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Katie spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix ONEOW four point nine and
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  Speaker 1: joining me live in the studio is the Lord Mayor
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  Speaker 1: of Darwin convat Sculus.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Conn.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Kate, and this I agree with you. Perrup
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  Speaker 3: Village is awesome to go there shopping. I love it
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  Speaker 3: my life. I'm enjoying myself every time I go there.
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  Speaker 3: And I can't stop going to Perrupt Delhi.
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  Speaker 4: As I know you. It was the first shop.
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  Speaker 3: I went when I came here for my job with
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  Speaker 3: the Review ninety ninety two, and I'm mad the grief
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  Speaker 3: owners and since then I have always to go and
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  Speaker 3: say hello to Napoleon and Erini and all the people
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  Speaker 3: that are working there.
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  Speaker 2: Oh they are like a territory icon. Really aren't they.
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  Speaker 4: Not like a.
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  Speaker 1: Well yes, my live reads for Perhap fine foods they
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  Speaker 1: always they are.
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  Speaker 2: They have beautiful products, no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 4: Hey.
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  Speaker 1: Now I want to ask you obviously the vaccine mandate.
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  Speaker 1: It is just one week since the Chief Minister Michael
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  Speaker 1: going To have made that announcement that this mandate is
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  Speaker 1: coming into play.
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  Speaker 2: How does it impact the council.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's a Chief Health Officer direction, yes, it's a
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  Speaker 3: legal direction.
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  Speaker 4: It's not if, but we have to follow it.
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  Speaker 3: So immediately we read it, we ask our lawyers to
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  Speaker 3: have a look at it. They did and they told
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  Speaker 3: us that we have to ask all our stuff to
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  Speaker 3: be vaccinated. On top of that, we have to ask
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  Speaker 3: all our contractors and subcontractors to be vaccinated or if.
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  Speaker 4: They are not, they're not getting a contract with the council.
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  Speaker 3: And now we're actually looking to see the elected members
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  Speaker 3: because under the Act, elect members are not employees.
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  Speaker 4: But there is also the Fair Work Australia. We have
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  Speaker 4: to ask and save Work safe.
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  Speaker 3: So we have this situation now because the reality is
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  Speaker 3: when we act as elected members and we meet with people,
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  Speaker 3: we might meet with some whi's actually vulnerable or Indigenous people,
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  Speaker 3: which actually comes under the Chief Health Office direction. So
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  Speaker 3: this is the last step. But everybody works for council
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  Speaker 3: has to be vaccinated. Every contractor subcontractor that deals with
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  Speaker 3: council has to be vaccinated.
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  Speaker 1: It actually sounds like it's going to be fairly extensive
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  Speaker 1: for the council. Can I ask you first, do you
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  Speaker 1: know if all of the elected members are actually vaccinated?
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  Speaker 3: I don't because I haven't asked, but I have to
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  Speaker 3: tell you that I am vaccinated. I believe a number
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  Speaker 3: of them are vaccinated. We had a meeting yesterday with
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  Speaker 3: the local gun association and with the department, and with
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  Speaker 3: the legal representatives and with the Health Department because a
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  Speaker 3: lot of councils, they're not in Dowwin, they're not in
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  Speaker 3: an urban situation or the remote communities. They're dealing daily
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  Speaker 3: with vulnerable people and a digenous community. So we had
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  Speaker 3: to clarify that one I alsaid to you before. It's
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  Speaker 3: a direction by the Chief Health Officer. It's got a
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  Speaker 3: legal status. If you don't comply, well you might lose
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  Speaker 3: your job.
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  Speaker 2: Is it going to have an impact?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think for the counsel in terms of your
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  Speaker 1: contractors and subcontractors as well well, we will.
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  Speaker 3: Put out if you want a contact with the country
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  Speaker 3: to be vaccinated. Is your decision then to decide what
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  Speaker 3: you're going to do or we.
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  Speaker 4: Don't force you.
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  Speaker 3: But it's a legal direction because if we don't do it,
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  Speaker 3: then something happens and somebody gets COVID because of a
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  Speaker 3: subcontractor they get around.
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  Speaker 4: Should a council for the lack of duty of care?
