Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chief Minister Michael Gunner says policies around alcohol and return to country are being looked at in dealing with itinerant crime

Transcript

Chief Minister Michael Gunner says policies around alcohol and return to country are being looked at in dealing with itinerant crime · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is the Chief Minister,
0:02
Speaker 1: Michael Gunner. Good morning to you now, Chief Minister. This
0:06
Speaker 1: issue of crime, it's one which you and I have
0:08
Speaker 1: spoken about on so many occasions. Unfortunately, right now the
0:12
Speaker 1: situation is far from under control.
0:15
Speaker 2: On the weekend, Northern Territory Police.
0:18
Speaker 1: As I've just said, arrested two youths and a man
0:20
Speaker 1: in relation to an aggravated robbery in Bellamack. We also
0:24
Speaker 1: know yesterday morning there was that armed intruder broke into
0:27
Speaker 1: a unit in Nightcliff. And we also know that last
0:30
Speaker 1: week we spoke to the manager of a pub in
0:32
Speaker 1: Ala Springs where there was a vicious assault on staff
0:36
Speaker 1: and patrons with a star pick at. There was also
0:39
Speaker 1: a stabbing in Malac and other property crime and domestic
0:43
Speaker 1: violence last week. Chief Minister, we seem to have a
0:46
Speaker 1: real issue at the moment and many in the community
0:48
Speaker 1: feel that you and your cabinet aren't hearing their concerns.
0:53
Speaker 1: Have we reached crisis point?
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Speaker 3: You never want to hear about crime because it means
0:57
Speaker 3: there is a victim, and you were talking to me
0:59
Speaker 3: off air, because no victims more victim than another, if
1:03
Speaker 3: that makes sense. But you're talking to me off there
1:04
Speaker 3: about a couple of elderly ladies who'd essentially been mugged
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Speaker 3: for in a better word, at an eight a m.
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Speaker 4: Which is just distressing.
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Speaker 3: You can imagine how that shakes their self confidence about
1:16
Speaker 3: going out and you shall feel safe when you go out.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely no, we don't want there to be crime, and
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Speaker 3: it's extremely frustrating and traumatic almost when you hear about
1:26
Speaker 3: a crime, let alone what the victim must be experiencing
1:28
Speaker 3: or feeling after having suffered through a crime.
1:32
Speaker 4: We had a very bad.
1:34
Speaker 3: January and the last week or so has been extremely
1:37
Speaker 3: bad as well. We've got a lot of people working
1:40
Speaker 3: on this. If you look at the police, we've seen
1:44
Speaker 3: a winding down of Operation Crown that was our COVID efforts.
1:47
Speaker 3: That switched a lot of police back into I don't
1:50
Speaker 3: want say ordinary duties back into I guess effectively their
1:54
Speaker 3: ordinary duties and working very hard on this. We do
1:58
Speaker 3: take it extremely seriously. We don't anyone experiencing crime. But
2:02
Speaker 3: I think a common factor in a lot of.
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Speaker 4: It is alcohol.
2:04
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
2:05
Speaker 1: I do think that alcohol is having a huge impact.
2:08
Speaker 1: There is no doubt about that. In that public drunkenness,
2:10
Speaker 1: which I will get to in just a moment. Look,
2:13
Speaker 1: I've got to say that after I spoke to those
2:14
Speaker 1: women last week, particularly one of them who'd said that
2:17
Speaker 1: she was depositing five hundred dollars at the ATM inside
2:21
Speaker 1: a shopping center and was mugged and they just came,
2:24
Speaker 1: they snatched the money and ran away, I felt really
2:27
Speaker 1: bloody sad, to be honest with you, I thought to myself,
2:31
Speaker 1: that is something that my mum would.
2:32
Speaker 2: Do at the shopping center.
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Speaker 1: Like you said, it doesn't matter any victim, it shouldn't
2:37
Speaker 1: be happening. But it just made me think, what the
2:38
Speaker 1: hell is going on in the territory at the moment, And.
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Speaker 3: That's between the security guards. Won't name the center. I
2:44
Speaker 3: don't think you thatter of them. That's between the security
2:45
Speaker 3: guards and police that someone has felt brazen enough to
2:49
Speaker 3: do that. I know that center has quite good security
2:52
Speaker 3: guards and active, active work. So unfortunately, we've seen a
2:57
Speaker 3: absolute spike in our coal will related crime at times
3:00
Speaker 3: with the stimulus payments coming in, but it did not
3:03
Speaker 3: go backwards after the stimulus payments ended. So we went
3:06
Speaker 3: from essentially ten year lows and historic loaws around alcohol
3:09
Speaker 3: related crime, alcohol fuel violence, and its spiked and it's
3:15
Speaker 3: been bad, and it stayed bad, with the main crime
3:17
Speaker 3: out of all that being domestic and family violence, but
3:19
Speaker 3: sometimes not sometimes a lot of the time the property
3:21
Speaker 3: crime are other things are tied back to either searching
3:24
Speaker 3: for alcohol or searching for the means to get alcohol.
