Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Member for Barkly Steve Edgington about the regional communities still dealing with Covid lockdown situations

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Katie spoke with Member for Barkly Steve Edgington about the regional communities still dealing with Covid lockdown situations · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now, as we know, there were five new cases of
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  Speaker 1: COVID nineteen reported in the territory yesterday, three of those
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  Speaker 1: associated with the Catherine cluster and two who were recent
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  Speaker 1: arrivals in Darwin from interstate. We know that the lockdown
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  Speaker 1: in Tenant Creek and Ali Kerung has been extended for
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  Speaker 1: twenty four hours until five pm today. Now joining me
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  Speaker 1: on the line is Steve Edgington, the Member for Barclay.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Steve, Good.
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  Speaker 2: Morning Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, how are things going in Tennant Creek this morning?
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  Speaker 2: Well, things are very serious here. Still there's still a
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  Speaker 2: lack of information, a lack of I suppose timely responses
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  Speaker 2: in regard to the COVID testing regime in place. There's
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  Speaker 2: been many, many people responding to calls from the government
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  Speaker 2: to go out and get their COVID test. But what
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  Speaker 2: they're finding is that after expecting a result within three days,
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  Speaker 2: there's still many people here in Tennant Creek that have
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  Speaker 2: been waiting five days, and many people still don't know
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  Speaker 2: the answers to whether their test is positive or negative.
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  Speaker 2: But in town it's relatively calm. In the last twenty
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  Speaker 2: four hours or yesterday, I should say, in the previous
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  Speaker 2: twenty four hours, we did have an eight year old
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  Speaker 2: which has tested positive to COVID in one of the
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  Speaker 2: town camps here at Tinkhi, So COVID is still in
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  Speaker 2: the community and there's some more and more concerns developing
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  Speaker 2: as we speak.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, is that eight year old Is that one of
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  Speaker 1: the cases that the government has reported on throughout the
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  Speaker 1: press conferences or is that a different one.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the eight year old was spoken about yesterday. Yesterday's
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  Speaker 2: press conference, the Acting Chief Ministry, I should say, spoke
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  Speaker 2: about an eight year old from Tinkrly Camp and there
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  Speaker 2: was also a second positive case of a person connected
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  Speaker 2: to the walk About outstation down near Barrow Creek, and
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  Speaker 2: I believe that person is now in the Todd facility
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  Speaker 2: in Alice Springs. So two cases connected to Tenant Creek
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  Speaker 2: came out of yesterday's press conference.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that situation is obviously very concerning with those
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  Speaker 1: positive cases, but the fact that you've also got people
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  Speaker 1: waiting in the community for five days for test results
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  Speaker 1: is quite unbelievable. Is that? I mean, are these test
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  Speaker 1: results having to be sent up here to Darwin? What
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  Speaker 1: exactly is the situation and why is it taking so long?
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is the thing, Codie. At the moment, what
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  Speaker 2: we're hearing on the ground is that to test the
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  Speaker 2: tests that have been taken are being flown out on
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  Speaker 2: a daily basis. I'm still a little uncertain whether they're
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  Speaker 2: going to Alice Springs or to Darwin. It could be both.
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  Speaker 2: But look either way, wherever these tests are going, it's
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  Speaker 2: taking far too long. The Gunner government needs to improve
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  Speaker 2: their processes. If they haven't got the resources available, then
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  Speaker 2: they need to take steps to get further resources to
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  Speaker 2: process these tests because it's causing anxiety frustration amongst people
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  Speaker 2: here in Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I bet it's causing an enormous amount of anxiety
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time, not only because you're worried
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  Speaker 1: about COVID spreading in the community, but also worried about
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  Speaker 1: whether you're going to be in a lockdown on Christmas Day.
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  Speaker 2: Well, exactly, And this is the The lockdown has been
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  Speaker 2: extended now until five o'clock to day. But you know
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  Speaker 2: it was only two days ago that people were waiting.
