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Katie Woolf spoke with Police Association President Paul McCue · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, just to give you a bit of police news update,
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  Speaker 1: we know that the Northern Territory Police have now charged
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  Speaker 1: two utes in relation to a crime series that occurred
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  Speaker 1: in Palmerston on Wednesday night. So the sixteen and seventeen
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  Speaker 1: year old male Youuthes were arrested yesterday by detectives from
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  Speaker 1: Strikeforce Trident. The seventeen year old has been charged with
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  Speaker 1: three counts of unlawful entry, two of damaging property, two
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  Speaker 1: of stealing, one of contravention of an emergency declaration and
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  Speaker 1: one breach of suspended sentence. Now he's been remanded to
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  Speaker 1: appear in court today. Meanwhile, the sixteen year old was
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  Speaker 1: charged with two counts of unlawfully entering a building, two
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  Speaker 1: of damage to a property one or sorry, two counts
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  Speaker 1: of stealing and one count of contravention of emergency declaration.
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  Speaker 1: He's been bailed to appear before the court on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: the twenty fifth of August. Now, well done to Stripeforce
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  Speaker 1: Trident on apprehending those two teenagers. And we heard yesterday
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  Speaker 1: from Shelley Lay the impact this time of senseless crime
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  Speaker 1: has on our hard working territory and so again well
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  Speaker 1: done to those detectives from Strikeforce trident. Now, as I mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: there is a stash which has erupted on social media.
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  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association lash the Chief Minister Michael
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  Speaker 1: Gunner for using his Facebook page to politicize COVID. Now
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  Speaker 1: joining me on the line is the Police Association president
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  Speaker 1: Paul McHugh. Good morning to you, Paul.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, kay, Paul.
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  Speaker 1: Why did you feel that well, you needed to call
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  Speaker 1: out the Chief Minister overnight after he'd posted on his
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  Speaker 1: Facebook page well a message about the seat of Daily
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  Speaker 1: by election.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously it was disappointing to read that post. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we represent every sworn police officer an auxiliary in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory. You've been out there doing it tough for many,
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  Speaker 2: many months, eighty months or more now with COVID, and
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  Speaker 2: mister Gunner has chosen to use his post in terms
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  Speaker 2: of upcoming by election to politicize that pandemic, and really
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  Speaker 2: it was a complete insult to everyone that's actually out
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  Speaker 2: there doing that job, out there on the front line.
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  Speaker 2: That includes of course our police officers, the health workers
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  Speaker 2: and everyone in between. My statement, I stand by the
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  Speaker 2: fact that this was completely outrageous to politicize it, and
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  Speaker 2: it's almost more disappointing to see that he's responded in
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  Speaker 2: the way he has with complete and utter lies. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's very disappointing from our Chief Minister.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Well, I will read the Chief Minister's statement which was
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  Speaker 1: sent through to me a little bit earlier in just
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  Speaker 1: a moment. But Paul, some people listening might say that
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  Speaker 1: it's you who's actually politicized this, and that you know
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: that maybe you shouldn't have involved yourself in the argument.
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  Speaker 1: Why did you.
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  Speaker 2: Choose to I've got no doubt people might have that
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  Speaker 2: thought process, but it was mister Gunner who actually posted
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  Speaker 2: the initial post. I felt the need to stand up
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  Speaker 2: for our members who are out there right now twenty
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  Speaker 2: four to seven, protecting our borders, protecting the people from
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the pandemic. We've had over one hundred of our members
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  Speaker 2: tied up on COVID related duties, which is not funded
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  Speaker 2: by the Labor government. This is extra duties which is
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  Speaker 2: having a huge impact on the frontline capability of our
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  Speaker 2: police across the Northern Territory. We know crimes an issue,
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  Speaker 2: and mister Gunner decided to make it a political issue
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  Speaker 2: by saying that it would be the Territory Labor Government
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  Speaker 2: who are out there protecting the people of daily from
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  Speaker 2: the COVID pandemic. That is absolute nonsense. I want to
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  Speaker 2: be the first to say that mister Gunner has been
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  Speaker 2: providing excellent updates on an ongoing basis through his media
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  Speaker 2: statements around the COVID update. They've been terrific and I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure the public have appreciated it. But to suggest that
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  Speaker 2: the people in Labor who are protecting us all from
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  Speaker 2: the pandemic is completely insulting to the police officers who
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: have had leave canceled time away from their families. And
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  Speaker 2: this is an ongoing pandemic and it should not be
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  Speaker 2: politicize the way mister Gunn has done it now.
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  Speaker 1: Kate Warden, the Minister for Territory Families, was on the
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  Speaker 1: Week that was earlier today and she said that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it is the Chief Minister's right to be able to
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  Speaker 1: post on his Facebook page, you know, political political messages, no.
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  Speaker 2: Doubt, I'm sure he can. But to actually say that
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  Speaker 2: the pandemic is the way we're being saved from the
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  Speaker 2: pandemic because of the Labor Party is nonsensical and it's
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  Speaker 2: insulting and our job is to represent the police, perhaps
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  Speaker 2: he needs to walk through the muster rooms, or perhaps
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  Speaker 2: he needs to visit the border location at Queensland at
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  Speaker 2: the moment where we've got a rotation down there away
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  Speaker 2: from their families who can't get back now because we
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  Speaker 2: don't have enough people to replace them. I mean, this
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  Speaker 2: is this is the this is the position our members
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  Speaker 2: are facing every single day. So for him to come
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  Speaker 2: out and say that it's labor protecting us from the
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  Speaker 2: pandemic nonsense and rubbish.
