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Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one. Oh four point nine's three sixty. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what a morning it has been. And as we heard,
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  Speaker 1: the Member for Blaine, Mark Turner, last night spoke in
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  Speaker 1: parliament and well he revealed he's the man at the
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  Speaker 1: center of this scandal. He spoke in parliament late last
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  Speaker 1: night saying he had a friendship with the woman we
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  Speaker 1: spoke to on air yesterday, but said that any suggestion
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  Speaker 1: that he'd been involved in a legal activity was categorically untrue.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the Opposition leader Leah
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  Speaker 1: fanocchiiro Good morning Leah.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and to your listeners, Lea.
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  Speaker 1: Does this mean that we all just need to let
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  Speaker 1: this saga go?
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  Speaker 2: I think the Member for Blaine's speech last night just
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  Speaker 2: opens up more questions and reinforces to me that the
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  Speaker 2: Chief Minister, his handling of this has been so appalling
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  Speaker 2: he has got to go. I mean, this has been
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  Speaker 2: a cover up of epic proportions. And the Member for
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  Speaker 2: Blaine himself has outed the Chief Minister by saying that
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  Speaker 2: he'd spoken to the Chief Minister this week, which means
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  Speaker 2: Michael Gunner has known about it and done nothing about it.
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  Speaker 2: Refused to address the issue, refuse to investigate the issue,
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  Speaker 2: refused to deny the issue, just completely doubled down on
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  Speaker 2: the cover up, and his leadership is no longer tenable.
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  Speaker 1: Lea. I guess what he also did though, last night,
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  Speaker 1: is he tried to shift the conversation from this scandal
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  Speaker 1: being about the use of illicit drugs. And I will
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  Speaker 1: get to that aspect of it in just a moment.
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  Speaker 1: But he tried to shift the scandal from that and
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  Speaker 1: I guess make it more of a moral debate. He
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  Speaker 1: was actually, you know, very critical of you for bringing
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  Speaker 1: this issue into the limelight. But the thing that I
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  Speaker 1: think really has been forgotten here is the responsibility. He
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  Speaker 1: should be taking responsibility for himself and his own actions.
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  Speaker 1: But Leah, if we look at it just from that
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  Speaker 1: moral perspective for a moment, do you think that we
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  Speaker 1: need to you know, do you think that realistically the
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  Speaker 1: Member for Blaine needs to stand out?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what we know is that when you are a
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  Speaker 2: member of Parliament, you have to live by a code
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  Speaker 2: of conduct of honesty, integrity and accountability. And if the
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  Speaker 2: Member for Blaine doesn't want the level of public scrutiny
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  Speaker 2: that has been applied then he shouldn't hold public office.
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  Speaker 2: Let's not forget the Chief Minister has set the standard
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  Speaker 2: on this in twenty sixteen when he said about another
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  Speaker 2: member of Parliament that they had fundamentally breached community standards.
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  Speaker 2: I quote from the Chief Minister at that time he
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  Speaker 2: said his behavior is also an unforgivable breach of parliamentary standards.
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  Speaker 2: He should resign immediately and not take his seat in parliament.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the people of Blaine have effectively been misled
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  Speaker 2: by the Member for Blaine, and you know, if he'd
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  Speaker 2: been more open with them, perhaps the result would be different.
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  Speaker 2: But ultimately that part of the scandal, aside the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister's coverer, remains an enormous issue in a huge cloud
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  Speaker 2: hanging over the Gunner government. And of course we still
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  Speaker 2: have the Chief Minister still has serious questions to answer
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  Speaker 2: about any implications involving his parliamentary staff.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I think that that is the point which
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  Speaker 1: is entirely being glossed over by some media this morning.
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  Speaker 1: We've got a situation here where well, if the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory News and indeed Matt Cunningham, a very well respected journalist,
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  Speaker 1: is indeed correct and that's what we've heard this morning.
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  Speaker 1: The Special References Unit within the Northern Territory Police is
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  Speaker 1: actually investigating that entirely. And you know, this could end
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  Speaker 1: up being a much bigger issue for the Chief Minister.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to say I'm pretty surprised that he's not
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  Speaker 1: launched some kind of internal investigation.
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  Speaker 2: I have been asking him all week, Katie. When this
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  Speaker 2: first broke in the newspaper, I put out a statement
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  Speaker 2: saying the allegations had nothing to do with the Country
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  Speaker 2: Liberal Party and I called on the Chief Minister to
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  Speaker 2: address the allegations. Then all week in Parliament I've been
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  Speaker 2: asking whether he's done an investigation, whether he would deny it,
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  Speaker 2: and trying to get to the bottom of what is
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  Speaker 2: going on. And ultimately, now as we know, the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister has known about it at least all week, and
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  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister has been dismissing this. I mean he
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  Speaker 2: has been saying to me, Opposition leader, you bring me
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  Speaker 2: evidence and then I'll look at it, when really he's
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  Speaker 2: had the evidence all along. And if the Special Reference
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  Speaker 2: Unit of Police have been investigating for two months, well
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  Speaker 2: clearly there is more to come from this. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister has a lot of questions to answer,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not surprised quite frankly, Now, why ministers yesterday
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  Speaker 2: we're telling speaking to media and saying that the Member
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  Speaker 2: for Blade's position in parliament is untenable, Leah, I.
