Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Major Events CEO Tim Watsford has goosebumps as he talks about the inaugural indigenous round for the Supercars competition - happening here in the NT!

Transcript

NT Major Events CEO Tim Watsford has goosebumps as he talks about the inaugural indigenous round for the Supercars competition - happening here in the NT! · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh for nine and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of course we're broadcasting live from the Merlin Darwin Triple
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  Speaker 1: Crown Well today with me Andrew a little bit later
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  Speaker 1: this afternoon. But joining me right now is Tim Watsford,
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  Speaker 1: the CEO of NT Major Events. Tim, how good is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: it being out here?
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  Speaker 2: How good is it? Yeah? We're back. Supercars is definitely
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  Speaker 2: back in a big way. We've seen that through the week.
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  Speaker 2: We're seeing people from right across the country or corners
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  Speaker 2: come and converge on the top end to celebrate what's
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  Speaker 2: going to be pretty special weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be amazing. Now it is the
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  Speaker 1: first Indigenous round that we've hosted, is'nt it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: It is.
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  Speaker 2: And I'll give you a bit of background on that
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty when we did two races back to
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  Speaker 2: back and can help Supercars out in terms of keeping
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  Speaker 2: their calendar on track. One of the discussions we had
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  Speaker 2: was can we turn our round into the Indigenous Round
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  Speaker 2: and celebrate everything that we hold so dear in the territory. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I'll be honest and talking about it with you right now.
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  Speaker 2: Get goosebumps. The support that we've had from the teams
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  Speaker 2: in particular, and what they've done with their vehicles, helmets,
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  Speaker 2: race suits, the works has been absolutely amazing. So we're
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  Speaker 2: over the moon and we're only dipping our toe in and.
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  Speaker 1: Celebrating how fantastic hey, and then how good has it
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  Speaker 1: been for you to get you know, different local indigenous
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  Speaker 1: people involved in this round as well. I know that
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  Speaker 1: you know, some of the welcome to countries and things
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  Speaker 1: like that that we've seen are just phenomenal.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm moving getting with the hairs are standing up
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  Speaker 2: on the back of my neck at the moment. Like
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  Speaker 2: what we did in the transport of convoys during the
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  Speaker 2: start of the week to kick it all off and
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  Speaker 2: Knuckey Street with Trent and the guys was amazing and
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  Speaker 2: you kind of you kind of take it for ground
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  Speaker 2: a little bit, I think, living here and breathing it.
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  Speaker 2: But when you've got these touring crowd and the supercars
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  Speaker 2: themselves that are actually blown away and I'm not gonna lie,
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing our engagement through the roof. So with supercars,
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  Speaker 2: it's something different and to do it in such a
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  Speaker 2: special way is an amazing it's amazing feelings and to
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  Speaker 2: be here to stay and it's going to be an
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  Speaker 2: amazing event for the territory forever.
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  Speaker 1: When it also sets us apart. We know that culturally
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  Speaker 1: here in the territory we offer something that is so
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  Speaker 1: different to everywhere else and it sets a saparta I
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  Speaker 1: would suspect from all of the other rounds. It makes
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  Speaker 1: it different. And you know, all eyes are on us
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  Speaker 1: this weekend.
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  Speaker 2: You did right. We can't from an events perspective, we
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  Speaker 2: can't compete with these or Wales. And you know we
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  Speaker 2: saw the f one there has been in Melbourne now
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  Speaker 2: till twenty thirty five. Does announced Yes, today, we don't
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  Speaker 2: have those kind of dollars in all the population to
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  Speaker 2: support it. So as an events company we play to
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  Speaker 2: our strengths and cultures one and our uniqueness and from
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  Speaker 2: a tourism element is they're coming in droves and to
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  Speaker 2: celebrate it through something something so big as motorsport awesome.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's wonderful to see now. I tell you what, what's
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  Speaker 1: you know like it's quite noisy out here. There's no
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  Speaker 1: doubt about belly here. Do we love it?