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  Speaker 2: But it's still the same issue. It's not only the
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  Speaker 2: tests that they're waiting for People are concerned that they
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  Speaker 2: don't know how many close contacts there are here or
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  Speaker 2: have been identified in Tenant Creek. And we still have
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  Speaker 2: no idea what exposure sites have been identified by the
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  Speaker 2: government through the process of contact tracing at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: So at the moment, there's only two casual contact sites
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  Speaker 2: outside of Catherine, and that's one at t Tree and
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  Speaker 2: the shell truck stop in Catherine. So for here in
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  Speaker 2: Tenet Creek, we still don't know what the exposure sites
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  Speaker 2: are and we still don't know how many close contacts
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  Speaker 2: have been identified in Chenet Creek. This is an appalling
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  Speaker 2: lack of information. The gunner of government needs to get
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  Speaker 2: their act together and start sharing this information with the
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  Speaker 2: people in Chanet Creek, because the less information, the more frustrated,
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  Speaker 2: the more worried, the more scared people become.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, how do you think residents are going to feel
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  Speaker 1: if this lockdown is extended and includes Christmas?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's you know, people are very worried. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there's still people here. You know, there has been some
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  Speaker 2: discussion about whether there should be a lockdown or a lockout. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: the difference between the lockout and lockdown is that in
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  Speaker 2: a lockout, fully vaccinated people can go about their business
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  Speaker 2: in a normal way, whilst vaccinated people will still have
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  Speaker 2: to remain isolated, so to speak. So there has been
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  Speaker 2: some discussion about that. But one of the things that
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  Speaker 2: is causing a lot of frustration at the moment, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: is that there's still many people in Tenant Creek that
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  Speaker 2: have family outside of Tenant Creek. Now I've spoken about
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  Speaker 2: this a couple of times to various people. There is
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  Speaker 2: no process in place for any person in the lockdown
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  Speaker 2: area to leave the lockdown area to visit to or
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  Speaker 2: stay with the family in Darwin or Alice Springs or Catherine.
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  Speaker 2: But there is a process for people to leave Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 2: If they're fully vaccinated and have had the appropriate tests,
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  Speaker 2: they can leave Tenant Creek to go into state. Now,
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  Speaker 2: this is again quite confusing for people here. There's many people,
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  Speaker 2: as I said, here that have fully vaccinated and have
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  Speaker 2: a COVID test result which is negative, that would like
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  Speaker 2: to leave the lockdown area, but they're simply told that
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  Speaker 2: they can't. But meanwhile, we've got international visitors coming over
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  Speaker 2: the border and traveling freely around the territory. So this
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  Speaker 2: is the different rules that people are very confused about.
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  Speaker 2: But they're not only confused, they just can't understand how
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  Speaker 2: all of these different rules are being applied across the territory.
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  Speaker 2: But mainly the people that are disadvantage is the people
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  Speaker 2: in Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, what is your message for the government this.
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  Speaker 2: Morning, Well, the message is, look, get some more resources
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  Speaker 2: into the testing area. These tests need to be analyzed.
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  Speaker 2: People want their results turned around within the seventy two hours,
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  Speaker 2: which they're being told they can no longer wait five days.
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  Speaker 2: What we need is very clear information coming out about
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  Speaker 2: when will this lockdown finish. Is it likely to be extended?
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  Speaker 2: Unless the government can get on top of the testing regime,
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  Speaker 2: we might not know the answers for another few Gee.
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  Speaker 1: That makes it hard for people, you know, particularly as
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  Speaker 1: we lead into Christmas. I know most people just want
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  Speaker 1: to be able to enjoy their Christmas breakfast, Christmas lunch
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  Speaker 1: with their family, with their loved ones. Makes it really
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  Speaker 1: difficult as we talk about getting closer to Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly is, and you know, the mask mandate
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  Speaker 2: to continues right around the Berkley region, Katie. But in
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  Speaker 2: the meantime, you know, we had the minute acting Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister announcing the lockdown last Friday, But of course at
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  Speaker 2: the same time, the Minister for Health was closing down
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  Speaker 2: the Epinara Health Clinic and the canteen Creek Health Clinic.
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  Speaker 2: So the people in the Berkley are very frustrated around
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  Speaker 2: the way health services are being delivered. So we've got
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  Speaker 2: people at canteen Creek and Epinara that have a mask
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  Speaker 2: mandate but they don't have a medical service. Are those
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  Speaker 2: three hours away from Tenet Creek and they don't even
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  Speaker 2: have a medical service in their community.
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  Speaker 1: And so is Epinar and canteen Creek, those two clinics
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  Speaker 1: run by the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Yes they are. And what we've seen is complete chaos
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  Speaker 2: and dysfunction by the Gunner Labor government because those two
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  Speaker 2: clinics have been on reduced services since April this year.
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  Speaker 2: But of course at the same time, what we've had
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  Speaker 2: is the Gunner government telling people in the Barklay that
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  Speaker 2: your vaccination rates are too low, encouraging people to get
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  Speaker 2: a vaccination. But the question I have for the Health
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  Speaker 2: minister is how do these people actually get a vaccination
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  Speaker 2: when the health clinic is closed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Steve Edgington, there seems like there's still lots of
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  Speaker 1: questions that remain unanswered at this point in time. Let's
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  Speaker 1: hope that some of them get answered today. If there
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  Speaker 1: is a press conference, we are going to have to
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  Speaker 1: leave it there. We really appreciate your time. I really
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  Speaker 1: hope that you know that in the next few hours
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  Speaker 1: we do get that clarity for the people of Tenant
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  Speaker 1: Creek and indeed all of the surrounding areas.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: And Merry Christmas, you too, Yeah, you too, Thanks Steve.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate your time.