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  Speaker 1: Do want to ask. Obviously, we now know that this
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  Speaker 1: investigation is obviously underway. There hasn't been a formal comment
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  Speaker 1: from the Northern Territory Police as far as I know
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  Speaker 1: at this point, but this investigation is indeed underway from
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  Speaker 1: what I can gather. But if we end up in
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  Speaker 1: a situation here where that investigation is completed and there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing to see in terms of, you know, alleged use
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  Speaker 1: of cocaine by staffers, and we just in a situation
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  Speaker 1: where we've got an MLA who has a friendship with
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  Speaker 1: the woman who we spoke to on air yesterday, I mean, really,
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  Speaker 1: is that grounds for the Chief Minister to stand down?
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  Speaker 2: Without question? Katie? His handling of this has been atrocious.
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  Speaker 2: He has said to every territory and every boss, every
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  Speaker 2: employer that you can turn a blind eye to serious allegations.
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  Speaker 2: Is unfathomable that that can be his position, That he
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  Speaker 2: could not have taken a strongest stance. All I did
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  Speaker 2: on Sunday was call on him to address the allegations.
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  Speaker 2: The Chief Minister could have commenced an investigation, he could
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  Speaker 2: have done a number of things differently. Instead, he put
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  Speaker 2: out a puff piece about being too busy and having
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  Speaker 2: to deal with COVID. Then he decided that he should
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  Speaker 2: start blaming me and asking me to bring evidence forward.
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  Speaker 2: That is not leadership. You know, the fish rots from
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  Speaker 2: the head, Katie, and he has to have taken the
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  Speaker 2: responsibility as an employer, as a leader, as a Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 2: and and get to the bottom of this. Ultimately, he's
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  Speaker 2: had the opportunity to clear the air and take control
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  Speaker 2: of the situation and he has fundamentally failed. It's completely
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  Speaker 2: unacceptable and he has to step down. The message he
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  Speaker 2: has said to our entire community is appalling.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, the Member for Blaine said last night in that speech,
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  Speaker 1: I am deeply embarrassed by all of this. And if
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  Speaker 1: that was the leader of the Opposition's goal, she has succeeded.
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  Speaker 1: What's your response to that.
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  Speaker 2: My response is that I think someone on the fifth
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  Speaker 2: floor wrote the speech for him, Katie. I mean, it's
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  Speaker 2: just ridiculous. My job as opposition leader is to hold
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  Speaker 2: the government to account. I ruled out that this scandal
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  Speaker 2: involved anyone in my party and in my team. I
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  Speaker 2: asked the Chief Minister to address the allegations all week.
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  Speaker 2: I've been asking the Chief Minister address the allegations. He
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  Speaker 2: has failed and so you know, it's easy to point
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  Speaker 2: fingers at other people, but ultimately there needs to be
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  Speaker 2: some serious self reflection in the Labor government because they
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  Speaker 2: have let down Territori and lea fundamental way this way.
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  Speaker 1: We are running out of time. What needs to happen today.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we need to hear from the Chief Minister today
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  Speaker 2: and he better have some very good explanations for the
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  Speaker 2: people of the territory. Ultimately, he needs to fall on
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  Speaker 2: his sword, step down, move aside and clear the air
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  Speaker 2: on this government that will be known for crime, cocaine
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  Speaker 2: and cover up.
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  Speaker 1: Lea Finocchiiro the opposition leader. We are going to have
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  Speaker 1: to leave it there. I appreciate your time, thanks for
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  Speaker 1: speaking with us again.
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  Speaker 2: Take care everyone and look.
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  Speaker 1: For the definitely, for the sake of fairness. We were
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  Speaker 1: actually due to speak to the Minister for Welfare, Corrections
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  Speaker 1: and various other portfolios Selena Rubo. This morning. Late last
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  Speaker 1: night we were informed that that interview would not be
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  Speaker 1: able to go ahead. We were also expecting the Minister
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  Speaker 1: for Sport, Tourism or sorry for Tourism and Health Natashaphiles,
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  Speaker 1: to be out this morning at a press conference that
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  Speaker 1: was canceled. The Chief Minute was due to do an
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  Speaker 1: interview on a radio station here in our building this
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  Speaker 1: morning that was canceled. We have put in a request
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  Speaker 1: to speak to the Chief Minister. We have not heard
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  Speaker 1: anything back, so you can make from that what you like.
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  Speaker 1: Eight nine four one one oh four nine if you'd
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  Speaker 1: like to call through