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Speaker 1: Well, as you heard on the show last week, expectant

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Speaker 1: mums around the top end concerned and stressed about some

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Speaker 1: of the changes which are happening when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the delivery of maternity services in Darwin. So last week

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Speaker 1: we'd revealed on the show that a letter had been

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Speaker 1: sent advising that Midwiffree Group Practice on call services have

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Speaker 1: been stopped while the reviews carried out to ensure that

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Speaker 1: the model is sustainable. Now the letter states and anti

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Speaker 1: natal and post natal appointments are going to be conducted

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Speaker 1: by maternity group practice team will buy that team during

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Speaker 1: business hours, but labor and birth care are going to

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Speaker 1: be provided by midwives and doctors in the delivery suite. Now,

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Speaker 1: I guess the concern from a lot of mums at

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Speaker 1: this point is that that delivery suite is already under

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Speaker 1: the pump. We have caught up obviously with the union,

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Speaker 1: but we've also heard from a number of women who've

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Speaker 1: recently given birth at the hospital and have told us well, well,

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Speaker 1: one in particular actually didn't give birth at the hospital.

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Speaker 1: She turned up to the hospital in labor, was sent

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Speaker 1: home and then her mum delivered her baby at home

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Speaker 1: within hours. Now joining us in the studio is the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, Leah Finocchio. Good morning to you, Leah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, what do you make of this situation? I know

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Speaker 1: there's a couple of issues here bubbling along when it

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Speaker 1: comes to the delivery of services to women in the

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Speaker 1: territory when they're pregnant, But I mean, what do you

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Speaker 1: make of this situation currently?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so there are a couple of things going on

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Speaker 3: and hopefully I can clear up at least a little

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Speaker 3: bit of it. So one thing is the on call

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Speaker 3: nurse for the Midwiffree Practice Women, who is about thirty

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Speaker 3: nine different women, and so that used to be a

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Speaker 3: sort of twenty four hour on call service. We've had

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Speaker 3: to change that for nighttime just due to some staffing change.

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Speaker 2: But they are still getting a call answered by a midwife.

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Speaker 3: So it's just instead of bringing that midwife, it's going

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Speaker 3: to Ardie h and then they speak to a midwife there.

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Speaker 3: So that's just a slight difference, and I appreciate very

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Speaker 3: much that that's still very setting for the women involved,

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Speaker 3: but continuity of service remains. In terms of pressure on

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Speaker 3: the system, we do have a very busy hospital but

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Speaker 3: there hasn't been a material change or impact because of

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Speaker 3: what's happened with Hellscope over at the private So we

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Speaker 3: just have to keep monitoring and obviously resourcing these things.

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Speaker 3: We want women having a really calm and confident birthing experience,

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Speaker 3: and we want women to have that faith and confidence

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Speaker 3: in the system, obviously.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, unfortunately it doesn't seem as though that is

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Speaker 1: the case for every woman at this point in time.

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Speaker 1: I mean, as I just mentioned, we spoke to a

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Speaker 1: mum about two weeks ago who had fronted, you know,

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Speaker 1: gone up to the hospital in labor. They had sent

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Speaker 1: her home, They didn't do an internal or didn't sort

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Speaker 1: of do a thorough check to see how far along

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Speaker 1: she was. She tells us. She then got home. Her

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Speaker 1: mum ended up delivering her baby, obviously with the assistance

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Speaker 1: of Saint John. We also spoke to another mom, Tessa,

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago and again last week about

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Speaker 1: these changes. But Tessa had told us about laboring well

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Speaker 1: in sort of a hallway area within the hospital for

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Speaker 1: quite some time while they waited for a room to

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Speaker 1: be cleaned. So I guess we're hearing a lot of

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Speaker 1: reassurance from the government and also from staff to tell

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Speaker 1: us that there isn't additional stress on maternity services, But

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Speaker 1: then we're hearing from Northern Territory women that that's simply

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Speaker 1: not the case.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think it's just a continuation of stress on

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Speaker 3: the system. I don't know that it's increased because of

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Speaker 3: the closure. We know that it's only about its less

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Speaker 3: than three hundred berths a year, right, so we're not

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Speaker 3: even talking about one a day, so it is a

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Speaker 3: minimal additional impact. That's not to say that our system

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Speaker 3: wasn't already under pressure and continues to be under pressure.

