Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Local mother Raeleena Secretary is calling for the fence around Nightcliff Primary School to be raised, saying children are getting out of the school grounds

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Local mother Raeleena Secretary is calling for the fence around Nightcliff Primary School to be raised, saying children are getting out of the school grounds · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now, moving away from crime and onto a very different topic.
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  Speaker 1: We've been contacted with concerns about the safety of students
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  Speaker 1: at Nightcliffe Primary School. Now some parents are saying that
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  Speaker 1: the school fence currently is only about the same height
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  Speaker 1: as a toddler and a number of children have gotten
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  Speaker 1: out of the school grounds and onto the road. And
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  Speaker 1: there are some parents who are concerned about the situation.
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  Speaker 1: And one of those parents, Raylena, joins me on the
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  Speaker 1: line right now. Good morning to you, Raylena.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, really good? Thank you so much for your time
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Now, can you paint a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: picture for me of this school fence and how tall
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  Speaker 1: it is?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so it's the same height as my eighteen month old,
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  Speaker 2: so it's not very high at all.
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  Speaker 1: And Raylena, is it just at one part of the
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  Speaker 1: school or is it right around the school?
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  Speaker 2: It's right around the school and then there's areas where
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  Speaker 2: it's open, so it's not forty.
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  Speaker 1: Fence yeah, right, And so what exactly what's the concern
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  Speaker 1: that you've got. I'm assuming that it is sort of
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  Speaker 1: children being able to get out of the school.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I've got a now six year old which
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  Speaker 2: started at Marcol's Primary last year. There was only five
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  Speaker 2: at that time, so he is quite an active boy.
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  Speaker 2: So I've had multiple phone calls last year due to
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  Speaker 2: my son trying to lead the school ground and due
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  Speaker 2: to the height of the fence. Yeah, that doesn't help
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  Speaker 2: as well. So as a parent, getting these Paine calls
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  Speaker 2: is quite you know, nervous and scary for me thinking
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  Speaker 2: that my kids able to leave the school grounds. It
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  Speaker 2: has been brought to the attention of the school and
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  Speaker 2: the actual Chief Minister, which I've written to her about
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  Speaker 2: that she is actually on the school committee. I did
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  Speaker 2: not get a response to her regarding that letter I
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  Speaker 2: sent to her, and I actually was in the papers
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  Speaker 2: last year regarding the fencing. I did get a bit
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  Speaker 2: of backlash regarding the fence and that I was trying
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  Speaker 2: to asking for a great wall to be built, which
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  Speaker 2: I thought was ridiculous. All I was asking for was
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  Speaker 2: just a higher fencing around the whole school ground, just
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  Speaker 2: for the safety of the children. And I think I'm
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  Speaker 2: not just speaking for Nightclift, but I'm speaking for all
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  Speaker 2: the primary schools here in the Top End should have
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  Speaker 2: high fencing. It's interesting, not just my son. But there's
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  Speaker 2: been other children that have been leaving, leaving the school grounds,
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  Speaker 2: crossing the roads, going down the street. And these are
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  Speaker 2: little children, like five, from the age of five.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because this is the thing. I guess once they
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  Speaker 1: get a bit older, they do, you know, like they
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  Speaker 1: do seem to be alright in terms of not trying
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  Speaker 1: to run away or I guess they get older and
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  Speaker 1: they work out how they can get out regardless of
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  Speaker 1: how tall the fences. But when they're little, it is
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  Speaker 1: it's a really different story. You know, you do feel
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  Speaker 1: concerned about them. And I know that at some of
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  Speaker 1: the schools, the school that my children used to be at,
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  Speaker 1: they've ended up putting up really quite a high fence
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  Speaker 1: right around the place, and some people did sort of
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  Speaker 1: complain about it and the way that it looks, and
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  Speaker 1: that it sort of looks as though it's a place where,
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  Speaker 1: you know, where the children are locked in there now.
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  Speaker 1: But fundamentally the reason that they've done it, from my understanding,
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  Speaker 1: was exactly the reason that you've pointed out for safety.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so there's so many reasons. Yes, the kids
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  Speaker 2: keep leaving the school grounds. You've got trespasses coming in,
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  Speaker 2: leaving very dirty things in the premises. Yeah, you've also
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  Speaker 2: it's open to the public apparently, for the public to
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  Speaker 2: use the school oval, which I think is really unfair.
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  Speaker 2: You know, this should be the kids safety, not regarding
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  Speaker 2: the public. Natasha apparently put a stop to the fence
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  Speaker 2: and because she is part of the committee. So I've
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  Speaker 2: been back and forth with Education department and the school
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  Speaker 2: regarding the fencing situation. So i just feel like nothing's
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  Speaker 2: being done about it. And you know, I've heard from
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  Speaker 2: teachers themselves where the kids have Actually the other day
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  Speaker 2: they were sitting in the office, the kids just walked
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  Speaker 2: straight to the jump the fence and off he went.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't think you know, as a parent, you're
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  Speaker 2: leaving the kids in the hands of the school, and
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  Speaker 2: you think that'd be well looked. They are looked after.
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  Speaker 2: The teachers are really nice the primary but it's not
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  Speaker 2: the teachers. And I know a lot of I've had
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  Speaker 2: a lot of backlash regarding the fencing. I've got a
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  Speaker 2: lot of good people as well on my side regarding it.
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  Speaker 2: But some people are saying I'm trying to build a
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  Speaker 2: prison there for them and stuff like that. But it's
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  Speaker 2: not that it's the safety of the kids. Well, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there are young kids there, and I know some people
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  Speaker 2: are saying, you know, teach a kid wrong from right.