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: What's the you know, what's the program looking like throughout
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  Speaker 1: the day?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, big we've gone again once again. We've gone We've
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  Speaker 2: gone big again. Sometimes we feel like we've bitten off
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  Speaker 2: of more than we can chew, especially when people are
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  Speaker 2: running around eleven o'clock last night, Katie, I'll be honest, no,
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  Speaker 2: but look we've got we've got Obviously, supercars is what
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  Speaker 2: we're here to play with. We've got these little s
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  Speaker 2: five thousands that potentially break the track record. I've heard.
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  Speaker 2: They look like a little Formula one car that guys
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  Speaker 2: that don't haven't seen them before. Porsches behind us if
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  Speaker 2: you can hear us. We've got improved production. And then
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  Speaker 2: we've just gone all out with our drag components. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got literally top field drags, six of the best
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  Speaker 2: racing tonight and tomorrow night, coupled with door slammers, and
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  Speaker 2: we've got a few locals running through. There's literally it's
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  Speaker 2: going to go mad. And what the guys do from
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  Speaker 2: a drag racing component is actually pretty special. From the theatrics, pyrotechnics, flames,
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  Speaker 2: the whole works like the the god guns blazing.
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  Speaker 1: It's phenomenal.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: What I love as well, though, is if you come
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  Speaker 1: out with the kids, there's not just the racing for
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  Speaker 1: the kids to keep an eye on. There's also this
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  Speaker 1: kids zone. There's a teenager zone now as well. And somebody,
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  Speaker 1: well Sarah who's on breakfast, had suggested, is it just
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  Speaker 1: like a wall where they can take a selfie? Do that?
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  Speaker 2: I apologie? Should I should have said, I'm talking about
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  Speaker 2: all the on track stuff. There's a bunch to do
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  Speaker 2: off track, probably more list and it's all listed on
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  Speaker 2: our website supercarsdo on dot com dot you, sorry, do
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  Speaker 2: on supercars dot com dot you. But we've got little
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  Speaker 2: peewee dirt bikes, the kids can ride, arcade machines, bands,
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  Speaker 2: very jillful little ones like the whole whole thing. We've
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  Speaker 2: actually reconverted, for those that know Hidden Valley the track
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  Speaker 2: center into basically the kid's den that we've labeled it.
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  Speaker 2: So there is stuff going on everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: How cool. I mean, that's what you want, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: You want to be able to come out, make a
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  Speaker 1: whole weekend of it and to entertain the whole family,
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  Speaker 1: which I think is something wonderful that you can do
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  Speaker 1: out here. How many people are we expecting this weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Good point. So we're up on corporate, which is a
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  Speaker 2: really good test case in terms of how many were
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  Speaker 2: going to get through the gates. So last year we
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  Speaker 2: had I think it was around about thirty eight thousand
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  Speaker 2: over the weekend, which is back to kind of twenty
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  Speaker 2: fifteen to sixteen levels. There was a bit of a
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  Speaker 2: decline there, and obviously through COVID we've experienced low levels. Look,
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  Speaker 2: i'd love to be announcing something with a four in
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  Speaker 2: front of it, to be quite honest. So I probably
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't be saying that. My team's going to shoot me
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  Speaker 2: for saying that a lot on air, But that's the
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  Speaker 2: hope that I've got for the support, in particular from
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  Speaker 2: a DRAGS component. Their next level we'll watch or Fields
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  Speaker 2: will bring. Hopefully there's more people. So yeah, I'm hoping
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  Speaker 2: that comes someday. We're going big.
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  Speaker 1: How awesome will It's such a phenomenal weekend, Tim, big question.
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  Speaker 2: When do you get to sleep again? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this weekend, Derec.
