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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now let's get straight into it, because it is the
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  Speaker 1: second time this week with the opposition leader, following the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Daily by election obviously earlier in the week, which we
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  Speaker 1: spoke to Lea Fanochio about. But joining us on the
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  Speaker 1: line right now is the opposition leader, Lea Fanochi Airo.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now today Leah, I am obviously keen to focus on
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  Speaker 1: this situation with nt Health. Yesterday we learned that doctors
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  Speaker 1: and senior health executives discussed shutting the emergency department at
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  Speaker 1: one of our Greater Darwin's two hospitals during those crisis
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  Speaker 1: talks over staff shortages. Now, the possibility of closing the
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  Speaker 1: Palmerston Regional Hospital emergency department was among those options being discussed.
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  Speaker 1: That's according to several independent sources familiar with the meeting
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  Speaker 1: who's spoken to Matt Cunningham from Sky News. Now, Leah,
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  Speaker 1: this is pretty worrying staff. The Health Minister yesterday confirmed
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  Speaker 1: that there are issues with staffing. Are you concerned here
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  Speaker 1: that we don't have enough staff to actually manage the
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  Speaker 1: emergency department at the Palmerston Hospital.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what's really concerning, Katie is that this year, we've
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  Speaker 2: had three Code yellows at Royal Darwin Hospital and of
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  Speaker 2: course two of those have been just in the last
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  Speaker 2: few weeks, and of course they're not being explained to
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  Speaker 2: Territorians about why we've gone into code yellow and the
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  Speaker 2: government haven't put forward their plan as to how we
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  Speaker 2: stop going into Code yellow. Now if our main tertiary
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  Speaker 2: hospital is in crisis point, you know, in times when
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  Speaker 2: we don't have people in hospital suffering from COVID, then
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  Speaker 2: we're really concerned that if COVID was to come to
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  Speaker 2: the territory, we just wouldn't be able to support the
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  Speaker 2: need required if that extra demand was placed on the system.
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  Speaker 2: So huge concerns because of course many elective surgeries have
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  Speaker 2: been canceled and that means Territorians will continue to suffer
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  Speaker 2: under their injuries or whatever it is that they need
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  Speaker 2: to procedures they need to get done because they've of
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  Speaker 2: course been put on the back burner.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I guess you know that we're seeing it
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  Speaker 1: right across the board when it comes to staffing and
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  Speaker 1: trying to manage this COVID situation. We've spoken about it
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  Speaker 1: before with the police as well, but when you're talking
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  Speaker 1: about it with the health system. We know that obviously
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  Speaker 1: we're trying to staff the Royal Darwin Hospital, we're trying
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  Speaker 1: to staff the Palmerston Hospital, and then indeed we need.
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  Speaker 3: To have staff out there at Howard Springs.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is it actually maybe a sensible thing for
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  Speaker 1: us to look at scaling back that Palmeston Regional Hospital's
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  Speaker 1: emergency wart.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the government need to explain why that
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  Speaker 2: would improve health services. Of course, Parmesan Regional Hospital provides
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  Speaker 2: a service to you know, thirty five thousand people in
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  Speaker 2: the Palmerston area and up with the seventy thousand people
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  Speaker 2: you know south of Parmesan throughout the Darwin rural area,
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  Speaker 2: so it has an enormous catchment that it provides services for.
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  Speaker 2: And if the government are secretly planning to shut down
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  Speaker 2: the Palmeston Emergency department or scale it right back, then
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  Speaker 2: they need to be explaining to people in those communities
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  Speaker 2: why that's important. I think what's a great concern to us, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and we've been saying this right from the start, is
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  Speaker 2: when the government put its hand up and said that
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  Speaker 2: they would take over management of the Howards Brings Quarantine
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  Speaker 2: facility from OSMA. That was going to require four hundred
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  Speaker 2: staff to man that facility, which was the role that
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  Speaker 2: oz Matt was previously doing. Now we questioned right back
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  Speaker 2: at that time, as did the AMA, where are the
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  Speaker 2: government going to get those four hundred staff from? And
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  Speaker 2: I think the government don't want to admit that the
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  Speaker 2: Howard Springs Quarantine facility takeover has drawn resources from our
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  Speaker 2: health system and the government just simply can't cope lea.