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  Speaker 4: We're in the middle.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we have to protect our workers, but at
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  Speaker 3: the same time to be seen to do the right
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  Speaker 3: thing according to the direction.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know if there's staff within the City of
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  Speaker 1: Darwin council that do not want to be vaccinated, we.
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  Speaker 3: Put information around, We put a circular, We told them
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  Speaker 3: what's going to happen, and we told them the cutoff dates.
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  Speaker 3: If people do not want to be vaccinated, perhaps to
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  Speaker 3: be looking for a new job.
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  Speaker 2: And so like, there's no lenients from you or from
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  Speaker 2: the council.
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  Speaker 3: It's a legal direction. It's a lot simple as that.
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  Speaker 3: The same way we say you don't drink and drive,
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  Speaker 3: You don't drive without wearing a seat belt, you don't
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  Speaker 3: actually the speed limit, you don't drink, don't sell alcohol
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  Speaker 3: to people under eighteen. It's a legal direction. It's the law.
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  Speaker 1: Look, we've had so many people contact us here at
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  Speaker 1: the station who are genuinely concerned about their jobs. They
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  Speaker 1: are worried about getting the vaccine for whatever reason, and
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  Speaker 1: they're then genuinely concerned about.
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  Speaker 2: Losing their jobs.
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  Speaker 1: We have also had some serious anti vaxxines who have
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  Speaker 1: been in contact and been quite nasty, I've got to
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  Speaker 1: say in some instances about the way that they've you
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  Speaker 1: know that they've kind of raised that issue with may
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  Speaker 1: you know our trauma best to be incredibly respectful of
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  Speaker 1: everybody having different views, But are you sort of I mean,
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  Speaker 1: do you, like, are you worried about the impact that
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  Speaker 1: this might have on some of your employees If they've
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  Speaker 1: got genuine worries about having the vaccine, if they've.
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  Speaker 4: Got a medical original, there's no problem.
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  Speaker 3: If you're going to suffer consequts because of the vaccine
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  Speaker 3: and that's certified by a doctor, that's acceptable.
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  Speaker 4: That's even in the legal direction.
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  Speaker 3: If you don't want a vaccine because you read in Facebook,
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  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, that's not a legal reason. And the news
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  Speaker 3: today are really worrying. There's a delta plus variant in Britain.
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  Speaker 3: Have seen jumping the admission to hospital from forty thousand
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  Speaker 3: a week to one hundred and eighty five thousand a week.
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  Speaker 3: It's more infectious, we find out now it's the youngest
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  Speaker 3: people copying it. And yesterday degrees had two two hundred
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  Speaker 3: people new cases to day's three thousand, seven hundred more deaths.
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  Speaker 4: And the deaths are twenty and thirty years.
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  Speaker 3: And I said that because I read the newspaper every
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  Speaker 3: day I've got family increase.
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  Speaker 4: I want to see what's happening because my mother's there.
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  Speaker 4: You years old.
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  Speaker 3: The reality is a lot of people they say that
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  Speaker 3: the vaccination are not safe. Well, seventeen million are trying
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  Speaker 3: to be vaccinated today. We had nine days from complication.
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  Speaker 3: We're complication from acts of the flu vaccine or any
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  Speaker 3: other vaccine. We had hundreds of millions of people vaccinated
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  Speaker 3: around the world, so had a very few deaths. Now
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  Speaker 3: people coming up says it's an experimental vaccine. Well, yes,
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  Speaker 3: if there was one hundred thousand people vaccinated, but when
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  Speaker 3: you've got one hundreds of millions with very few deaths,
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  Speaker 3: well that argument actually is not really valid.
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  Speaker 1: Corn I do want to ask you. We've had a
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  Speaker 1: few people guessing contact with us. Actually, I'll just go
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  Speaker 1: we just got a call from Rob on the phone. Coln,
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  Speaker 1: what are you going to do if one of the
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  Speaker 1: old women don't.
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  Speaker 3: Get the jab That's what we're actually trying to find out.
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  Speaker 3: For example, they might not be able to attend meetings,
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  Speaker 3: they have to do it remotely, and also certainly wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: be able to go out and talk to people because
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  Speaker 3: they might have some vulnerable person in past COVID nineteen.
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  Speaker 3: But we clarify and now get a legal opinion about
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  Speaker 3: the oldoman and we'll comply with the legal opinion and
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  Speaker 3: the legal direction.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we'll be interested to hear exactly what happens there.