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  Speaker 1: His office has sent us through a statement morning Paul,
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  Speaker 1: and they have said that the association statement is outrageous
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  Speaker 1: and that they're flabbergasted that a man claiming to represent
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  Speaker 1: the police has again entered the political arena to tell
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister not to be political for highlighting real
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  Speaker 1: comments and positions the COLP of outlined on COVID. In
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  Speaker 1: this statement, the Chief Minister says, I will not be
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  Speaker 1: bullied or silenced by a union on how we protect
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  Speaker 1: Territorians from COVID. He says the COLP made the political
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  Speaker 1: decision last year that we should open our borders during
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  Speaker 1: Victoria's second wave. He goes on to highlight what the
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  Speaker 1: COLP would or wouldn't do. But he then says the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police. He says, I will also call out
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  Speaker 1: unions like the Northern Territory Police Association who politicized COVID.
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  Speaker 1: He reckons the police associations choosing to support the colp's
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  Speaker 1: decision to open our borders and give away our vaxine,
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  Speaker 1: and that it's a failure to protect every serving officer
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  Speaker 1: and the union should apologize to them. What's your response to.
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  Speaker 2: That, Well, that's a complete lie and nowhere have I
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  Speaker 2: even mentioned the CLP my statement, nowhere at all. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: if the sealp'd made a similar statement, I'd be saying
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  Speaker 2: the same thing about that. Nowhere have I said that
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  Speaker 2: I support the serveplease decision to open borders and give
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  Speaker 2: away vaccines. That is utter nonsense. It's a lie, and
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  Speaker 2: it's misleading the community of the Northern Territory and importantly,
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  Speaker 2: our hard working sworn members of the police force which
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  Speaker 2: we represent. Now crime is one of the most topical
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  Speaker 2: political conversations you can talk about. You represent the members
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  Speaker 2: who are there to protect us and serve in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory. I'm sorry, but that is a statement. We
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  Speaker 2: stand by and the statement from the Chief Minister that
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  Speaker 2: we in any way support the SELP on that matter
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  Speaker 2: is a complete lie. We have not made that statement anywhere.
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  Speaker 2: If we have, he needs to tell us where otherwise
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  Speaker 2: he is wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, have you spoken to members of the force this morning,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: following on from this Stow switch has erupted on social
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  Speaker 1: media and what are they saying to you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm pretty upset. We've had several members contact our office.
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  Speaker 2: They contacted me late last night giving me phone calls
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  Speaker 2: about how discussed they were with that statement. Like I
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  Speaker 2: said earlier, our members have been affected dramatically, not just them,
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  Speaker 2: their families and every section of the police force significantly
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  Speaker 2: because of COVID. As I said earlier, we are continually
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: receiving complaints about the inability to star frosters and it's
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  Speaker 2: down to the fact we have over one hundred police
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  Speaker 2: tied up on COVID related duties and the supervisors, the sergeants,
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  Speaker 2: the watch commanders and the management are doing everything they
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  Speaker 2: can to do what the government needs them to do.
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  Speaker 2: But it is insulting when you see a Chief Minister
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  Speaker 2: say in a political environment about an upcoming election that
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  Speaker 2: they are the ones out there saving us from COVID.
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  Speaker 2: That is rubbish. It is our hard working frontline officers
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  Speaker 2: and other frontline workers who we very much appreciate all
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  Speaker 2: that hard work they're doing.
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  Speaker 1: So Paul, just to be very clear here, you're not
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  Speaker 1: going out on a limb here because you want to
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  Speaker 1: support the c ORP. You're going out on a limb
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  Speaker 1: here because you actually want to support the officers that
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  Speaker 1: the Police Association represents.
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  Speaker 2: That is our job, Katie, that is what we're here
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  Speaker 2: to do. We are apolitical. We do not support either party.
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  Speaker 2: We are here to support the interests of our members,
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  Speaker 2: our hardworking one than six hundred plus members who put
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  Speaker 2: their life on the line every day for us. They
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  Speaker 2: are the ones out there being spat at, kicked at,
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  Speaker 2: bidden punched every single day that we are sitting in
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  Speaker 2: our desks and doing our job. They're out there on
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  Speaker 2: the front line protecting us as all the nurses and
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  Speaker 2: the doctors and the health workers and every other frontline worker.
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  Speaker 2: And we are fed up with politicization of the hard
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  Speaker 2: work that they do for a vote in Parliament. It
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  Speaker 2: is rubbish and it needs to stop. Paul.
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  Speaker 1: If the Chief Minister is listening this morning, WA's your
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  Speaker 1: message for him and.
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  Speaker 2: This needs to get on with his jobs, stop misleading
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory community with outlandish statements, and he needs
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  Speaker 2: to come out and apologize, walk the floor with the police,
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  Speaker 2: look at what they're doing and look at the hard
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  Speaker 2: work they do. As I said earlier, his updates for
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  Speaker 2: the community being excellent, no issue with that whatsoever, but
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  Speaker 2: just for us, just stop for a minute and think
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  Speaker 2: about the hard work that they're out there doing every
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  Speaker 2: single day to keep us safe. It doesn't happen near
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  Speaker 2: enough and it should happen more, and he needs to
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  Speaker 2: apologize for that rubbish he's put on Facebook.
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  Speaker 1: Well. Police Association President Paul McHugh, I know that you're
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  Speaker 1: incredibly busy this morning. I appreciate you taking the time
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  Speaker 1: to have a chat with us.
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  Speaker 2: Good ony, Katie, thank you