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  Speaker 2: Good question. And I can't even talk for some of
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  Speaker 2: the guys that are your peoples you're working with. Yeah, jeez,
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  Speaker 2: there's some sore eyes last night. Look, well, we've got
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  Speaker 2: territory after this, so then we might have a bit
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  Speaker 2: of a well, blow some stuff up and then we
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  Speaker 2: might have a bit of a bit of a breast day.
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  Speaker 1: Oh goodness made What a busy time for you guys,
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  Speaker 1: but what a fabulous time hey, Like Darwin is absolutely
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  Speaker 1: bustling at the moment, which I think is phenomenal to
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  Speaker 1: see there's tourists everywhere. It's so great to see the
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  Speaker 1: town the way that it is right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, And this is this is my message
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  Speaker 2: and I think I've said it to Blue in the
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  Speaker 2: face the last four years. Like events due drive conversion
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  Speaker 2: on tourism. We're seeing that. Look, the more the more
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  Speaker 2: events that can get through the territory, the better. Our
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: biggest problem now is hotel rooms. Like we just got it.
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  Speaker 2: We need we need to want to feel sorry, We
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  Speaker 2: need more to for people to come. We're getting the demand.
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  Speaker 2: We're seeing this now celebrated in such a fantastic way
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  Speaker 2: with our First Nations culture. It's all coming together big.
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  Speaker 1: It hasn't been for you guys, because we're talking quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit about it earlier this morning. In terms of staffing,
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  Speaker 1: have you been able to fill all those stuff obviously
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  Speaker 1: that you need to Has it been tough.
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  Speaker 2: Though this year it's been tough, and we relied a
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  Speaker 2: lot on the contractors locally that help us out, obviously
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  Speaker 2: security and our customer service staff for the big volumes.
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  Speaker 2: They're doing it tough. We're not gonna lie. The good
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  Speaker 2: thing is our reputation kind of gets people here to
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  Speaker 2: enjoy what we've got to do. We're lucky enough that
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  Speaker 2: you know, if you work at if you work at
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  Speaker 2: the supercars, you see some pretty cool stuff drough the day,
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  Speaker 2: so that that's a hook. But look, we're not We're
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  Speaker 2: not adverse to the challenges that we're seeing right across
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  Speaker 2: the board, and my colleagues down south in different states
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  Speaker 2: and jurisdictions are all the same boat. It's hard, so
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  Speaker 2: but we got there. What we're getting there where she
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  Speaker 2: thought over yet that it's another thing. I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: shoot me, But look, it's just starting. We'll get there.
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  Speaker 2: Throw o.
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  Speaker 1: It's and it's where else would you want to be?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, it's fantastic this weekend. The weather has
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  Speaker 1: just turned it on this morning, got a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a cool change, so perfect opportunity to get out here
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  Speaker 1: and enjoy it all.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, please and everyone for the whole family, like you
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  Speaker 2: said Katie, Come out, enjoy it. We've got jam packed
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  Speaker 2: on track program which you can hear basicly around behind us,
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  Speaker 2: play to do for the for the kids, and really
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  Speaker 2: enjoy what we got to offer here at Hidden Valley.
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  Speaker 1: The thing I do just want to very quickly ask
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  Speaker 1: you about is I know that there is obviously the
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  Speaker 1: bus service as well. People can jump on a public
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  Speaker 1: bus and come.
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  Speaker 2: Out come Yeah, absolutely so over on twit your ticket
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  Speaker 2: completely integrated transport. So there's plenty of hubs from right
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  Speaker 2: around Darwin, the rural areas as well. Once again supercars,
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  Speaker 2: Darwin dot com, dot Au. All informations on there encourage
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  Speaker 2: people to jump on. Just plan their day a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: There is there is a lot to do and there's
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  Speaker 2: a jam back program, so make sure you don't miss out.
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  Speaker 2: Get in front of getting early, jump on the prane
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  Speaker 2: and come out and joy yourself absolutely well.
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  Speaker 1: Tim watsonon CEO of NT Major Events, good to speak
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  Speaker 1: with you this morning.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Well it's a pleasure, Katie. Thank you