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  Speaker 1: Con I have been asked by a few different listeners
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  Speaker 1: about the casual Ina swimming pool and where it's at.
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  Speaker 1: I know that I thought that work was due to
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  Speaker 1: start early this year, but I could be wrong on
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  Speaker 1: next we.
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  Speaker 3: Did, and we had the number of tenders, and the
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  Speaker 3: tenders went through a very rigorous process.
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  Speaker 4: The twenty nine million dollar tender.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty nine million dollars. Has that gone up because.
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  Speaker 3: Twenty exactly always twenty nine million dollars because you have
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  Speaker 3: to consider twenty five million dollars the.
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  Speaker 4: Construction plus add on costs.
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  Speaker 3: So we actually assessing now the tenders and now we
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  Speaker 3: actually the stage where it goes through the probity auditors
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that everything is done. And I expect
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  Speaker 3: the next few weeks we'll have a decision about who
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  Speaker 3: is the success from tender.
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  Speaker 2: So it's going to be twenty nine million, well.
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  Speaker 3: Before twenty five million dollars construction, but always putting out
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  Speaker 3: on costs?
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  Speaker 1: Is that was that a bit disingenuous to the right
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  Speaker 1: place to begin with, because everybody sort of thought it
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  Speaker 1: was going to be twenty.
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  Speaker 4: Five to go back and check it out to give
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  Speaker 4: you a right thing.
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  Speaker 3: But my understanding is it's twenty five million dollar contract
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  Speaker 3: for the constructional Casurina.
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  Speaker 4: And then I don't know if I have to come
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  Speaker 4: back on that to make it sure and give you
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  Speaker 4: the right answer.
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  Speaker 1: Right. But so when do you anticipate that it's going
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  Speaker 1: to get on the way, Katie.
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  Speaker 4: I would like to have it as soon as possible.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly now we've got the wet period and that creates
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  Speaker 3: a problem with us because you can't dig holes just
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  Speaker 3: in case.
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  Speaker 4: They fill up with water.
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  Speaker 3: But certainly when everything is finished and we will start
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  Speaker 3: doing the work we can do at the beginning, and
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  Speaker 3: then of course we close it down to continue to
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  Speaker 3: the work we have to do.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: It's a big problem is going to be if you.
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  Speaker 3: Look at the plans, it's got a massive amount of
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  Speaker 3: earth moving and earthwork digging our fols and everything else
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  Speaker 3: and construction on your facilitation.
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  Speaker 1: And based on those tenders that have come through, is
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  Speaker 1: it going to sort of be as spectacular as what
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  Speaker 1: everybody had been visited straight from the get go, or
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  Speaker 1: is that maybe a bit and.
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  Speaker 3: Will be spectacular as we said, it's going to be
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  Speaker 3: our plans to create a state of the art facility
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  Speaker 3: that's going to be there for the next sixty seventy years,
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  Speaker 3: and we have to make sure that it's planned properly,
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  Speaker 3: is constructed properly, and maintained properly.
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  Speaker 2: Anything else we should about very quickly.
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  Speaker 4: Cycle and cleanup. If you have done it, please let
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  Speaker 4: us know we look around about it.
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  Speaker 3: We actually have now going to do a mock up
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  Speaker 3: exercise for cycling because we want to be prepared.
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  Speaker 4: Just in case something happens.
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  Speaker 3: We don't want to see again the cyclone market situation
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  Speaker 3: be repeating, so we are really gearing up. It's going
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  Speaker 3: to be, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, a very
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: very active monson, a lot of rain and.
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  Speaker 4: Perhaps lots of cyclone.
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  Speaker 3: So if you have done your cyclone preparation, highly recommend
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  Speaker 3: you do it every year. Prepare your cyclone kit. If
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  Speaker 3: you go to anywhere in the Facebook and any of
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  Speaker 3: the media outlets will have you what you have to
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  Speaker 3: do and you make a choice, we won't have baked bean,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: so you have to have something more.
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  Speaker 4: Go make probably a bit at the.
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  Speaker 2: Perupt day or anyway. Really, there's so many wonderful stores
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  Speaker 2: around the place.
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  Speaker 1: Combat Scarlet. It's always good to catch up. The Lord
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  Speaker 1: Mayor of Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you, Katie,