutely

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Speaker 1: got to get these commemorations.

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Speaker 2: Right, Katie, absolutely correct. I mean, as we're getting close

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Speaker 2: and closer now, more and more people are getting together

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Speaker 2: and you can you can read and you can talk

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Speaker 2: to people that grief is real, the trauma is real,

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Speaker 2: and whole this whole debarklon, that's what I'm going to

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Speaker 2: call it. It's been a complete another pr nightmare from

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Speaker 2: the Council. Has just insulted, humiliated Cyclone Tracy survivors. You know,

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Speaker 2: it just appears we've been the last people considered in

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Speaker 2: this whole messon each time we've tried appealing to the

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Speaker 2: Council to please reconsider being met with a big closed door. Effectively,

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Speaker 2: we're all considered irrelevant by the Council and that's the

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Speaker 2: way people feel, and it's just causing more and more

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Speaker 2: angst in the community and particularly amongst the Cyclone tracys.

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Speaker 2: Ather so we'll live it. We're hurting pretty badly over this, Anthony.

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Speaker 1: Tell me it is being reported that a letter signed

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Speaker 1: by a number of survivors has been sent to elected

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Speaker 1: officials to boycott the event. How many people have signed

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Speaker 1: that letter?

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Speaker 2: I think it's close to two hundred and fifty arcadia

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Speaker 2: And there's more people put in their hand up every

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Speaker 2: single day. As I said, there's about seven and a

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Speaker 2: half thousand people involved in the Cyclone Tracy survivors past,

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Speaker 2: so not all of them get to read them, you know,

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Speaker 2: get updated all the time, but they're just constantly flowing in.

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Speaker 2: You know, they do not support this. They want you know, prasticians.

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Speaker 2: All those elected representatives have to now decide do you

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Speaker 2: stand on the side of the Cyclone Tracy survivors or

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Speaker 2: are you going to stand on the side of the

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Speaker 2: council who's been anything but open and honest about this

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Speaker 2: whole thing.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell me, I understand that there are a few

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Speaker 1: of you or are there you know? Correct me if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Are there a few of you that are

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Speaker 1: planning on protesting at that event on the twenty.

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Speaker 2: Ninth, Yes, there are, Katie. It'll be the oldest group

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Speaker 2: of protesters in Australian history, I would imagine. So yes, look,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, Katie, we have to

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Speaker 2: make our message clear. Yep. We have to let people

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Speaker 2: know what this means to us, because after this time,

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Speaker 2: I mean, we are the last generation of survivors. After us,

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Speaker 2: the story can be written by anybody else, but yes,

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Speaker 2: it is our story to tell and right now we

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Speaker 2: need to let people know this is not what Cyclone

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Speaker 2: Tracy survivors want. So yes, there will be a protest

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Speaker 2: of some sort. The Council is making as difficult as

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Speaker 2: possible for that happened, but that's okay. We're not going

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Speaker 2: to cause any trouble. I can assure that they're quite

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Speaker 2: peaceful and let those that attend know exactly how we

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Speaker 2: all feel.

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Speaker 1: I mean, does it all stand back as well to

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Speaker 1: the backlash over the sculpture design and the Council at

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Speaker 1: one point saying that it was just public art. Well,

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Speaker 1: that was what Colin said to me on the show

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Speaker 1: at one point.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's also put that writing to some of

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Speaker 2: the Cyclone Tracy survivors. So the message has been diametrically

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Speaker 2: different depending on where the Council feels they need to

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Speaker 2: quill any public anger, and they just keep changing the story.

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Speaker 2: If you look clearly at the original agreement between the

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Speaker 2: federal government the council, it was to build a Cyclone

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Speaker 2: Tracy memorial for Cyclone Tracy survivors and their families, and

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Speaker 2: the Council keeps changing their plan on that. And not

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Speaker 2: only that they didn't include us, they held an advisory

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Speaker 2: committee of which the mayor is the chair of that committee,

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Speaker 2: and those minutes of meetings are secret, which are now

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Speaker 2: going through the Freedom Information process to try and find

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Speaker 2: out how they came to select this awful structure that

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Speaker 2: has no resemblance to any of our feelings of how

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Speaker 2: we went through through Cyclone Tracy.

