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Katie Woolf spoke with Chief Minister Michael Gunner · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Well, we've still got to watch and wait situation as
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: I understand it at the moment when it comes to
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: declaring Brisbane a hot spot after a doctor at the
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Princess Alexandra Hospital contracted the highly contagious UK strain of
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: COVID nineteen. We're also keeping a very close eye on Sydney.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: The Chief Minister, Michael Gunner joins me in the studio
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: this morning, Chief Minister.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning Cady. Hey game not too.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Bad now Brisbane and Sydney are they going to be
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: declared hot spots or what's the situation as we speak?
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: So we had a sempsee over the weekend after dotor
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Heggey went to the AHPPC that's the sorry for the acronyms,
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: that's the national meeting of all the Chief heal Officers
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: in the Chief Medical Officer to look at what's happening
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: in Brisbane the similar around. They looked at Sydney obviously
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: the next day. It's a low risk is the advice.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: There's a couple of exposure sites, so we're acting with
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: caution where some people must isolate and tested. They've been
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: to those exposure sites, but we're treating it down a
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: level at this age from a hot spot based with
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: the medical device that we're getting. And as I understand
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: that other states have gone down a similar path, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: we're essentially watching way as you described it, Katie, and
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: what's happening there and.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Is it correct that in some of those suburbs, specifically
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: for Sydney, where that person, that hotel worker or the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: quarantine worker I should say, had traveled too that if
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: people from the Northern Territory have been to those sports,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: then they may need to go for a test or
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: what's the best advice at this point.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: So I'd say go to coronavirus dot NT dot DOTU
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: because I won't be able to list all the sites
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: off top of my head. I don't want to mislead people,
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: and that will tell you if you've been here on
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: these dates, then you must isolate and test. So just
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: go double check those sites. We have put extra people
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: on the hotlines.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: We always do this.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: There's always a bit of a surge. We often get
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: people calling up and saying, oh's near there, do I
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: have to go get tested? But people are very good
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: about wanting to get the test and make sure they
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: do the right thing. But specifically those sites must isolate
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: and test.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Now, as I understand it, we were expecting our first
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: delivery of AstraZeneca that vaccine this week.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Where is it at?
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Because there seems to be some real argy bargie that
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: you guys didn't order it the FEDS did.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Where's it at?
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, so I can say that I'm not wearing any
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: any fight since or seems to be a been administrative at
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: the moment. We want Astroseneca to land in Lawn Territory
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: for the Lorn Territory government prior to March twenty second.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: We're going to use astrasenccare as part of our Phase
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: one B. The COMWELF was looking using Astrasenica as part
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: of their Phase one A. Obviously we're in the middle
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: of Phase one A.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: I followed up the reports on the weekend about not
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: ordering it or not handing over the delivery address. I
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: can't find any evidence of that from out from our
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: end or seems pretty straightforward. But having said that, we
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: also don't need AstraZeneca until March twenty two the Lands
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: and Territory earlier it will get used through the COMWORLF
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Phase one A, which is that age care and disability
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: care and people working in there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: So essentially the order that was being waited on for
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory is actually the federal government's order at
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: this stage, or it's to be delivered through that federal
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: government facility, so it's not ours and well it's you.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Know, we're expecting another one March twenty two.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: We want the astra Zenica to get here prior to
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: March twenty two, so if they send it all up
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: at once, we're working quite close to the FED, so
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: we probably take vals out of that patch for our
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: March twenty two. We just want to make sure Astheneka
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: gets here prior to March twenty two. If it doesn't,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: then we'll have to start working at that Phase one B.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: But we've been given no indication that we need to
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: worry about AstraZeneca. I've been given probably several dates it's
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: going to arrive, then it hasn't, and so we are
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: paying close attention to it, and we're at this stage hope,
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: not hopeful.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: We're very confident all land prior to March twenty two.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Do you know what at this point how many vaccines
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: have now been administered?
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's good question. Was over three thousand?