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  Speaker 1: I know today the Northern Territory News has confirmed that
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  Speaker 1: Ward two B, which is usually used as a surgical ward,
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  Speaker 1: was used to accommodate mental health patients stuck in the
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  Speaker 1: emergency department because there were not enough beads to house
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  Speaker 1: them in the dedicated mental health facilities.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, is it a situation where we.
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  Speaker 1: Just need to accept that hospitals are going to ebb
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  Speaker 1: and flow and that there will be times when they're
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  Speaker 1: really busy and this type of things always going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I don't think so, okay. I mean, obviously there's
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  Speaker 2: different pressure points on our health system, and clearly our
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  Speaker 2: health professionals do a wonderful job, But three times in
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  Speaker 2: one year we're not even at the end of the year,
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  Speaker 2: yet Katie, it's been twice in the last few weeks,
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  Speaker 2: and of course the government just pretending like this is
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  Speaker 2: not happening, there's nothing to see here, but it is
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  Speaker 2: really critically important. You don't have a code yellow at
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  Speaker 2: a hospital for no reason. And ultimately one hundreds, if
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  Speaker 2: not thousands of Territorians are having different surgeries canceled and delayed.
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  Speaker 2: I know of one lady who's had hers canceled three
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  Speaker 2: times because of this. That has a profound impact on
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  Speaker 2: people's health. And of course the AMA I think made
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  Speaker 2: the comment in the paper the other week saying, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this means that other illnesses are not being picked up,
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  Speaker 2: like cancers and other types of things aren't able to
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  Speaker 2: be treated or progressed. So it does have a really
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  Speaker 2: profound impact and we need to be understanding what the
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  Speaker 2: plan is to stop this from happening, because of course,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we've been really fortunate with COVID. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we haven't had that pressure on our health system because
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  Speaker 2: of COVID. But if that was to happen, what does
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  Speaker 2: that look like. What contingency planning does the government have
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  Speaker 2: to support all the normal health services you have to
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  Speaker 2: provide past the COVID response.
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  Speaker 3: So, Leah, what do you think the government needs to
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  Speaker 3: be doing here?
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  Speaker 2: I think they need to be really transparent and honest
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  Speaker 2: with people about what is causing the code yellows in
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  Speaker 2: the first place. We've had three code yellows this year
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  Speaker 2: and no real explanation as to why. Now, if it's
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  Speaker 2: because mental health is putting a profound impact on the hospital,
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  Speaker 2: then they need to come out and say that, and
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  Speaker 2: they need to outline their plan to better support people
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  Speaker 2: who need a different service other than an emergency department bed.
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  Speaker 2: If they're going to be winding back Parmesan Regional Hospital,
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  Speaker 2: then they need to be honest about the fact that
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  Speaker 2: they bid off more than they could chew with the
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  Speaker 2: Howard Springs cou Do you.
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  Speaker 1: Reckon that would be received in the community. Obviously you
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  Speaker 1: are a local member out there in Palmiston. Surely it
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  Speaker 1: would be political suicide to scale back the Palmeston Hospital
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  Speaker 1: at this point.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I think it's a terrible idea, and people in
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  Speaker 2: Palmeston fought for twenty years, I think Katie to get
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  Speaker 2: that hospital. So it's hard for to have such a
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  Speaker 2: wonderful service as the parmasan hospital of course, the ED
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  Speaker 2: do an amazing job. People are able to take their
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  Speaker 2: sick kids if they've got different injuries. I know people
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  Speaker 2: out you know, when I was out in Dundee over
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  Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, Katie, people out there don't
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  Speaker 2: have a health service, so they have to come into
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  Speaker 2: Parmeerston Hospital. It provides a tremendous support to Royal Darwin
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  Speaker 2: for nearly one hundred thousand people who live out in
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  Speaker 2: this region. So it's going to have a profound impact.
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  Speaker 2: And I think the government need to look at itself
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  Speaker 2: and think, okay, can we still handle taking on how
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  Speaker 2: it springs? Do we need to give that back to
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  Speaker 2: the federal government and pull our stuff out and repurpose
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  Speaker 2: them back into the departments so we can continue to
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  Speaker 2: run our hospital effectively and efficiently. Or they need to
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  Speaker 2: be able to come clean about what their plans are.
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  Speaker 2: But the Health Minister pretending that these are operational issues
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  Speaker 2: and she's got nothing to do with it, is not
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  Speaker 2: really passing the pub test.