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Speaker 1: Well, and the thing is, you know, what you went

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Speaker 1: through was unbelievable. And being able to commemorate the fiftieth

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Speaker 1: anniversary is something that I feel is so incredibly important.

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Speaker 1: And I know that there are a lot of people

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Speaker 1: planning on coming back to Darwin for those commemorations, hoping

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Speaker 1: to be here for those commemorations. And you know, even

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Speaker 1: when we even when the sculpture was unveiled, there was, honestly, Anthony,

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Speaker 1: there was that many people that got in contact with

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Speaker 1: us here that were wildly angry about it.

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Speaker 2: And absolutely correct. I trawled the internet trying to find

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Speaker 2: one positive comment on Facebook, whether it be from the

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Speaker 2: ant news, anti independent, from one oh four point nine

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Speaker 2: from the council's own public. I couldn't find a single

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Speaker 2: statement supporting it. And there was a survey done amongst

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Speaker 2: the survivors and it came back as a stunning ninety

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Speaker 2: eight percent of survivors totally objected to what the councilor proposed.

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Speaker 2: Now that's a pretty big number to try and just

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Speaker 2: simply dismiss and ignore.

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Speaker 1: To play devil's advocate here just for a moment, do

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Speaker 1: you think that the council hasn't invited survivors because there

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Speaker 1: was such backlash to the actual you know, the sculpture

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Speaker 1: and survivors not wanting it.

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Speaker 2: I don't doubt that for a minute. That's my perception,

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Speaker 2: personal perception. I just don't think the council wanted any

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Speaker 2: negative media attention to this. I presume there's going to

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Speaker 2: be a federal government representation or representatives from the federal

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Speaker 2: government plus the local anti government. It potentially will absolutely

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Speaker 2: backfire on the council. If this was made public and

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Speaker 2: we know we all turned up. I don't doubt for

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Speaker 2: a minute this was done just to avoid any negative publicity,

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Speaker 2: and it just further shows, I think, to Cyclone Tracy survivors,

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Speaker 2: how irrelevant we are in this whole process.

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Speaker 1: Well, not to us, Anthony, And I know that, as

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Speaker 1: I say on this show, I know that there are

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Speaker 1: so many people that want to make sure that Cyclone

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Speaker 1: Tracy the fiftieth commemoration is done correctly. What is your

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Speaker 1: message this morning for the Lord Mayor and for Counsel.

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Speaker 2: Well, I would ask the Lord Mayor to he's got

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Speaker 2: the power to reconsider this. Move that structure to some

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Speaker 2: other part of Darwin, maybe the waterfront. And you know,

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Speaker 2: if it takes another twelve months to get this right,

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Speaker 2: put together a proper community, a community and Cyclone Tracy

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Speaker 2: survivor group and get them to nut something out over

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Speaker 2: the next few months. I don't mind waiting another year,

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Speaker 2: but get it right, put it down, get it done properly,

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Speaker 2: and then we can start healing again, because right now

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Speaker 2: we're at the opposite end of that spectrum.

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Speaker 1: Anthony, I really appreciate your time this morning, mate. Before

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Speaker 1: I let you go, how old are you expecting the

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Speaker 1: group of protesters to be you said, the oldest in Australia.

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Speaker 2: Well, i was twelve during Cyclone trades and I'm on

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Speaker 2: the verge again to hitting sixty three.

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Speaker 1: That's right, that's a good idea.

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Speaker 2: Well, my kids don't think I'm probably one of the

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Speaker 2: younger ones that remember Cyclone, Tracy. Yeah, you know there's

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Speaker 2: people that are up and past their eighties there. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: so yeah, and you know they're not happy, trads, not

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Speaker 2: happy at all about this, and a lot of them

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Speaker 2: are prepared to come there and let the council know

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Speaker 2: how how unhappy they are. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, Anthony, I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Kate, thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Bye.