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I thought I can double check the most latest number.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: We're using fires obviously for all of Phase one A.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: That's why it's available, and we also want to keep
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: it simple so as you probably appreciate, until you get
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: the second shot, you're not actually vaccinated. Like the first
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: shot is not enough. You're going to get the second shot.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: The data is going to be really important once we
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: start getting to that second shot fames, and we're doing
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: that from today. I think today is the first second shot,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: so we're started to roll into the back end of
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: that three thousand and obviously if using fires and other
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: using fires or it's recentple to track the first and
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: second shots. As we get into the other phases and
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: we get more familiar the vaccine roll out, we'll obviously
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: be recording all the data around shots and second shots,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: and that's when it starts getting really important that people
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: do get their second shot. We'll be tracking people are
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: missing their second shot, and hopefully that small numbers, and
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: we'll be really doing targeted follow ups make sure people
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: do get that second shot.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Well, and I guess we're all hoping that the vaccine
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: has rolled out sooner rather than later all around the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: nation so that people can travel around more freely. Last
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: week we revealed exclusively on the show that Darwin is
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: now on the list of locations which interstate travelers can
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: fly to at half price. Alice Springs and Ularu are
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: also on that list, alongside some beautiful destinations. Chief how's
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: the government going to be promoting the Northern Territory as
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a better destination to visit than some of these other
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: places around Australia.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: Well, first of aok, can I thank you because there
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: was some confusion on this last week, but whether Daren
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: was in or out. You've got the Australian GUP Minister
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: on the show and you confirmed that Darwin was in.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: We followed that up and Darwin is definitely in. Alic
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: Springs and the Center absolutely need it. They've probably been
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: hard to hit than most parts of territory with tourism.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: They're more vulnerable to impacts on tourism, but the territory
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: as a whole really needed that those extra tourists coming in.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: We're working very closely obviously with tourism providers and others
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: to market into the rest of Australia Territory has an
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: excellent reputation. If anything, the desire to visit the territories
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: increased during Corona. There's been lots of lot tertiches been
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: never be more discussed on the national stage. Not everyone
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: can obviously visit Howard Springs, which may be part of the
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: reason why they won't want to come.
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  Speaker 3: But I am very.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Confident that there's a strong, strong desire out there to
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: visit the territory.
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  Speaker 2: The tough thing is that flight prices are not cheap
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory. On Friday, we had a listener
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: contact us to say that there was a sale on
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Jetstar I believe it was, but no cheap.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Flights to the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Are you going to be having discussion with Quantus and
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Jetstar to try and ensure that they're not going to
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: jack up those prices really rendering us as uncompetitive.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: This is probably a regular conversation with Quantus and Jetstar,
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  Speaker 4: though this time around there's more meat to it because
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: obviously the FEDS have put that whose dollars on the
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: table to make sure we keep airfares down. Obviously don't
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: want to get this half priced sale. And I know
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: the Australian government's got controls in place too. They're looking
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: at this as well, because everyone in Australia's want to
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: only see that ripoff come on. They've had certain inquiries
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: into the space. It's a hot issue across the country.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Really though, like do we have any power to actually
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: enforce them or force them to be fair here?
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  Speaker 4: The Australian government does contractually, I will thought with the
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: money they've handed over, and obviously our consumer affairs can
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: watch these things and pay attention. But I think it's
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: much more likely the Australian government, with the big stick
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: of the dollars they've got, are the ones who've got
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: the most control of this.
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  Speaker 3: We've got a good.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Relationship with the Australian government, Katie. You've got a good
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: relationship Ausralian.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Government now, yeah, apparently.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: So we keep asking to try and work out exactly
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: where people can can actually travel from to Darwin as well.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: So do you have a better idea of that list.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: To mindstanding is it's all those major ports of entry
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: into dun or Alice. So apologies if I miss one here,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: but you know it's not just that the towns were way,
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: which which is good, but it's also the Brisbanes of Sydney's,
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  Speaker 4: the Melbourn's, the Adelaide, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so it is all those capital cities. It's
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: not just towns.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: That's my understanding absolutely, And if you like, I can
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: just get I can get the full list and get
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: that back to you so you can you can see
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: that for your listeners.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be wonderful. Now.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: We are all hoping that these flights are going to
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: see an increase in tourist numbers and spending, but I
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: know that many hold concerns about the impact that crimes
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: having on tourism in some locations. One of those is
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs, which is set to feature on A Current
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Affair tonight. This is not a new issue. We've all
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: been banging on about this for months. Are you worried
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: about these very real issues hitting TV screens tonight?