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Speaker 3: So it's just something we have to work through. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: it's a very very special and sensitive and even scary

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Speaker 3: time in a family's life, so you want all of

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Speaker 3: that to be perfect, seamless. I completely appreciate that as

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Speaker 3: a as a mother myself, I hear you.

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Speaker 2: I get it personally, I get it.

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Speaker 3: So we've just got to continue doing our best to

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Speaker 3: make sure we've got the right stuff. You know, We've

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Speaker 3: put a lot of extra money into our health budget

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Speaker 3: this year recognizing the strain at ARDH, and we're also

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Speaker 3: looking to our the federal government to be doing their

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Speaker 3: fair share as well, especially when it comes to age care.

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Speaker 3: You know, we need that age care facility so that

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Speaker 3: we can get the agecare people out of the hospital.

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Speaker 2: And have more support within the hospital spot on people.

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Speaker 1: Spot on and we've definitely spoken about that before. Look

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Speaker 1: what I can see though at the moment, it's part

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Speaker 1: of the broader discussions that I'm having, is that you know,

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Speaker 1: not only are we seeing the changes when it comes

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Speaker 1: to you know, when it comes to the Midway free

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Speaker 1: group practice, the on call service. We also have a

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Speaker 1: situation where as we learned about earlier in the year,

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Speaker 1: the maternity ward there at the Darwin Private Hospitals closed.

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Speaker 1: Now I also have confirmed over recent days that the

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Speaker 1: two private obstetricians that we have operating here in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory are not going to be continuing operating post

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Speaker 1: the next couple of months. So what we have is

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Speaker 1: a situation in a capital city where the choices for

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory women are minimizing. I mean, this does have

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Speaker 1: an impact when you talk about retaining young families in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: There's no question, Katie, and that's why we've tried to

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Speaker 3: provide you know, government delivers government services, and what we've

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Speaker 3: tried to do is create a private alternative. But it's

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Speaker 3: not perfect and it can't replace a private system. But

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Speaker 3: what we have to do is make sure that we

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Speaker 3: are continuing to grow our economy so that we can

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Speaker 3: underpin private sector investment. Now, the reason why Healthscope pulled

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Speaker 3: out of maternity is because it just wasn't paying the

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Speaker 3: bills at less than three hundred months a year. Now,

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Speaker 3: I'm not defending them, but they're just operating in a

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Speaker 3: commercial environment. It comes back to growing. Everything comes back

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Speaker 3: to growing our economy. So we know Hellscope still hangs

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Speaker 3: in the balance. There is that commitment across the federal

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Speaker 3: government to work with all states and territories affected.

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Speaker 1: They gave Tasmania funding. My understanding is that Steve Edgington

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Speaker 1: had asked for funding. I thought it was thirty odd

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Speaker 1: million dollars from the federal government. So where is that

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Speaker 1: at Because women are really concerned right.

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Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, absolutely so.

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Speaker 3: So I don't think we've had a response from the

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Speaker 3: federal government on that. They have under you know, sort

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Speaker 3: of made a commitment around us safety in it on

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Speaker 3: what next steps look like. Because if if Healthscope go

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Speaker 3: to a new you know, is sold to a new provider.

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Speaker 3: That might mean maternity services open back up. But we've

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Speaker 3: just got to keep the pressure on that. And at

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Speaker 3: the moment, it's just business as usual for Hellscope obviously

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Speaker 3: at Darwin Prior.

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Speaker 1: I'm also told that defense members are sending women into state.

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Speaker 2: Okay, have you heard that?

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Speaker 3: No, I haven't heard that some women might be choosing

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Speaker 3: to do that.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. Again, it is a big issue, Like.

