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Speaker 1: As we know, the Northern Territory government, well, they announced

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Speaker 1: a little while back the separation of the TRY Service,

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Speaker 1: which was the police, the Fire and Emergency Services. The

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Speaker 1: department is currently in the process of separating the TRY

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Speaker 1: Service and have recently appointed an interim Chief Executive Officer

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Speaker 1: for MT Fire and Emergency Services to oversee the transition.

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Speaker 1: That interim CEO, Andrew Andy Wharton, joins me in the studio.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you in the studio. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for your time today. Now, Andy, tell us, how

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Speaker 1: are things going with the separation.

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Speaker 3: I guess to begin with yes, So the transition to

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Speaker 3: a standalone agency and that is the NT Fire and

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Speaker 3: Emergency Service, Yep, it's going really well. There's a lot

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Speaker 3: of work to do though, so we're in the very

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Speaker 3: early stages of it. And this is not something where

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Speaker 3: you just flick a switch overnight and all of a

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Speaker 3: sudden you're a standalone agency.

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Speaker 2: It literally is a transition.

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Speaker 3: So over the next twour or so months, what we're

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Speaker 3: doing is slowly transiting away from those services that we

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Speaker 3: used to share or still share in the year's time,

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Speaker 3: won't share with the NT Police as a try service

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Speaker 3: so that we build all those capabilities ourselves. So your HR,

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Speaker 3: your finance, your capability, your strategy, all of that will

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Speaker 3: be us hopefully, you know, in twelve to eighteen months

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Speaker 3: in a is separate agency and that's this agency.

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Speaker 1: Now, for those who don't know you, you are also the

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Speaker 1: former chief executive of the Northern Territory Emergency Services, so

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Speaker 1: you do bring a wealth of knowledge with you to.

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Speaker 2: The interim role.

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Speaker 1: In terms of that separation, I guess from police, how

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Speaker 1: will it be managed in a real kind of practical sense.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like now the fires and emergency services will

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Speaker 1: sort of shift over together, the police will be totally separate.

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Speaker 1: How will that sort of change? I guess things that

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Speaker 1: happen on a day to day basis.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's look at the day to day, the

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Speaker 3: day to day operational arms. So the fireside and the

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Speaker 3: emergency service side, those services won't change. If you remember

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Speaker 3: the public and you're wondering how this is going to

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Speaker 3: affect you immediately, the answer is it's not. In the

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Speaker 3: long term, the answer is it's going to make the

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Speaker 3: service better. Like this is an incredible opportunity, Katie to

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Speaker 3: build the fire and Emergency Services organization of the future.

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Speaker 3: So everything we're doing at the moment and I hate

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Speaker 3: to use the word future proof, but it's actually the

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Speaker 3: best word. That's what we're doing. We're building an organization

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Speaker 3: that is going to be the home of emergency management

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Speaker 3: via emergency services in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: What's it going to look like in terms of you know,

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Speaker 1: the infrastructure and stuff. I know, years ago, I worked

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Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services in

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Speaker 1: the media unit a lifetime ago, and everybody's sort of

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Speaker 1: based or they were at the time. A lot of

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Speaker 1: those different you know, a lot of those different staff

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Speaker 1: are based out of the same location. So infrastructure wise,

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Speaker 1: will that remain the same or is there going to

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Speaker 1: be a big separation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look at a headquarters level, we're currently going through

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Speaker 3: that process. So we will be relocating in some of

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Speaker 3: the major locations in Darwin in a headquarters sense away

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Speaker 3: from police yep. And look, that's all part of our identity.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we are building now an identity as a

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Speaker 3: separate standlane agency and I must make the point with

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Speaker 3: a separate minister or reporting line. This is the key

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Speaker 3: KD for the first time since nineteen eighty one, we

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Speaker 3: as an agency will have our own minister and most importantly,

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Speaker 3: our own budget and that's where the opportunity lies.

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Speaker 1: And in terms of that budget, is there any sense

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Speaker 1: at this point from the government? I know there will

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Speaker 1: I'm sure be some sort of announcements and some plans made,

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Speaker 1: but is there any sense of how extensive that budget

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Speaker 1: may or may not be on an annual level.

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Speaker 3: So there's a lot of work going on with my

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Speaker 3: team at the moment in the background to work out

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Speaker 3: how we move away from these shared services, and most importantly,

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Speaker 3: we're out there consulting with all of the frontline to

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Speaker 3: talk about what it is that they see we need

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Speaker 3: over the horizon to build this agency into what it

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Speaker 3: needs to be.