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Nationally?
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: Always a concern I share. Crimes aren't accepted, whether it's
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: reported on or not, whether it's put on by a
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  Speaker 4: Current Affair or yourself, Katie, Crimes absolutely unacceptable, tragically low
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: just an issue here isn you elsewhere as well? And
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: I want anyone who visits the territory to have the
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: best experience possible. I don't want them to be impacted
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: by crime. And we're doing a lot of work in
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: that space. I can't guarantee it, but we're doing a
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: lot of work in that space to make sure not
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: just visitors but territories themselves well.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: And that's right, But we do seem to still be
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: struggling quite badly with this. Even on the weekend in
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: the paper there was an article in which a French
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: backpacker told his pretty harrowing tale about being belted by
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: two strangers in the city here in Darwin. These are
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: issues that we've all been grappling with for the majority
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: of your term of government. Why do people feel that
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: they're not improving?
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Assaults at the moment are on the way up. If
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: you look at property crime, that's been trending down, but
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: assaults are up, and that does worry us.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: It's funny because no one seems to actually believe the figures.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: And I don't know why, but I.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Guess there's this real sense in the community at the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: moment that even when those numbers sort of get trodden out,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: people seem to switch off.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: They just kind of go, do you.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Know what, I actually don't believe it there, and that's
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: a real concern in itself.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: I get it, I get it, but police myself, others,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: we obviously have to target our resources against the data
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: we're showing places are hot. And let's be clear, and
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: this is one reason why the top line data. I
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: understand the point you're making, Cuddie, and the top line data,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: I don't have an argument in the way that there
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: is crime. So there's not dispute that there's absolutely crime.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: And some areas become hotter than others, and you go
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: watch where the crime spikes are occurring and making sure
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: you're just in respond your resources to respond, and police
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: are very responsive in that space as we've got other
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: measures too as well to make sure we're adjusting to
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: where the hot spots are. The assaults though we get
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: back into that very worried about them going up, as
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: is the Commission, and he's talked about this a few times.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: We've had a lot more money coming into the territory
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: over the last year as a response to the Australian
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: government's very necessary decisions. So for example, it's around ten
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: million a week was coming in the territory over and
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: above normal in the job seeker. Now, when more comes in,
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: you see more. So we've seen more pitches of fresh
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: fruit and stuff like that, but I've also seen a
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: significant increase in drinking and we as we know, a
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: significant increase in unregulated drinking does lead to violence.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: So are you worried about the impact that this is
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: going to have on our tourism sector? I mean, even
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: so far that ACA promo, so the current Afair promo
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: has been viewed, well, last night it had been viewed
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: sixty five thousand times, you know, and it's not as
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: if it's a media beat up unfortunately, you know, they're real,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: it's real vision, it's real images that people are really
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: worried about. Are you concerned that this is going to
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: have an impact on our tourism sector at a time
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: when we really need to try and get people here?