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Speaker 1: How concerned are you that there are Northern Territory women

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Speaker 1: that are saying, well, we're going to go into state

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Speaker 1: rather than have our baby here because we're hearing these

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Speaker 1: stories from other moms, you know, like they've got their

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Speaker 1: own Facebook group where they're literally sharing these stories with

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Speaker 1: each other and they're worried, right, and they're not worried,

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Speaker 1: you know, because something may happen, Like we know that

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Speaker 1: we've got high mortality rates unfortunately when it comes to

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Speaker 1: babies in the Northern Territory, so it actually does. It's

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Speaker 1: a big issue for us.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, there's no question, Katie, And you know, there's

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Speaker 3: nothing I can't just wave a magic one to make

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Speaker 3: it better. So I'm not going to pretend to write,

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Speaker 3: We know there is pressure in the hospital. We know

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Speaker 3: Hellscope are pulling out, and that's a commercial decision we

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Speaker 3: couldn't stop. But we have put in place that safety

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Speaker 3: net with the federal government around what is what is next?

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Speaker 3: And we are absolutely putting our foot to the pedal

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Speaker 3: on growing the economy and we've had some good results

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Speaker 3: at a ten point two percent growth race, the fastest

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Speaker 3: in the country. Things are turning around, and if we

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Speaker 3: can keep our economy moving up and crime moving down,

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Speaker 3: we will regain our numbers. Numbers equals greater opportunity for

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Speaker 3: private sector investment, which means more choice, and that will,

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Speaker 3: in and of itself create more opportunities for women to

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Speaker 3: birth in all of the ways in which they like

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Speaker 3: to choose. And I know that's cold comfort to pregnant

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Speaker 3: women now or women wanting to fall pregnant, but it

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Speaker 3: is a situation we inherited from the previous government eleven

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Speaker 3: months ago, and we are doing everything we can to

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Speaker 3: make it better in the long term, including the immediate

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Speaker 3: safety nets.

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Speaker 1: Now, look, I'm not one to call on the federal

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Speaker 1: government every time something goes shong and asks for a handout,

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Speaker 1: but I mean we're talking about the delivery of we're

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Speaker 1: free services in the Northern Territory. Are we expecting the

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Speaker 1: federal government to help out in any way in this space.

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Speaker 2: Well, we expect it. Whether or not they do is

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Speaker 2: another story.

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Speaker 3: Now, of course, there's the broader national conversation around. You know,

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Speaker 3: the Prime Minister wants there to be a new health agreement.

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Speaker 3: We are very much on board with that because it

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Speaker 3: would give the territory a signific can uplift, but that

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Speaker 3: requires an entire national cabinet to agree and ultimately, the

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Speaker 3: territory is woefully underfunded by the federal government. When you

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Speaker 3: compare our baseline funding to every other state and territory,

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Speaker 3: it's horrific.

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Speaker 2: And even under the new deal being.

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Speaker 3: Proposed, we'll get a big lift, but we will still

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Speaker 3: be way behind everyone else.

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Speaker 2: And this is just legacy issues dating back to self

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Speaker 2: government where we have been ignored.

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Speaker 3: And I say again I've said it on your show before, Katie,

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Speaker 3: that whilst the money we get from the Feds is

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Speaker 3: about seventy five percent of all revenue to the territory,

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Speaker 3: it is maintenance money.

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Speaker 2: It is status quo. It does not advance the cause.

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Speaker 3: And unfortunately, until we have a federal government that really

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Speaker 3: cares about shifting the dial for the territory. We're just

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Speaker 3: going to have to get on with it ourselves.

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Speaker 1: All right. I'm going to move along. Police have arrested

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Speaker 1: three males following an aggravated robbery that occurred in Nightcliff

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Speaker 1: early yesterday morning. This incident happened about three point fifty

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Speaker 1: in the morning at Nightcliff. Jetty, A twenty five year

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Speaker 1: old male victim alleged that three males had threatened him

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Speaker 1: with a machette before stealing his friend's vehicle keys. The

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Speaker 1: offenders subsequently fled the scene in the friend's Silver Niss

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Speaker 1: and Pulsar. Now, neither victim, fortunately were injured during that incident,

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Speaker 1: but we know that multiple police units responded. They commenced investigations.

