Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Member for Katherine Jo Hersey about her concerns for the community as the Covid situation escalates

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Katie spoke with Member for Katherine Jo Hersey about her concerns for the community as the Covid situation escalates · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And joining me on the line is Joe Hersey, the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: member for Catherine. Good morning to you, Joe, Good.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Morning Katie, and good morning listeners. Joe.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: How are things going this morning? What's the feeling in Catherine?
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Well, there's been an overwhelming amount of people heading to
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the testing site, which has been good. Yesterday they did
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: at the Second Street site. They did over three hundred
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: tests at the walking clinic. Now, I just must clarify
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: for people in Catherine this is advertised as a walking clinic. However,
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to the drive in one at the hospital,
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  Speaker 2: you still must make an appointment. I did find that
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  Speaker 2: out yesterday when I went to make an appointment for
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  Speaker 2: a test. So you must book online through the Coronavirus
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  Speaker 2: website and then you get an appointment and go there
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  Speaker 2: at your at your time.
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  Speaker 3: Joe.
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  Speaker 1: Is that a bit of a bit confusing for people?
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  Speaker 1: So do you need to make an appointment at either
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  Speaker 1: of the at both of those testing sites at the
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  Speaker 1: Catherine Hospital and also the other one, or can you
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  Speaker 1: walk into one of them?
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  Speaker 2: My understanding is you must make an appointment. Yeah, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: The communication rollout has been confusing right from the start
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  Speaker 2: and clunky at best. And we've had over twelve months
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  Speaker 2: to get ready for this and it seems the government's
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  Speaker 2: been caught off guard. But the Walking Clinic, I can
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  Speaker 2: certainly confirm with people in Catherine it is not walk in.
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  Speaker 2: Do not go there and expect to walk in and
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  Speaker 2: get an appointment. You must make an appointment online and
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  Speaker 2: then go at your allocated time.
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  Speaker 1: Jo you said that there was over three hundred at
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  Speaker 1: that walking clinic, which you can't actually walk into. You've
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  Speaker 1: got to make an appointment for any idea how many
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  Speaker 1: people were tested in total yesterday.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: No, I don't have that information, Katie. And the only
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  Speaker 2: reason I have that number is when I went there yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: I spoke to the people on the at the clinic
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  Speaker 2: and they told me those numbers. But we have another
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  Speaker 2: testing site being set up today in Catherine East, but
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  Speaker 2: they are certainly there's My understanding is there's twelve people
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  Speaker 2: coming down from Darwin today to help out with the testing.
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  Speaker 2: But they definitely are under resourced and there's not enough
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  Speaker 2: supplies for the testing. Is my information that I've been given, Well, well,
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  Speaker 2: I think that that is a concern. It is I'm
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  Speaker 2: given that, you know, lots of people need to get
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  Speaker 2: testing done. And it is concerning because if we've known
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  Speaker 2: this was going to be coming, surely some scenarios would
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: have been run through with the with the government. You know,
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  Speaker 2: in this situation, this is what we're going to do.
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  Speaker 2: Another major concern around town is to my the testing
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  Speaker 2: needs to be done going into remote community and people
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  Speaker 2: are still wondering, well, there's no rapid energen testing that
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  Speaker 2: you can get in town. If you did have a
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  Speaker 2: rapid energen test, PREW, do you give that result too?
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  Speaker 2: So that is a major concern for companies going out
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  Speaker 2: that are delivering a good and essential and last stating
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  Speaker 2: services out in these community.
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  Speaker 1: Jo what kind of you know, how is that actually
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  Speaker 1: making people feel at this point, because I've no doubt
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  Speaker 1: that a lot of you are on tender hooks wondering
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  Speaker 1: if you're on the verge of a further outbreak, and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that then some are not able to actually
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  Speaker 1: go in and get tested must be a worry.
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  Speaker 2: It is extremely concerning for people in town. There's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of chatter about, you know, more more cases that
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  Speaker 2: we know. We're just kind of bracing ourselves waiting for
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  Speaker 2: what will today bring, and no one really knows until
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister comes out with his press release, But
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  Speaker 2: it is concerning town's pretty quiet. There's been a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of confusion, confusion around who's essential and who's not, so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of scenarios of us think
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  Speaker 2: could have been tested out and the communication to the
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  Speaker 2: community could have been a lot better.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Joe, we caught up with the owner of Kirby's
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  Speaker 1: Pub yesterday and spoke about the check in situation.
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  Speaker 3: Take a listen to what she had to say.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea, you know, how many people
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  Speaker 1: have come into contact with this person or anything at
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  Speaker 1: this point in time.
