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Katie Woolf spoke with Shadow Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing Marie Clare Boothby · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf on Mixed one oh four
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce main Darwin. Joining us on
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the line right now is Mary Claire Boothby, who is
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  Speaker 1: the member for Brennan and also indeed the opposition spokesperson
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: on racing and gaming.
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  Speaker 2: She joins me on the line right now. Good morning to.
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  Speaker 3: You, Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Murray, Claire, did you hear the interview a little
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: earlier with the Chief Minister Michael Gunner and do you
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: accept his explanation of events around the IKAK report into
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  Speaker 1: the grandstand?
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  Speaker 3: I certainly did, Katie, And I'm sure, like most Territorians
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  Speaker 3: are absolutely gobsmacked that we have a chief Minister who
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  Speaker 3: says he takes responsibility and it all lies with him,
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  Speaker 3: and yet he won't even answer a single question about
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  Speaker 3: you asking him you know who it was that took
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  Speaker 3: this recommendation to the cabinet?
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  Speaker 1: Now, that was something that you had sent a pressure
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  Speaker 1: release out about yesterday, questioning you know who has going
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  Speaker 1: to take responsibility for taking this to cabinet?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what do you think's gone on here?
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  Speaker 3: At the end of the day, Katie, what we've got
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  Speaker 3: here is a chief Minister and a bunch of ministers
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  Speaker 3: who are trying to duck and weave away from the
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  Speaker 3: fact that, you know, they don't want to talk about
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  Speaker 3: what they've done in this whole process. They keep referring
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  Speaker 3: to this Eykap report, which is course, is a really
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  Speaker 3: long report. They have been implicated. I mean, the first
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  Speaker 3: couple of lines of the report talks about ministerial interference,
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  Speaker 3: the preferential treatment for government held electoral divisions, about how
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  Speaker 3: the process was deeply flawed. So you know, you need
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  Speaker 3: to take some responsibility. These are the ministers of the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory who are ultimately responsible, and yet none of
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  Speaker 3: them are coming out and telling us what happened in
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  Speaker 3: that whole process.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. The thing that is really quite striking to me
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  Speaker 1: is that the report found that the Cabinet approved this
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  Speaker 1: twelve million dollar grant one day after receiving the application
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  Speaker 1: from the Turf Club, which contained no cost benefit analysis
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  Speaker 1: or no verifiable costings to.
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  Speaker 2: Explain that price tag.
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  Speaker 1: You know, he said that there is a market led
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  Speaker 1: process which he understood had happened over a twelve month period.
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  Speaker 1: But it makes you question the way in which that
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  Speaker 1: office was being run if we have got, you know,
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  Speaker 1: twelve million dollars of taxpayers dollars being handed across to
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  Speaker 1: the turf club without the homework being completed exactly.
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  Speaker 3: And I'd like to know for the government to answer
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  Speaker 3: any other deal that has been done at a twelve
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  Speaker 3: million dollar price tag where it only took one day
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  Speaker 3: for them to decide. I mean, this government takes five
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  Speaker 3: years to get anything else off the ground and yet
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  Speaker 3: for one day it gets twelve million dollar turf club
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  Speaker 3: in an electorate which is held by the Chief Minister.
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  Speaker 2: Is that your concern here?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that Moore has gone on that the
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  Speaker 1: ministers haven't done their homework on as well?
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  Speaker 3: Well? They're certainly not talking about what they have done,
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  Speaker 3: and that's half the problem here is that they keep
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  Speaker 3: pushing back onto everybody else. I mean, I heard the
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  Speaker 3: Chief Minister blame fairly and squarely the Darlin Turf Club
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  Speaker 3: for this, and of course there's a role to play
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  Speaker 3: for them. But for someone who says he takes responsibility,
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  Speaker 3: for someone who said he would be open and transparent
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  Speaker 3: leading up to an election, he has been anything. But
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  Speaker 3: all we need is for these ministers to come out
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  Speaker 3: and talk about what actually happened so that we can
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  Speaker 3: clear this cloud of corruption. If there's nothing to hide,
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  Speaker 3: then come out and let territorians know exactly what happened.
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  Speaker 1: Mary Claire, what do you think needs to happen here?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that more heads need to roll?
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  Speaker 3: I think the Chief Minister needs to take responsibility and
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  Speaker 3: if that means that he needs to come forward and
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  Speaker 3: explain to territories what happens, then he, you know, he
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  Speaker 3: needs to look really deep inside and say, well, what
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  Speaker 3: is best for the territory here. You can't come have
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  Speaker 3: a chief minister comes out and expects open and transparency
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  Speaker 3: on everything else and says that that's what he's going
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  Speaker 3: to do. But then clearly everything he has done leading
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  Speaker 3: up to this point is not demonstrating that whatsoever.
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  Speaker 2: So do you think he needs to stand down?