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Speaker 1: By five o'clock in the morning, members from Strikeforce Trident

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Speaker 1: had located that vehicle and arrested the three mail The

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Speaker 1: three males so they were aged thirteen, fifteen, and nineteen. Now,

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Speaker 1: I am told that the two teenagers, the thirteen and

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Speaker 1: the fifteen year old, have already been released on bail.

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Speaker 1: They were released on the same day of their offending.

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Speaker 1: And my understanding is that they both have extensive prize.

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Speaker 1: They weren't released on police bail. I am told that

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Speaker 1: they were released through the court. However that system happens

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Speaker 1: over the course of the weekend. Is that acceptable in

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Speaker 1: your eyes? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Look, it's certainly news to me, Katie, and you know

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Speaker 3: on the face, but it doesn't pass the pub test.

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Speaker 3: And this is why we keep going back and strengthening

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Speaker 3: our bowlers.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we have.

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Speaker 3: The sharpest bow laws in the country, Katie. They are

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Speaker 3: these strongest and it requires judges to do a double

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Speaker 3: community safety test and they have to actually personally satisfy

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Speaker 3: themselves that the person they're bailing is not.

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Speaker 1: Good to you. Do you feel safe that someone's held

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Speaker 1: somebody else up with a machete and then they're back

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Speaker 1: on the street, like.

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Speaker 3: I know, I don't, yeah exactly. So I don't know

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Speaker 3: the circumstances in detail. I don't know if they had prize,

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Speaker 3: if it's a first time of fans. I know you

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Speaker 3: mentioned you had some detail. But we just have to

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Speaker 3: keep monitoring this, Katie, because if the courts aren't getting

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Speaker 3: the message, then we'll keep sending the message.

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Speaker 2: But I just don't know enough about that fact.

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Speaker 3: But needless to say, I can absolutely see your listeners

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Speaker 3: driving their car listening along saying that that's a's a

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Speaker 3: little bit curious.

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Speaker 1: Well, honestly they'll be furious because I just think to myself,

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Speaker 1: if you are using a weapon to hold somebody else.

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Speaker 2: Very serious, very serious. Absolutely, so something you'll follow up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll certainly find out more of the details when

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Speaker 3: I get off the show, Katie, and we'll we'll just

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Speaker 3: keep a very we as always, we keep a very

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Speaker 3: close eye on the changes we've made and whether they're

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Speaker 3: working and what more needs to be done, and we

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Speaker 3: just keep moving forward as this is not a you know,

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Speaker 3: the job is not done for us.

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Speaker 2: We have a lot more work to do in this space, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Chief, A couple of quick ones. We know that

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Speaker 1: the police pay negotiations continue on Northern Territory. Police overwhelmingly

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Speaker 1: rejected your government's pay offer, sending a strong message that

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Speaker 1: they're not going to be taken for granted. So and

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Speaker 1: twenty members took part in that ballot and eighty one

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Speaker 1: percent voted no to the consent agreement. Police Association president

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Speaker 1: Nathan Finn said the three percent wage cap is insulting

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Speaker 1: and the vast majority of officers are going to miss

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Speaker 1: out on the retention bonus. Look, I get that this

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Speaker 1: is obviously negotiation between the department and between the union,

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Speaker 1: but you know, for you, we are talking about a

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Speaker 1: lot of the changes to legislation are on the shoulders

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Speaker 1: of our hard working Northern Territory police. Like surely you

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Speaker 1: think they deserve a pay increase.

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Speaker 3: Of course they do, and so that's why Minister Hersey

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Speaker 3: and OCP have been doing that pay negotiation. We were

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Speaker 3: really really happy to see how many police participated because

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Speaker 3: traditionally it's more like fifty percent of our police who

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Speaker 3: actually vote, whereas this was right up there.