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  Speaker 3: Katie, lea, let's move along.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that yesterday the Shadow Minister of the
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  Speaker 1: Territory Families, Joshua Burgoyne, well he reckons that the Minister
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  Speaker 1: for Territory Families needs to take urgent action to address
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  Speaker 1: what he says the spiral and crime rates on railway
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  Speaker 1: terraces in Alice Springs, so in the city there, which
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  Speaker 1: have doubled since the youth hub was opened last November.
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  Speaker 3: What's the situation here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, this is the really important line of questioning
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  Speaker 2: that Josh Burgoyne was able to reveal. So he's obviously
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  Speaker 2: getting a lot of feedback from people in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 2: particularly those who live in the city around crime being
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  Speaker 2: worse since the Gunna government opened its youth hub. And
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  Speaker 2: what we've seen from the data we've been able to
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  Speaker 2: capture is between the first of November twenty nineteen and
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  Speaker 2: eighteen July twenty twenty there were eighty six incidents in
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  Speaker 2: the CBD, but for that same period for the following year,
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  Speaker 2: since the youth hub has been opened, there's been one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty three incidents. And so the colp have
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  Speaker 2: been saying for a long time that that youth hub
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  Speaker 2: is in the wrong location. Josh Bergwyn has been fighting
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  Speaker 2: very hard hard to see a community model in the
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  Speaker 2: town camp so that there are activities for kids much
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  Speaker 2: closer to where they live, and the whole point of
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  Speaker 2: the youth facility was to get kids out of the city,
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  Speaker 2: not encourage them to be coming in, Katie. So I
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  Speaker 2: think it's been a failure when you look at the statistics,
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  Speaker 2: and so we know, under pressure, the government have now
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  Speaker 2: allocated five hundred thousand dollars for those town camp community models,
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  Speaker 2: but it still hasn't happened yet, and we just can't
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  Speaker 2: understand what the hold up is and why it's taking
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  Speaker 2: so long to simply devolve what they've got in the
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  Speaker 2: city and move it out into the town camp.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so that's what you think needs to be happening
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  Speaker 1: that realistically, it needs to move out of the city.
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  Speaker 1: It needs to be happening in those town camps because
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  Speaker 1: it's creating too much crime.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, it's drawing. It's attracting kids into the city.
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  Speaker 2: Kids want to go to the youth hub, which is great,
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  Speaker 2: but it also means they're getting themselves into strife in
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  Speaker 2: the meantime, and it's bringing a lot more people into
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  Speaker 2: the city. I've seen it for myself, Katie, when I've
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  Speaker 2: walked the street with Josh number of times, and so
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  Speaker 2: the location is just completely wrong. We've had a doubling
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  Speaker 2: of those incidents, and the whole point of the Youth
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  Speaker 2: Hub was to reduce incidents in the CBNE, not double them.
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  Speaker 1: So do you think the program though that the Youth
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  Speaker 1: hubbies delivering are they effective?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's great. I've been there and seen it
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  Speaker 2: with my own eyes. It certainly provides lots of activities
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  Speaker 2: for kids to do. It's just means it's drawing very
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  Speaker 2: large volumes of them into the city and then of
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  Speaker 2: course they don't have to stay at that facility, so
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  Speaker 2: they get back out onto the stream and catch up
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  Speaker 2: with other people and you know, run a mark and
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  Speaker 2: it's just not safe. You can't have sixty, sometimes one
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  Speaker 2: hundred young people. I mean, one girl I spoke to
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  Speaker 2: was eleven roaming around the city in the middle of
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  Speaker 2: the night. You know, we're talking about midnight. I was
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  Speaker 2: out till two o'clock in the morning one time. It's
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  Speaker 2: not okay. And so we need to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: any services we're delivering are having the desired impact. So
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  Speaker 2: it's sort of you know, we talk about measuring KPIs
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  Speaker 2: a lot, Katie. If the KPI was to reduce crime,
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  Speaker 2: this has been a failure, So we need to change
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  Speaker 2: the model and change it fast. Leah.
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  Speaker 1: On that topic, I know that the opposition well have
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  Speaker 1: sought to have a number of questions answered when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to victims of crime. What exactly did you ask
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  Speaker 1: of the government through that official channel of obviously going
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: through those written questions to the government.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So we've been very disappointed and alarmed and received
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  Speaker 2: a lot of feedback from people about the fact that
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  Speaker 2: the government settled thirty five million dollars to pay out
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  Speaker 2: youth offenders over that time period, and it just reinforced
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  Speaker 2: to people how offender focus this government is not victim focused.