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  Speaker 4: I was still getting a request as of this morning
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  Speaker 4: for the manual entry registers, which were sent through to
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: them on the very same day. So I think there
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  Speaker 4: is a level of concern from us that they don't
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  Speaker 4: even actually understand who was in here yet other than
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  Speaker 4: our staff, which we've provided their details, But they know
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  Speaker 4: for a fact that they were here, but I don't
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  Speaker 4: think they have an exact time period of when they
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  Speaker 4: were here. So it's a quite quite a wide net
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  Speaker 4: anybody that knows that they were here between the you know,
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  Speaker 4: the ten and six on the Wednesday and the twelve
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  Speaker 4: and four to thirty on the Friday for.
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  Speaker 3: You guys, has has everyone been checking in?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, look, we have no constam with that. We've always
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  Speaker 4: been really strict on it. Obviously we're dealing with predominantly
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  Speaker 4: indigenous clientele and you know, a lot of these people,
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  Speaker 4: to be honest with you, don't have phones or physical addresses.
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  Speaker 1: That was Cassie Harney obviously from Kirby's Pub yesterday. Joe,
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  Speaker 1: is it a worry that for some of the people
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  Speaker 1: that have been into the pub, some of those that
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  Speaker 1: have attended different exposure sites or exposure sites that are
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  Speaker 1: now listed on the coronavirus website, that some of them
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  Speaker 1: may be quite difficult to get in contact with.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie, the people that are you know, I do so.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously these people have checked in. Their details maybe cannot
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  Speaker 2: be read, so, you know, finding out who those peoples were,
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  Speaker 2: or who they were and where they actually have gone
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  Speaker 2: to afterwards is a concerned. Potentially some of these people
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  Speaker 2: could have gone out as far as kal Karinji La Jamanu.
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  Speaker 2: They could have actually been in for the weekend and
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  Speaker 2: gone out. We had a rugby game here on the weekend,
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  Speaker 2: so I know there was you know, people from the
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  Speaker 2: Barklay that came in to town and from stations out
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  Speaker 2: that way for the rugby game, so you know, potentially
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  Speaker 2: did they go to Kirby's after the rugby game. There's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of if some concerns over who was there,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, at least you know they've checked in,
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  Speaker 2: you'll be able to find them. But it's a slow process.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly sounds like it, and I think that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the really pivotal thing at this point in time is
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  Speaker 1: ensuring that everybody gets tested, which we know there's further
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  Speaker 1: worry about Joe.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: For those listening in.
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  Speaker 1: Catherine this morning, where can they go to get tested?
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  Speaker 1: If they're listening thinking all right, we've heard that there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be twelve people coming from Darwin to assist
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  Speaker 1: with that testing. At this point, from what you know
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  Speaker 1: as the local member, where can people go to get tested?
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  Speaker 2: So the two definite sites are on the corner of
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  Speaker 2: Giles Street and Second Street, which is in the old
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  Speaker 2: Gorge Shelf building, and at the hospital at the drive
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  Speaker 2: in clinic. But both of them you need to get
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  Speaker 2: on the coronavirus website and make an appointment and then
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  Speaker 2: you'll be given a time and go there at your
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  Speaker 2: designated time. The one at the hospital you wait in
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  Speaker 2: your car, and obviously the one here at Second Street,
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  Speaker 2: which I'm at actually at the moment, and my time
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  Speaker 2: was nine to twenty and there is a massive cu
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  Speaker 2: already witness me.
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  Speaker 1: So, Joe, you're speaking to us right now from that line,
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  Speaker 1: waiting to obviously get a test yourself.
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  Speaker 2: I am.
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  Speaker 3: Please let us know how you go.
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  Speaker 1: We'd be very keen to find out how long people
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  Speaker 1: are waiting for. I guess the you know, the message
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  Speaker 1: today for everybody is be patient.
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  Speaker 3: If you're in that line, correct.
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  Speaker 2: They do have a lot of shade up, there's seating there.
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  Speaker 2: The business next door's got a fan out to help
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  Speaker 2: out with people. I think people are doing all they can.
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  Speaker 2: We just I urge people if they need to get tested,
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  Speaker 2: get tested. And if you haven't had a vaccination yet,
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  Speaker 2: please get out and get a vaccination.
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  Speaker 1: Joe, how many people? How many cars are there in
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  Speaker 1: that line at the moment?
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  Speaker 2: I know I'm in there. I'm in the walking all right,
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  Speaker 2: my appointment yesterday. There would be if the people potentially
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  Speaker 2: in front of me roughly, but you know, between Second
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  Speaker 2: Street and bed Street both sides of the road A
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: full look cart.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Joe Hersey, I really appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: We'll probably catch up with you again tomorrow. Please let
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  Speaker 1: us know how you go in terms of that line,
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  Speaker 1: and let us know if there's anything that we need
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  Speaker 1: to communicate to our listeners in Catherine throughout the morning
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 3: No worries, Katie, Thank you, thanks for your time.