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Speaker 2: So that is good. It means our police are engaged.

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Speaker 1: Well, it means it pissed with the payoffics.

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Speaker 3: Well, the NTPA came out and told them to vote no,

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Speaker 3: and police came out and voted no.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, we've got to

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Speaker 2: look at what's next.

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Speaker 3: You know, we hear that we are supporting our police

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Speaker 3: in every way we can, and it's unfair and misleading

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Speaker 3: to say the three percent pay deal. It was not

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Speaker 3: the three percent. The police were getting around forty million

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Speaker 3: dollars on top of the three percent pay deal.

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Speaker 2: So it was substantially. They've rejected that, and that's their prerogative.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I heard really loudly in discussions

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Speaker 1: that I've had off f here with police officers is

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Speaker 1: they are not happy about this retention bonus situation. You know,

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Speaker 1: like in some units you've got, you know, you might

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Speaker 1: have six people that have been working within the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Police for over ten years, a varying level, you know,

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Speaker 1: but one of them happens to fall into the twenty year.

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Speaker 1: You know, somebody else might be on eleven, somebody else

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Speaker 1: might be on seventeen, and they miss out. Like, how

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Speaker 1: can you like look at that group and go, well,

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Speaker 1: that's fair for you, but not for you.

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Speaker 3: Well this is a bit of a long stager, but

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Speaker 3: at the end of the day, a retention bonus is

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Speaker 3: designed to keep people in the job. So you have

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Speaker 3: to have it at a milestone. It's not a reward

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Speaker 3: for service.

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Speaker 1: So if you've passed a milestone.

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Speaker 3: Then it's the next milestone, right, You're trying to keep

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Speaker 3: the person until the next milestone. What we ended up

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Speaker 3: doing in response to the NTPA's calls is putting it

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Speaker 3: into the EBA, So all of that money is in there,

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Speaker 3: and I said to the NTPA, you guys want a

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Speaker 3: retention bonus, you work it.

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Speaker 2: Out in the EBA.

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Speaker 3: Now they've come back and said they'd rather every police

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Speaker 3: officer just get more money. So that's that's where the

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Speaker 3: money is. So we will meet our exact election commitment.

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Speaker 3: I've actually gone above and beyond our election commitment. But

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Speaker 3: again this is all being used to you know, it's

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Speaker 3: an EBA time and I get it, that's a highly

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Speaker 3: contentious political time. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: Minister Hersey now needs to find a way forward and

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Speaker 3: it might end up being that she decides to take

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Speaker 3: it to the Police Arbitration Tribunal, which is the you know,

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Speaker 3: the independent umpire. We don't want to have a fight

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Speaker 3: with police. We want them to have a fair paid deal.

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Speaker 3: CPI is at one point six percent, so it's a

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Speaker 3: four four three three deal, which is well above CPI

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Speaker 3: and well above there.

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Speaker 1: Are you worried you're going to lose their support if

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Speaker 1: you can't sort it out.

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Speaker 2: Though, well it will be sorted out.

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Speaker 3: So it'll either be sorted out with a new offer,

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Speaker 3: or it'll be sorted out through the pad. At the

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Speaker 3: end of the day, if the independent umpire decides what

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Speaker 3: the pay should be, none of us can dispute that.

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Speaker 1: All right, Chief Minister. The shiplift, well, we know that

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Speaker 1: it is costing an absolute and a league. It's going

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Speaker 1: to be at least eight hundred and twenty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: That is despite a business case having never been prepared.

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Speaker 1: That's according to a report in the paper by cam Smith.

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Speaker 1: Now in the early days of this project being announced,

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Speaker 1: it was slated for one hundred million. That was back

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. We get the costs blowout, but I

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Speaker 1: mean seven hundred million dollars more so, appearing before the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Public Accounts Committee, it was revealed that the

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Speaker 1: previous government had signed that exclusive operations and maintenance agreement

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Speaker 1: with pass Payley. That was back in twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 1: That followed a twenty fifteen selection process that was undertaken

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Speaker 1: by the COLP. Now, I mean, do we have agreements

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Speaker 1: in play shed around who's going to use this shiplift.