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  Speaker 3: I think he definitely needs to take a heart, good
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  Speaker 3: hard look at himself and do what the right thing
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  Speaker 3: is to do, and that is to step aside.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So you actually do you think he needs to
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  Speaker 1: step aside at this point?
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  Speaker 3: We can't have a government that runs around and does
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  Speaker 3: whatever it wants and then when there's an investigation goes
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  Speaker 3: into hiding and doesn't come out with exactly what's going on,
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  Speaker 3: all right.
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  Speaker 1: I do want to also ask some questions about the
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  Speaker 1: IKAK because this morning the Northern Territory News is reporting
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  Speaker 1: that the IKAK is set to be referred to the
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  Speaker 1: Privileges Committee following allegations Commissioner Ken Fleming misled budget estimates
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  Speaker 1: last month. I mean, from what the Chief Minister said
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  Speaker 1: earlier today, it is something the matter is going to
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  Speaker 1: be referred to Privileges. Do you think that's the right
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  Speaker 1: step to make here?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Let me just be really clear though that the
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  Speaker 3: IKAK has got two very separate stories happening right now,
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  Speaker 3: and what we don't want is the focus to be
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  Speaker 3: removed from the government in the dal and Turch club
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  Speaker 3: saga that's gone on.
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  Speaker 1: And look, I don't think anybody's suggesting that it will be,
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  Speaker 1: but I think what I'm asking here is whether we
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  Speaker 1: need to actually be reviewing the way that the IKAK
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  Speaker 1: framework is happening and whether it is operating in the
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  Speaker 1: way in which the Northern Territory and Territorians feel it
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  Speaker 1: should be.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, Katie. And in our last sittings in
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  Speaker 3: Parliament we actually put forward a motion to create a
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  Speaker 3: select committee in which the KAC could be completely reviewed
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  Speaker 3: and how it all works from a legislative point of view.
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  Speaker 3: And at the time the government shut down that debate,
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  Speaker 3: they didn't even want to go into debate at all,
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  Speaker 3: meaning that they were trying to erode that brutinaney and
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  Speaker 3: in their opinion they were saying, we're doing our review ourselves.
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  Speaker 3: We can't have a government reviewing an independent body. It
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  Speaker 3: needs to be absolutely independent and that's something they haven't
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  Speaker 3: been clear about wanting to do.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's very it is entirely appropriate and
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  Speaker 1: incredibly easy for us to be able to actually look
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  Speaker 1: at both of these situations very separately. You know, we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about the turf club situation on one hand and
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  Speaker 1: then we're talking about something very different on the other.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that there should be a full public
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  Speaker 1: So you do think that there should be a full
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  Speaker 1: public inquiry into the k.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, like I said, we put forward that motion
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  Speaker 3: in Parliament in the last sittings to be able to
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  Speaker 3: have versalit's committee, which does include a public a consultation
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: process so that the Territorians can have their say about this.
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  Speaker 1: So do you reckon the Chief Minister from what he
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: said this morning during that interview, do you think that
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  Speaker 1: that's the appropriate action to take.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Do you think that that goes far enough.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: In terms of the Privileges Committee.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, in terms of the Privileges Committee, and also in
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  Speaker 1: terms of that inquiry or that review that's currently being
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  Speaker 1: conducted by Greg Shanahan.
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  Speaker 3: No, I think it needs to be a completely independent review.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's an independent body of investigating very serious matters.
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  Speaker 3: So we can't have a government that's going to investigate that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean we saw even if we go back to
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  Speaker 3: the Turf Club that the Chievements to himself said that
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  Speaker 3: there was a Northern Territory government and an independent Order
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  Speaker 3: to Report done an investigation and both found that there
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  Speaker 3: was nothing going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Good point is really raises some red flags with anyone
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  Speaker 3: who is listening. And I just think that the fact
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  Speaker 3: that he still couldn't answer about that, and he was
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  Speaker 3: saying that that was good enough, he's just not good enough.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Murray Claire, what do you make of the Chief Minister
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: saying that he won't go to the Darwin Cup Carnival.
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  Speaker 2: Is it something that you will go to?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie I'm hoping to get along and I find
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  Speaker 3: it incredible that he doesn't want to go. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: there is a Chief Minister's Day in which you know,
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  Speaker 3: he I know the government would definitely be supporting that financially,
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  Speaker 3: and for him not to go, I mean, what kind
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  Speaker 3: of message does that send to you know, the people
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  Speaker 3: of the territory that he represents, and our tourists are
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  Speaker 3: going to come and visit, like our own Chief Minister
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  Speaker 3: is hiding and doesn't want to come out on you know,
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  Speaker 3: one of the biggest event carnivals that we've got here.
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  Speaker 1: Well remember for Brendan Murray, Claire Booth be really good
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  Speaker 1: to speak with you this morning. I really appreciate your
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: time and sorry about that time change as well. We
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: appreciate you accommodating us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you,