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Speaker 1: We quite often on this show gets contacted by listeners

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Speaker 1: pretty concerned about bad behavior from neighbors. Now, my next

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Speaker 1: guest is one listener who's contacted a public housing provider

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Speaker 1: on several occasions, but concerns about concerns in Woodroffe. And

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Speaker 1: she's speaking out because quite frankly, she's fed up with

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Speaker 1: it falling on deaf ears. Her name's Robbie. She joins

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Speaker 1: me on the line. Right now, get a Robbie.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Katie, how are you?

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Speaker 1: You're really good, lovely to have you on the show now,

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Speaker 1: thank you, Robbie. I understand that you've been dealing with

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Speaker 1: bad tenants next door for some time. Now, can you

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Speaker 1: tell us about what some of some of what's being

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Speaker 1: experienced and what kind of impact it's having.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean basically we've been dealing with bad tenants

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Speaker 2: now for fourteen years.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's a long time, Robbie, that's a bloody long time.

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Speaker 2: Three lots of different bad tenants. So I think we've

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Speaker 2: got a bit of you know, CBTs, chronic bad tenant syndrome.

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Speaker 2: We've we just set up. We don't even know what

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Speaker 2: to do. We're at our weekend, we have it's been

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Speaker 2: years of constant reporting to police, to housing territory, families,

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Speaker 2: local members, now you guys as well, and it just all,

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Speaker 2: like you said, seems to fall on death is nobody

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Speaker 2: wants to know about it. Everyone just sort of goes, oh, yes, ess,

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Speaker 2: we're investigating it, we're looking we're looking into it, we're

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Speaker 2: looking for a solution. But nothing happens. So they just

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Speaker 2: tell us what we want to hear and then they,

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Speaker 2: you know, hang up on us or shut the door

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Speaker 2: or whatever.

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Speaker 1: Nothing changes. Now we won't name the service provider. I

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Speaker 1: mean we probably can if we want to, but essentially

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Speaker 1: it's a community housing provider that manages the house next door.

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Speaker 1: But really, you know, the manage of management of it,

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Speaker 1: I would argue, isn't happening real? Well, if you've got

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Speaker 1: a situation where there is food waste being left around,

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Speaker 1: there's fighting, there's yelling, there is bad behavior, there's damage

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Speaker 1: to the property, all sorts of things, things being thrown

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Speaker 1: into your yard.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Actually, as a spanner came over our fence on

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Speaker 2: Monday afternoon, you're joking, no, And so I went and

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Speaker 2: spoke to the kids who did it, and I said,

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Speaker 2: what if you hit one of our dogs or I

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Speaker 2: could have been driving my car in right when that

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Speaker 2: came over the fence, and they know, they didn't care,

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Speaker 2: you know, it didn't mean anything to them, but you know,

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Speaker 2: and the thing was this. You know, while it is

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Speaker 2: a non government organization that is providing the property management,

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Speaker 2: it ultimately is funded by the government, I'm assuming, and

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Speaker 2: there's the amount of tax pay money that's being wasted

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Speaker 2: on this property and would be one of many I

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Speaker 2: would imagine propertyless situation. I know for a fact that

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Speaker 2: the last there's been two full referves since we've been

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Speaker 2: in the last fourteen years. The last one I know

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Speaker 2: cost upward to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Wow,

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Speaker 2: and it is now trashed again, way in the space

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Speaker 2: of ten months. It's an absolute Yeah. Yeah, it's disgraceful.

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Speaker 2: We can't even sit on our balcony because I don't

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Speaker 2: want to look into that yard.

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Speaker 1: Yeah it is. That is not good. And you know,

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Speaker 1: by the sounds of it, you and your husband are

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Speaker 1: feeling pretty helpless. So I mean, you guys have sent

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Speaker 1: me quite like a number of emails or ccb into

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Speaker 1: some of those emails, and I appreciate it because I

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Speaker 1: think that. It actually gives me and it gives others

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Speaker 1: some context into the ongoing relentless bad behavior that's being experienced,

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Speaker 1: Like what's been the feedback from that housing provider, but

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Speaker 1: also from the local member, from the government everybody, okay.

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Speaker 2: From the housing provider is pretty much niga. It's pretty

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Speaker 2: much nothing. It's nothing. There's no action taking it all.

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Speaker 2: There's been nothing done that. There's the odd they'll see

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Speaker 2: they'll put a few bags of rubbish in a ute

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Speaker 2: and maybe take them to the tip. Maybe sometimes it's

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Speaker 2: like oh that they must have got a phone call,

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Speaker 2: but that's the extent of it. Really. I think they've

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Speaker 2: attended the property perhaps early in when we started complaining

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Speaker 2: at Chris just after Christmas time about these particular tenants.