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  Speaker 2: My kid does no wrong from right. He's just an
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  Speaker 2: active child. He likes to play, you know, and they
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  Speaker 2: just don't know dangers around them.
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  Speaker 1: Ray Lena tell me, I understand that there was also
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  Speaker 1: a survey that was conducted about the fence. Do you
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  Speaker 1: know what that found?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So if you don't mind me reading it, yeah, sure,
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  Speaker 2: go for it. So I did receive a letter in
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  Speaker 2: the mail. I'm not sure who sent it, but it
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  Speaker 2: did state that this person has said, I just wanted
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  Speaker 2: to let you know that the fence at Nuple Primar
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  Speaker 2: School is not going ahead, despite the fact a survey
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  Speaker 2: was completed which included staff and parents of the school,
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  Speaker 2: with a ninety percent majority voting yes to a fence. Right,
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  Speaker 2: your council have made their choice not to put a
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  Speaker 2: fence around the school, despite the fact that they are
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  Speaker 2: aware of the dangers it causes staff and the students.
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  Speaker 2: But they are all antiferent people and that's a small majority.
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  Speaker 2: So I've been to these committee meetings. I haven't stayed
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  Speaker 2: for the full session of it due to. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I've got other kids to attend to it's been brought
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  Speaker 2: to them, it's then nothing's come from it. I've gone
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  Speaker 2: to education department that sent me back to the principal.
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  Speaker 2: Principal is said go to the committee, and it's just
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  Speaker 2: nothing being done about it. And I think something needs
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  Speaker 2: to be done as soon as possible before something that happens.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot of stuff happening at the moment. I
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  Speaker 2: know more important things are going on at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: but I just think the school safety should be one
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  Speaker 2: of them as well.
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  Speaker 1: Ray Lena, So what would be you know, the situation
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  Speaker 1: that you would like to see here? Do you want
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  Speaker 1: the school council or the school committee to at least
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  Speaker 1: rethink this decision?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So they have tried to bring in other options,
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  Speaker 2: a set of the whole school boundary. They've tried to
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  Speaker 2: bring in ideas of putting more internal fensing in the school,
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  Speaker 2: which I don't think is going to fix the problem
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  Speaker 2: because I've got internal fensing in there now and the
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  Speaker 2: little ones are stalled escaping from that, and not only that,
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  Speaker 2: I just feel like that's going to be more of
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  Speaker 2: a prison for them than the one around the school
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  Speaker 2: because they're just getting locked in a small area where
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  Speaker 2: all I'm asking for is just the whole school grounds
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  Speaker 2: to be fenced. I know the public use is the oval,
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  Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, that is school
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  Speaker 2: grounds and that should be for the children there. There
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  Speaker 2: are overs across the road where the public can use,
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know why it's such a big deal
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  Speaker 2: that they can't sense the oval as well because of
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  Speaker 2: the public access to it, But yeah, something needs to
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  Speaker 2: be done. I've heard of the kids getting a needle
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  Speaker 2: prick and finding you know, needles, people sleeping at the
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  Speaker 2: grounds overnight. You know, there's a lot of things happening
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  Speaker 2: there and this should be a number one priority of Also,
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  Speaker 2: I got told to go to Eva Laula. I had
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  Speaker 2: called Truda, were offered. Didn't get through to Eva. I
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  Speaker 2: know she's very busy, but I did speak to one
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  Speaker 2: of her colleagues, which I wasn't really happy with her
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  Speaker 2: opinion on it. Yeah, she was hearing them out and
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  Speaker 2: then she just said to me, you know, if you
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  Speaker 2: really want my personal opinion, not my work opinion, I
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  Speaker 2: don't see what the problem is with the fencing that's
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  Speaker 2: there now, because the public likes to use and take
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  Speaker 2: their dogs for walks from the ovals.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, right, oh, Raylena, it sounds like a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a It sounds like a bit of a debarcle.
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  Speaker 1: I know, I've got friends that do have children at
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  Speaker 1: the school, and I know that you know that some
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  Speaker 1: of them are all for the fence, some of them aren't.
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  Speaker 1: They're totally against it. So I can tell that it
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  Speaker 1: is one of those issues that you know that that
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  Speaker 1: not everybody's going to agree on. But I can certainly
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  Speaker 1: understand your concerns, particularly when you're talking about the little
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  Speaker 1: ease and and you know, making sure that they are
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  Speaker 1: safe and that they're they're kept on the school ground.
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  Speaker 1: So I can certainly understand your concerns. Leave it with us.
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  Speaker 1: Let us see whether we can get some kind of
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  Speaker 1: response from the Chief Minister's office as well, because I
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  Speaker 1: know that she's obviously the local member and as you've said,
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  Speaker 1: they're on the school committee as well, So let us
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  Speaker 1: see what we can find out.
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  Speaker 2: That's okay, Love, And I know I did get told
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  Speaker 2: there was not enough funding, which I just find that
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  Speaker 2: very hard to believe. You know that is a priority
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  Speaker 2: safe you for the children, so I'm sure there should
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  Speaker 2: be enough funding there to fence the school. They not
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  Speaker 2: just like but all primary schools should be fenced with
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  Speaker 2: high offensing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Ray Lena, thank you so much for having a
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  Speaker 1: chat with me this morning. I really appreciate it. No
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  Speaker 1: doubt I'll start hearing from some other parents from the
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  Speaker 1: Nightcliff Primary School and I appreciate you speaking to us today.
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  Speaker 2: All right, thank you, Katie, thank you.