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Always obviously it's never good when the territory of the
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: national stage for those reasons. We went through that five
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: years ago with the Royal Commission. So unfortunately the territory
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: has been here before when you get these issues discussed nationally,
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: but we've also spent twelve months being discussed nationally as
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: being the best when it comes to a whole range
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: of things with coronavirus. So I don't want to say
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: good of the bad because this is awful.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: We don't want it. We will keep working to make
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: sure we stop it.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I guess the big to be really blunt about it though.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: You know, here in the Northern Territory, like you said,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: we have managed COVID really well. We haven't had you know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: any deaths as a result of COVID, but we have
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: had an alleged death in Alice Springs as a result
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: of allegedly a stolen vehicle well crashing with an innocent man.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: So I guess again put it really bluntly. We are
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: talking about a situation here that's reached boiling point, particularly
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: in Alice Springs.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, that was a just an awful, tragic, what's
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: the right words, alleged crime. I think I've got be
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: careful of the court process it's going through. That that
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: happened in our springs just an absolute, absolute tragedy for
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: that person who was in the wrong spot at the
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: wrong time, and those people shouldn't have been doing what
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: they did. We are doing a live work in the
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: space as you know, Katie, not just around reasons, which
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: is a big thing we've been focusing on. So there's
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: twenty nine police heading to Alice Springs this month.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I'll get you the date for that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Twenty nine police yeap.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Out of the current recruit squad, there's eleven sorry, eleven
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: police auxiliaries being trained in our Springs right now.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: They graduate on the second of April.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Know that. And there's eleven adsient LIAISONOVS has been trained
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: as well for Alice, for in Alice, seven for suburbs sorry,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: communities around Alice Springs.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: So that's the more resourcing side. But I think we
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: also sorry, is that as a.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Result of the issues that we've got right now, will
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: they be permanently based there or are they there to
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: coincide with Pajama and some of those other major events
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: getting underwe.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: That's permanently based. So as we've commented already this interview, Katie,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: it's not new that there's issues.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: In our Springs.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: So we're constantly talking about what can we do more
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: for Alice, But there are also policy issues that impact
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: the whole territory, not just Alice Springs.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: So where's a couple things.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: We promise we do going into this term that we're
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: working at the moment, we've got coming up in the
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: March sitting, so with us next week passage around Ringley,
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: the legislation and Joint Commission, which is giving least greater
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: powers to make sure we can prosecute people. So we've
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: had a couple instances, this isn't the majority at all,
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: but we're a couple instances where older kids or you know,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: young adults essentially are encouraging young kids to meet crime
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: that covers off that Joint Commission is about making sure
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: that everyone who's party to a crime is liable for prosecution.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: So that's a very simplistic way of describing it. So
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: we're making sure we're catching everybody, which I think is
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: really important. And we're also working on strengthening and monitoring
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: bail compliance with something.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: With Yeah, you and I have spoken about that. Have
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: we got more of those monitoring bracelets? So where's that
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: breakdown being?
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: So mind standing is come over? Were this chat on
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: are off? Here? Katie? But you're saying you heard the
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: only one of being news. I followed up. The figure
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I got was three hundred and.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Forty one hundred and forty have actually been used.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've got that from a Minister for Police.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: So I'm not sure where that confusion has come from.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought it came from the estimates.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Okay, so I can look at that in case there's
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: there's a different way of breaking up the stats. But
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: I did ask the question looked at there was obviously
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: piked my absolutely, yeah, absolutely poietly. But we are looking
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: at a lot of things we can do in that space,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: as well as other reviews around property crime offenses and
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: vehicle offenses. I think miss police can talk about this
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: great detail vehicle offenses one that are worrying us that
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: I think we just need to update where those are
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: at because we're seeing a lot more vehicle offenses.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Well let's talk about then those police resources, because there's
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: no doubt that it's been a difficult time for police
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: managing resourcing during COVID. Last week we received a number
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: of messages about the situation at Howard Springs with oz Matt,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: with that team transitioning out, the Police Commissioner was doing
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: his best in the Sunday Territory and yesterday in an
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: opinion piece to quell those concerns, he said that nothing
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: would change at that facility when it comes to managing COVID.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: But some have been questioning if this time or if
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: it is time that police sort of focus more of
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: their time or their times better spent on fighting the
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: issues that we've got with crime, rather than being based
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: on managing some of those COVID concerns.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: So where obviously have been transitioning police resources back out
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: into ordinary duties and you've seen us shut down basically,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: I think that, yeah, there's definitely all the land border
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: control points have seen police come back into regular service.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: At Howard Springs itself, there's been no change in what
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: police are doing out there. We do want to avoid
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: the situation we've seen elsewhere though, where there's been a