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Speaker 2: So they've basically done zero nothing. Local Member Matchikel. He's

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Speaker 2: been helpful, but I think his hands are tied as

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Speaker 2: well by the legislation and various things about the difficulty

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Speaker 2: in moving tenants on currently it's very difficult to do that.

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Speaker 2: But he did also advise us, you know, there's thousands

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Speaker 2: of thousands of great, hard working families who would love

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Speaker 2: a home.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right, you know, you're the.

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Speaker 2: Ones that are in there at the moment. They just

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Speaker 2: don't they don't care about anything. They now have chicks

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Speaker 2: in the house.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't even know what to say, Robbie, because

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Speaker 1: I'd be beside myself if they were next door. And

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Speaker 1: also though you know, every time the family moves out,

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Speaker 1: or every time someone moves out, you'd be worried about

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Speaker 1: who's going to move in next?

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Speaker 2: Yes, well we are now and then it just seems

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Speaker 2: to be going from bad to work. Yeah, and so

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Speaker 2: probably I don't.

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Speaker 1: Know, like I know that I know it's managed by

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Speaker 1: a housing provider, right, but as we've discussed ultimately, I

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Speaker 1: would imagine that it's been that they're being funded by

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government or the federal government. What is

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Speaker 1: your message for the government, you know, with this house

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Speaker 1: next door, but also you know, to anybody living next

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Speaker 1: door to problem public housing tenants or those that are

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Speaker 1: actually managed by you know, by a social housing organization

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Speaker 1: and not doing the right thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think the message is can people

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Speaker 2: start doing their job? And there is expectations, you know,

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Speaker 2: as a member of a you know, a community, a

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Speaker 2: neighborhood to have some respect for not only your own property,

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Speaker 2: but for the people who live around you. And that's

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Speaker 2: just lacking and there's there's no consequence. Is the other

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Speaker 2: thing that absolutely blow their mind is that they do

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Speaker 2: They destroy, destroy windows, they destroy clotheslines, they destroy gates,

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Speaker 2: they destroy I hate to think what the inside of

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Speaker 2: their house looks like. But there's no consequences, so they

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Speaker 2: just keep doing whatever they're doing, which is unfair on

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Speaker 2: you know, other renters, give an unleveled playing field, because

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Speaker 2: I mean, anyone who's renting from elders or elder hooker,

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Speaker 2: you treat the property like that you're not going to

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Speaker 2: be in it for very long, yeah, and you're going

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Speaker 2: to get a big bill.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. But you know, Robbie, the other part of it

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Speaker 1: is these like a nine year wait list or nine years,

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Speaker 1: you know, like people are on that public housing wait

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Speaker 1: list for up to nine years. You know, we're talking

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Speaker 1: then people with disabilities, you're talking seniors. You're talking families

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Speaker 1: that are in need having to wait while others are

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Speaker 1: in homes and not looking after them exactly.

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Speaker 2: And it's just you know, and I don't know who.

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Speaker 2: No one seems to want to take responsibility for this

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Speaker 2: issue at all everyone just put pass the bucks onto

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Speaker 2: this from the next person, or just ignore it, pretend

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Speaker 2: it's not happening. But it is because it's happening to us. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and it's you know, it's quality of life is you

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Speaker 2: know important. We're just a normal, hard working family, but

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Speaker 2: we feel uncomfortable in our own home a lot of

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Speaker 2: the time, waiting to see what are they going to

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Speaker 2: do next?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Robbie, it sucks. That absolutely sucks. I'd be furious,

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Speaker 1: look the bit. I mean, all I can do is

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Speaker 1: raise it and try my best to put a bit

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Speaker 1: of a spotlight on it and hope that it embarrasses

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Speaker 1: someone into doing something, you know, and we'll continue to

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Speaker 1: do that. So please continue to keep me up to

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Speaker 1: date with what's going on, and keep you know, like,

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Speaker 1: if there is any progress, let me know. Yeah, because

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Speaker 1: you know, I get in turn, like if someone's doing

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Speaker 1: a good job and they do bloody sorted out, I

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Speaker 1: think excellent. I'm happy to scream it from the rooftops.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, you know. Yeah, I mean we can't even sell.

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Speaker 2: We're trapped basically.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my husband was advised that we'd probably lose two

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Speaker 2: hundred K if we try to sell it, it would

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Speaker 2: actually be wed, so we can't sell it. And we've

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Speaker 2: we's just going to stay there and just and it

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Speaker 2: seems that we just have to put up with it,

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Speaker 2: which is not not right.

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Speaker 1: That is not Yeah, it's just not on. Robbie. I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate you having a chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 1: Let's stay in touch. I'll talk to you soon.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks, thank you anytime.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Robbie.

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Speaker 2: Thanks