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Speaker 3: I'm not aware of that detail, Canye, but suffice to

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Speaker 3: and just at the outset, I want to say we

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Speaker 3: support a robust maritime industry. It's a really critical part

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Speaker 3: of growing our economy and the ship lift will have

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Speaker 3: a role in that. Particularly. We're hoping around defense now.

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Speaker 3: Whether or not there's contracts sign I would doubt it

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Speaker 3: given the project is under construction, but they may very

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Speaker 3: well be and we want that all flushed out as

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Speaker 3: part of this Public Accounts Committee process. The Treasure is

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Speaker 3: very clearly said we need transparency on this. Territorians need

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Speaker 3: to understand the cost and you know, they'll run the

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Speaker 3: ruler over and I guess what people.

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Speaker 1: Want to know is is there going to be a benefit,

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Speaker 1: Like our territory is going to see value for money

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Speaker 1: for an eight hundred million dollars spend.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a.

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Speaker 3: Huge spend and that's why the PAC need to look

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Speaker 3: at it, because people need to know where their money

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Speaker 3: is going. It means we can't spend it on other things,

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Speaker 3: and you know, we just talked about a bunch of

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Speaker 3: things as a government you could spend money on. But

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Speaker 3: it also means, you know, we need to be using

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Speaker 3: the opportunity, so we need to back the project. If

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Speaker 3: we're going to spend the money, we've got to back

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Speaker 3: it in and we've got to make it work. We

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Speaker 3: want to see defense using it. We want to see

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Speaker 3: it build capacity across our marine industries.

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Speaker 2: And if that.

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Speaker 3: Creates lots of local jobs and opportunities for maintenance, and

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Speaker 3: it secures defense cycling through the territory, then fantastic. That's

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Speaker 3: what it was always designed to do. We've got to

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Speaker 3: make sure it now, is the brief.

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Speaker 1: All right, Chief, We're gonna have to let you go.

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Speaker 1: You're headed to the cricket last night. Yeah, pty awesome.

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Speaker 1: How about that bloke that caught the ball one hand

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Speaker 1: while holding two beers. He's got to be territory.

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Speaker 2: I reckon, that's not bad, you know I did.

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Speaker 3: I did say to the CEO of Cricket Australia that

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Speaker 3: I was pretty good at one hand, one bounce and

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Speaker 3: back in street cricket back in my day.

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Speaker 2: So if they needed a hand, I could do that.

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Speaker 2: But I wasn't taken up on the OFFU. Sorry this

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Speaker 2: step in.

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Speaker 3: But it was a cracker night like people came out

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Speaker 3: in their thousands. There's still tickets available for Tuesdays. So

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Speaker 3: what a great family event. Forty three dollars gets you

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Speaker 3: a family pass. You can get in there and have

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Speaker 3: a wonderful evening and just enjoy it while it's will

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Speaker 3: we get this opportunity.

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Speaker 1: I will say the city was absolutely bustling over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: I actually haven't seen it that busy in a long,

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Speaker 1: long time. Out for a run, had people asking for

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Speaker 1: directions for the mangrove one, you know, like you go.

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Speaker 1: It's actually really nice to see so many peace.

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Speaker 2: It's really good. About ten percent.

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Speaker 3: We believe we're from interstate, so we're just trying to

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Speaker 3: firm up those numbers. But great for locals. It delivers

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Speaker 3: on our commitment around lifestyle, and that's the first time

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Speaker 3: we've had international cricket in seventeen years, Katie first T

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Speaker 3: twenty international game, so we want to see more of

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Speaker 3: that here. It's great for our lifestyle, it's great for tourists,

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Speaker 3: it's great for local business, and we're backing and in well.

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Speaker 1: Chief Ministeralia Finocchiaro, good to speak with you this morning,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Take care everyone.

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Speaker 1: Thank you