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: range of su private security guards and oh.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you still need some police.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: I think I don't think your listeners are going there.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: So I think we need to have that comfort at
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: the airports. As you've seen with how we handled Brisbane
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: and Sydney, we are now transitioning probably to a phase
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: as we get more people vaccinated, more on standing of
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: the virus, better control measures in other places. So yeah, Brisbane, Sydney,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: the Melbourne's Perth et cetera. Are when something goes wrong
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: down there. They're getting better at what they do locally,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: sore with comfort now be able to potentially move away
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: from hotspot declaration. So I think you'll see airports go
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: in a similar way to the land controls.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: I won't give a date on that, but they'll go
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: that way.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: We've also seen the darn Watchhouse unstilled reopened last last
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: month this month has reopened, so we are going back
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: to those ordinary police.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I reckon a lot of people will be
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: pleased to hear that. I know that.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: We received an email from one of our listeners, Jane,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: last week. She was pretty concerned. She reckons it. When
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: she arrived at the airport, there was obviously that COVID screening,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: but she said that they found themselves walking between four
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: uniformed NT police and she, you know, she questioned whether
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: that was the best use of resources.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Police Commissioner makes very good decisions in this space. I'm
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: not going to tread on his toes. I understand why
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: we're doing it. That makes sense. He has my support
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: about doing it, and the numbers that we do we
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: have had as we appreciate need at times to declare
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: a hotspot while planes are in the air. That very
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: takes you know, you can't basically marshal resources when that occurs,
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: and that can lead to quite emotional circumstances where you
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: do need police involved.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: So we've got to be very careful how.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: We manage this and manage the risk of territorians because
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: as much as we've had no communit transmission, I don't
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: want to get complacent. If we get coronavirus in the
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: community the territory, you'll still be devastating. It'll be devastating.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I think we've just got to juggle all of those things.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: But at the moment, I do reckon that we've got
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: more people concerned about the issues we've got with crime
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: than worried about COVID, and that does come down to
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: good management. Obviously we've done a phenomenal job in the
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: territory when it comes to COVID, But this issue of crime,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think you'd have to say coppying it
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: from every angle at the moment. The Lord Mayor convat
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Scalis rode an opinion piece on the weekend, saying with
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: police resources already stretched to the limit. Why have police
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: been given extra workload to now also run the Howard
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Springs quarantine facility.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: His questioned, I can clarify that. I think you know
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: the answer this already, Katie. We haven't given police extra
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: workload howd Springs. I think there's been misunderstanding by the
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: police commisioner's role. The police commissioner during an emergency is
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: also the territory controller. He chairs the Territory Emerging Management Committee,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: which is essentially all the CEOs of public service and
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: other things necessary and everything that happens within an emergency
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: gets report up to the EOC that's Emergency Operations Center
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: and then into the temp see chair by the Church
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: of Controller that makes sure during an emergency everything's tracked,
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: held to account and reportable. That hasn't changed. It's been
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: going for the entire twelve months. So the Church controller,
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: please commissioner, his role during COVID has not changed at
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: all in terms of House Springs.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Any of these roles have not changed.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Have we sought assistance again from the ADF for additional
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: assistance from the ADF? My understanding from them last week
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: is that yes we have. But I'm just wondering if
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: you've got any idea how many staff from the.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Defense Force we're requesting at this point out there.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: I can't give you a numerical answer. All I'll say
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: is the ADF have been Giberson all the way through
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: this and always been very, very supportive, with an excellent
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: relationship with them, and I'm very grateful for everything you've done.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: I can't give you an exact number on that one.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Game, Okay, Chief Minister.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I do want to ask you just quickly about something
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: pretty disturbing that's been reported over the weekend. We've had
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: a couple of listeners get in contact with us about this,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and it's been reported in the NT Independent that a
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: three year old boy was sexually assaulted while playing in
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: his front yard in Palmerston by an itinerant on Thursday,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: in what's being described as every parent's worst nightmare. At
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: this stage, there's been no comment from the Northern Territory Police.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: We have sent them a request this morning wondering if
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: we're able to get some further detail and if somebody
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: has been arrested. Have you been told about this situation
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: at this point in time.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: No, I haven't received no form of briefing on that
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: from what you said, it's a sickening incident. But as
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: we don't know if it's been confirmed or not, I
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: hope to God it's found to be not true because
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: it's just a horrific.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Look it sounds absolutely horrific, and hopefully we are able
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: to get some clarity from the Northern Territory Police and
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: hopefully we're able to find out if indeed this person
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: has been arrested or not. As it's been described, it
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: is every parent's worst nightmare. Chief Minister will leave it
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: there for this morning. We always appreciate your time. Thank
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: you very much for coming in. You're listening to Mix
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: one O four point nine's three sixty that number if
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: you'd like to call through eight nine four one one
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: O four nine