Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tourism Central Australia's Danial Rochford says there's been a massive increase in tourism numbers with visitors staying longer and spending more

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Tourism Central Australia's Danial Rochford says there's been a massive increase in tourism numbers with visitors staying longer and spending more · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we understand that there has been quite quite a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: bit happening when it comes to tourism. We know that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: there is right around the Northern territory and we were
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: talking just a little while ago about the Darwin Festival
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: statistics and how many people we've seen here in Darwen
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: with the festival. But in Central Australia, we've obviously spoken
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: at different times about some of the issues being experienced
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: in Central Australia, but I understand that there's been some
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: positive news when it comes to the level of visitation
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  Speaker 1: that is being experienced. Now joining me on the line
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  Speaker 1: right now is Daniel Rochford, Tourism Central Australia CEO.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Daniel.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Listen it now, Daniel.
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  Speaker 1: How are things going according to Well, I understand that
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  Speaker 1: there's some national stats that come out each and every month.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, it's showing the ultimate trifecta. Of course, these
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  Speaker 3: stats are for right across the territory, so it's also
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  Speaker 3: the case up in the top end, but we're seeing
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: a massive increase in visitor numbers. They're staying longer, but
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  Speaker 3: most importantly they're spending more and that statistic is amazing.
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  Speaker 3: We've seen one hundred and forty four percent increase compared
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  Speaker 3: to May twenty nineteen, which is a massive increase and
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  Speaker 3: a huge injection into our regional economy.
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  Speaker 1: Just repeat that for US, So one hundred and forty
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  Speaker 1: four percent increase.
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  Speaker 2: So what was that for?
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  Speaker 3: So that was May this year compared to May twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 3: and I'll use the actual real figure. We've gone from
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  Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty five million in May twenty nineteen
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  Speaker 3: to three hundred and seventy eight million in May twenty
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  Speaker 3: two So that is a staggering rebound out of the
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  Speaker 3: pandemic and it's being felt not just up in the
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  Speaker 3: top end, but also here in Central Australia. Wow, that's
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  Speaker 3: the culmination of a huge amount of work from our
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  Speaker 3: colleagues Tourism Northern Territory and the work that we've been
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  Speaker 3: doing with the marketing fund that we've received from the
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  Speaker 3: federal government, but also our amazing events right across the territory.
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  Speaker 1: That's fantastic to hear, and I think that it's fantastic
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  Speaker 1: to hear because we know that the tourism sector is
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  Speaker 1: hit so incredibly hard over the COVID period. So to
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  Speaker 1: hear that we are bouncing back well better than what
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  Speaker 1: we were pre COVID is pretty bloody amazing. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I'm astonished by how significant this rebound is. And
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  Speaker 3: you know, you compare this to other states, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we're blowing it out of the ballpark here and it
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  Speaker 3: just shows that we've got a lot of interest from
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  Speaker 3: domestic and of course statistics don't include international visitation, which
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  Speaker 3: haven't really been felt yet here in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, we're hopefully going to see this rebound continue.
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  Speaker 3: And certainly, just on Saturday, we almost we were only
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  Speaker 3: a handful shy of breaking our all time record of
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  Speaker 3: a number of people coming into the Alice Springs Information Center,
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  Speaker 3: So that certainly shows that there's still a strong out
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  Speaker 3: of a visitation happening. And we're just about to launch
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  Speaker 3: into our event season, similar to you guys up in Darwin,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, we've got the Henley on Todd Brigatta
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  Speaker 3: this weekend and the Red Center that's in only a
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  Speaker 3: few weeks time. So you know, I expect this visitation
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  Speaker 3: statistics to continue and may it last a long time.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we all hope.
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  Speaker 1: So hey, we all want to make sure that it
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  Speaker 1: does last as long as possible. Daniel, what do you
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  Speaker 1: think is contributed to these strong results?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think there's a confluence of things. One is
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people with credit and they were wanting
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  Speaker 3: to use it on going somewhere special our weather. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: with the weather being so bad on the Eastern Seaboard.
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  Speaker 3: I think certainly the marketing efforts from Tourism Northern Territory
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  Speaker 3: and Tourism Central Australia have certainly contributed. Plus also the
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  Speaker 3: great events and the work at Northern Territory major events
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  Speaker 3: and all our event managers putting on our amazing and
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  Speaker 3: diversity right across the territory. So I think the confluence
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  Speaker 3: of us being the go to place in Australia at
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  Speaker 3: the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Now just talk us through because you and I have
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  Speaker 1: spoken on numerous occasions about the workforce shortage. How tough
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  Speaker 1: is it going right now? When you talk about these
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  Speaker 1: numbers and how great things are going, you know with visitation,
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine that the only potential tough side of
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  Speaker 1: that is having enough workers.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're still of course struggling and that's being felt
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  Speaker 3: not only right across the territory, but around Australia. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're certainly calling upon the federal government to increase the
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  Speaker 3: cap of migration. We also need to be looking at
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  Speaker 3: innovative strategies. A big area for us here and in
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  Speaker 3: Central Australia is working with our indigenous community to encourage
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  Speaker 3: training and support to enter in the tourism and hospitality industry.