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  Speaker 2: So we believe that any use getting a compo payout
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  Speaker 2: for their time in prison should have to pay the
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  Speaker 2: restitution to their victims first. And so when we ask
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  Speaker 2: questions about that, we found out that since twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 2: there have only been sixteen young people ordered to pay restitution,
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  Speaker 2: which is an incredibly all since with since twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, so since twenty nineteen, there's only been sixteen young
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  Speaker 1: people who've been forced to actually pay back any money
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  Speaker 1: for the damage that they've caused.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's even worse. They've been ordered to pay
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  Speaker 2: it back, Katie, but only and it only totaled eleven
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars, which of course, you know, barely covers the
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  Speaker 2: window pay in these days and some of the break
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  Speaker 2: in do we see. So since twenty nineteen, only sixteen
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  Speaker 2: had orders totally eleven thousand dollars, Only four of them
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  Speaker 2: have paid, and the four of them that paid it
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  Speaker 2: totaled six hundred and fourteen dollars and eighty five cents.
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  Speaker 1: So so six hundred and eighty four dollars has been
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  Speaker 1: paid back to those victims of crime, and through the
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  Speaker 1: sixteen ordered that had been was supposed to pay back
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  Speaker 1: eleven thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. So out of all the crimes
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  Speaker 2: committed by you since two thousand and nine, only sixteen
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  Speaker 2: of them were required to pay, only four ended up paying,
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  Speaker 2: and the four that did end up paying only paid
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  Speaker 2: a collective six hundred and fourteen dollars and eighty five
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  Speaker 2: cents to their victim. So this is a huge, huge issue, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's actually a kick in the guts for people,
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  Speaker 1: Like it's not just an issue, it's a kick in
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  Speaker 1: the guts you're talking about. You know, we know that
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  Speaker 1: thirty five million dollars was obviously paid for those don
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Dale detainees. You know what you make of that is
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: anyone's opinion. They can make up their own minds about
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  Speaker 1: whether they think that's good or terrible. But then when
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  Speaker 1: you actually look at the restitution that's been paid back
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  Speaker 1: to territorians have actually gone through and been the victims
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  Speaker 1: of some of these crimes, that's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It's hideous, and it just reinforces again
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  Speaker 2: that this government is just solely focused on offenders and
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: not on victims. I mean, how when you know, if
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: we're in government, Katie, enforcing court orders to pay restitution
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  Speaker 2: to your victims has to be an extremely high priority.
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  Speaker 2: Not only does it send a message to the offender
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  Speaker 2: that you're not going to get away with these crimes,
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  Speaker 2: but it's important financial support to the victims who have
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  Speaker 2: suffered and had to pay out of their own pockets
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  Speaker 2: to deal with whatever trauma has been inflicted on them.
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  Speaker 2: And so these miniscule amounts of money just show what
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  Speaker 2: a fascty entire system is. I think people when they
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  Speaker 2: hear about this, Katie, are just going to shake their
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  Speaker 2: heads in shame. Lea.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Look, we are going to have to get ready to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: wrap up. But do you know has anything been done
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to try to get this money?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I recovered, I.
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  Speaker 2: Wouldn't have thought. So I think this money, when it's
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: not paid, it just goes into the fine's recovery unit,
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  Speaker 2: which we know has millions and millions of dollars sitting
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: in it that the government don't go and chase down
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  Speaker 2: and recuperate. And this just becomes another debt that they're
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: going to government to add to the bottom line and
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: walk away from. So I think it just reinforces our
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: calls that if any of these youths who get that
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  Speaker 2: thirty five million dollars, they need to pay their restitution.
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  Speaker 1: Lea, Do we know what kind of crimes we're talking
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: about here where they you know, where obviously they had
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: been ordered to pay that money back.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: No, So it's just we asked about all youths who
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: had gone through both the Supreme Court and the Use
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Justice Court whether or not they had been paid restitution.
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  Speaker 2: So any person under the age of eighteen who'd gone
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: through any court system, how many restitution orders had been
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  Speaker 2: made And it was only sixteen for every youth who
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: went through any court, and of course only four have paid,
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  Speaker 2: and that's a measly six hundred and fourteen dollars and
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: eighty five cents.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Katie well Lea, I reckon that some of our listeners
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: are going to be quite irate upon hearing that we
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: are going to have to leave it there.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much for your time this morning.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: No lovely to speak to you all.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Take care, Thank you,