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Speaker 1: And in one of the big times when most people

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Speaker 1: actually need our emergency services, whether it's the police, the

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Speaker 1: fieries or emergency services, is when there's a cyclone, when

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Speaker 1: there's a flood, when there's a fire. And quite often

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Speaker 1: what we see I suppose with those emergency situations is

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Speaker 1: the police of the lead operator or they have been

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Speaker 1: in the past. Is that going to continue to be

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Speaker 1: the case or how does the separation or will the

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Speaker 1: separation mean much of a difference.

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Speaker 3: In the short term the answers no. And in the

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Speaker 3: long term the answer is it depends on the work

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Speaker 3: we do at the moment, but there is certainly opportunity

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Speaker 3: into the future for our agency to take on a

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Speaker 3: larger role when it comes to being incident controllers and

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Speaker 3: managing large, large events in that space.

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Speaker 1: And so, I know, at the moment, and you've sort

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Speaker 1: of touched on this the leadership group from nt fire

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Speaker 1: and Emergency Services, you're touring the territory and you're sort

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Speaker 1: of going out and speaking to staff, aren't you.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's absolutely critical that we're community. I mean, this

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Speaker 3: has changed management one O one. This is a pretty

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Speaker 3: big change. Needs to be managed carefully, properly, in an

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Speaker 3: informed way. And that's so that's why we're out consulting

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Speaker 3: with people on the front line, consulting with headquarters staff

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Speaker 3: and keeping people you know, onboard, bringing them on the

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Speaker 3: journey as opposed to doing it to them.

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Speaker 1: Like what's the feedback being from staff? But people pretty

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Speaker 1: sort of open to it. Are they feeling a bit

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Speaker 1: worried or are they kind of you know, they're going

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Speaker 1: all right, Well, so long as this is communicated. Well,

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Speaker 1: we like the idea of their being our own, our

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Speaker 1: own ministerial sort of line, and that separation finally happening.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a question that was really interested to unpack

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Speaker 2: the day I started. I think, what do they think?

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Speaker 3: And I think overwhelmingly there's a positive response to the

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Speaker 3: actual transition, to the fact that you know, we're effectively

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Speaker 3: moving away from the budgetry shadows in particular of the police,

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Speaker 3: which we have been tied to over time. This is

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Speaker 3: time for us to advocate for our own, our own budget,

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Speaker 3: our own capability, and to enhance our own people. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: so that we can deliver the public, because that's why

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Speaker 3: we're here. That's the bottom line is we are here

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Speaker 3: for you. We're here for the public. The better we

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Speaker 3: do now, the better we're going to be into the future.

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Speaker 1: And is it pretty well in line with what happens

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Speaker 1: in others. You you sort of see with emergency services

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Speaker 1: and others in different states, they do seem to be

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Speaker 1: more separate. I don't know whether that's a correct observation

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Speaker 1: or not.

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Speaker 2: Now it's a very astute observation.

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Speaker 3: And you're right, we're actually the last jurisdiction to move

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Speaker 3: away from the tri Service. So Tasmania have done it

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Speaker 3: or doing it at the moment, ACT did it in

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Speaker 3: recent years as well.

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Speaker 2: And you'll note too that some states.

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Speaker 3: And territories have their own emergency management divisions or departments,

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Speaker 3: So this whole emergency management side of the house is growing.

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Speaker 3: We know that the frequency the intensity of events. We've

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Speaker 3: just had the hottest twelve months apparently in the last

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Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty thousand years in Australia, So this

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Speaker 3: stuff's not going away, and building emergency management capabilities into

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Speaker 3: the future is absolutely critical and this sets the foundation

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Speaker 3: for that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, before I let you go, I know that

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Speaker 1: it's international firefighters. Believe that's on Friday.

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Speaker 2: Is that right? It's on Saturday, Saturday.

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Speaker 1: But you're going to be carrying a stretcher on Fridays?

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Speaker 3: Right, It's possible, Katie, this stage I can't confirm or

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Speaker 3: deny that.

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Speaker 1: Well, I reckon, you'll be right. I reckon you'll be

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Speaker 1: able to do that.

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Speaker 2: Andy, it'd be fine.

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Speaker 3: Look like I said, this change management process, it's got

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Speaker 3: to be done on the road, not from behind a computer.

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Speaker 2: So whatever it takes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And for those listening this morning who are

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Speaker 1: thinking to themselves. I recognize that voice.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 1: Andy was from another station, the ABC's Tails from the Tinny,

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Speaker 1: but he's also a fellow war a Tars footy parent

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Speaker 1: with me. So good to have you in this studio

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Speaker 1: in this capacity. Mate.

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Speaker 2: Good on you, Katie, Thanks very much and no doubt

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Speaker 2: we'll talk to you very soon. Go the Tars.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely good on your Thanks Andy,