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  Speaker 3: So all those things. There's no one solvable or to
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  Speaker 3: fix this, and governments are doing their best at both
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  Speaker 3: levels to try and ortis and industry also doing their best.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, I see job add after job add
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  Speaker 3: job at trying to recruit people at the moment, and
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  Speaker 3: it's still a big, real issue.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's still tough going.
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  Speaker 4: Hey.
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  Speaker 2: Also, we have you and I have spoken quite a
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  Speaker 2: few times.
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  Speaker 1: As well about flights into our springs being cash. It's
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  Speaker 1: been you know, it's been a concern for you in
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  Speaker 1: recent weeks. How are things going in that space?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And you know we do have a great
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  Speaker 3: concern not just in terms of capacity decreases but also
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  Speaker 3: the cost of airfares. This really goes to the heart
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  Speaker 3: of the liveability of our community. Look at the fair
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  Speaker 3: Common to say that we've had some engagement with Quanas
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  Speaker 3: and other airlines and that's great to see. And look,
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  Speaker 3: you know we've sort of put forward our views and look,
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  Speaker 3: we look forward to having those continued conversations and hopefully
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  Speaker 3: we'll start to see some of that capacity increase and
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  Speaker 3: some of those airfares go down, because at the moment
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  Speaker 3: it's a big disenabler. When we talk about statistics, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of that's been driven by drive tourism. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: we need to make sure that airfares are affordable. And
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  Speaker 3: what we see is that our airfairs into our springs
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  Speaker 3: are way above the averages around the country, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: we need a bit of fairness come through to help
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  Speaker 3: us drive more tourism. So yeah, we really do. Also
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  Speaker 3: could I also just say this is just breaking in
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  Speaker 3: Alice Springs at the moment, but we've just got win
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  Speaker 3: that the government has now formally acquired anzach Oble for
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  Speaker 3: the National Aboriginal Art Gallery. This has only just come
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  Speaker 3: to hand in the last few last hour, so that's
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  Speaker 3: also good news for tourism in Central Australia. TCA has
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  Speaker 3: been advocating for that for a long time and it's
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  Speaker 3: now good to go, and I guess now it's back
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  Speaker 3: to the Northern Territory government. Let's get it built.
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  Speaker 1: So mate, just to repeat that it has like, that's
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  Speaker 1: very much breaking news that the government has now formally
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  Speaker 1: acquired Zach Oval for the National Aboriginal Art Gallery. How
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  Speaker 1: quickly are things going to get underway now, do you think?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: I think what I understand is that there is a
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  Speaker 3: design process in hand that's been going through and obviously
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  Speaker 3: such an iconic facility is going to that process is
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  Speaker 3: going to bear and needing to go through the process.
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  Speaker 3: So hopefully that won't be too far away. And I
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  Speaker 3: guess from what I understand, the federal the new Federal
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  Speaker 3: abor government has committed significant moneys as well as the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory government. So the money is the design process
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  Speaker 3: is there. Now we need shovels to come out and
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  Speaker 3: let's get on with it.
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  Speaker 1: It has been a long time in the making that
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  Speaker 1: art gallery has nurse.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and look this has only just broke a mayor
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  Speaker 3: has only just made that public this morning. So I
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  Speaker 3: think this is good news for our town. I know
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  Speaker 3: it's a very vexing issue in our community, but DCA
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  Speaker 3: has been a very strong supporter of acquiring the anzac
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  Speaker 3: Oval and let's just get it on and where this
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  Speaker 3: is going to be an amazing facility and a great
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  Speaker 3: opportunity for us.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we might even see whether we're able to get
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  Speaker 1: the Mayor of Alice Springs on the show at some
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  Speaker 1: point this morning to get some further detail, because that
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  Speaker 1: is certainly some good news fought the whole of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory, but particularly for Central Australia. Daniel seems like
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  Speaker 1: a good day for territorians, particularly in Central Australia today, Mate,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: is it time to cant we all down the mall?
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: I'm just about to say that I think it's time
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: to get the leopards in left in leotards out and
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: time to do a few flips. So I'm sure my
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: good friend Alex Bruce is very keen to see that.
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  Speaker 2: Get someone to film it for us, would you?
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  Speaker 3: Indeed?
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  Speaker 1: Good? Indeed, Daniel, great to speak to you as always,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm really like, it's really good to hear some
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  Speaker 1: good news in this space because you know, I know
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  Speaker 1: it's been a bloody tough time for you guys, so
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: it is really good to hear some good news.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and really appreciate your support over this what
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: has been a difficulty.
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  Speaker 1: Years now Alex Bruce SE's pretty chafter I think he
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  Speaker 1: can't wait to see this video of you can't wheeling.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: You should join me.
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  Speaker 2: Good on you, Daniel. Thanks mate. As always, we'll talk
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  Speaker 2: to you soon