3:27
Speaker 3: It's a real problem. Police are working very hard on it.
3:30
Speaker 3: I think one of the big things we need to do.
3:32
Speaker 3: You want to talk our switch of behavior. Obviously, later
3:35
Speaker 3: this year a couple months, we get back the plat
3:37
Speaker 3: powers around a liquor licensing for the whole Northern territory.
3:40
Speaker 3: We lost that during the intervention. And I think people
3:43
Speaker 3: genuinely deserve a choice on their country, in their remote
3:46
Speaker 3: community about responsible to our responsible consumption of alcohol. Not
3:49
Speaker 3: everyone will say yes to it, but I've got a
3:51
Speaker 3: sailing club and a trailer boat club, and a skier
3:53
Speaker 3: club and a bowels club, and I could go on
3:55
Speaker 3: in my electorate. I don't see why a remote community
3:58
Speaker 3: shouldn't have that option to have responsible service, responsible consumption
4:02
Speaker 3: of alcohol in a family friendly environment in their communities too.
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Speaker 3: I think that that will lead to a lot of
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Speaker 3: behavior change in non territory personally.
4:10
Speaker 1: So do you think I mean, at the moment, there's
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Speaker 1: a lot to unpack here. I mean, I firstly, I
4:15
Speaker 1: think I want to ask because I know that a
4:17
Speaker 1: lot of listeners will be feeling this way. Do you
4:20
Speaker 1: understand how frustrated people are right now and how sad
4:23
Speaker 1: they are at some of what's going on around.
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Speaker 3: The place, Because I, yes, I do, I do understand,
4:30
Speaker 3: and it's because I get frustrated too. I'd like to
4:33
Speaker 3: be able to say to you on the eleventh chiefness
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Speaker 3: and the first to essentially solve crime. I really want
4:39
Speaker 3: to see this generational change. I want to see a
4:41
Speaker 3: change and habits, a change behaviors. I want to see
4:42
Speaker 3: more people safe in the Northern Territory. It's not there.
4:45
Speaker 3: I feel responsible or accountable whenever anything like this happens.
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Speaker 3: And so when you hear about a victim, it cuts
4:55
Speaker 3: you like you don't want it, you don't want to
4:56
Speaker 3: see it. So for me, it's what are the things
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Speaker 3: I can do that would see lead to genuine change
5:02
Speaker 3: in non territory. You know, like a lot of your listeners,
5:06
Speaker 3: I'm born and bread here that although I've been here
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Speaker 3: for a long time, you see these cycles of behavior.
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Speaker 4: How do we how do we change this?
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Speaker 3: Sixty percent of people who come sixty percent of people
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Speaker 3: who are homeless or mobile or are itinerant within our
5:17
Speaker 3: within our towns from remote communities, so they're not they're
5:20
Speaker 3: not permanent homeless. They go back and forth. And six
5:23
Speaker 3: percent people who come into town are coming in town looking
5:25
Speaker 3: for alcohol. So alcohol is at the nub of a
5:28
Speaker 3: lot of the problems that we have. I won't be
5:30
Speaker 3: really clear here, it's the abuse of alcohol. It's not alcohol itself.
5:33
Speaker 3: Obviously alcohol is legal in the NT. It's the abuse
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Speaker 3: of alcohol. But something we've got to bear in mind
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Speaker 3: too is if we if we this about families. So
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Speaker 3: I think what would hurt a lot of us is
5:43
Speaker 3: impact on families domestic violence. They say alcohol increases the
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Speaker 3: severity and frequency of domestic violence. But you remove alcohol,
5:52
Speaker 3: you don't necessarily move the domestic violence. That that's something
5:55
Speaker 3: I think a lot of us need to wrestle with
5:57
Speaker 3: is how do we how do we resolve domestic violence?
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Speaker 1: And I think it's just one of those issues right now.
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Speaker 1: You know, between the domestic violence, between the break ins,
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Speaker 1: between those brazen some of the brazen attacks that we're
6:09
Speaker 1: seeing and weapons, you know, star pickets in Alice Springs.
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Speaker 1: It is mortifying stuff. I know I feel sad watching it,
6:16
Speaker 1: so I would imagine you feel the same. I know
6:19
Speaker 1: that the police have previously confirmed that we have an
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Speaker 1: increased number of people in Darwin from communities as you've
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Speaker 1: just touched on, usually seven hundred or around seven hundred
6:28
Speaker 1: at the moment. I've been told just last week between
6:31
Speaker 1: two thousand and three thousand. But many are sleeping rough,
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Speaker 1: A lot of people are drinking though in public places,
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Speaker 1: and we're seeing the ramifications right across the board. What
6:42
Speaker 1: work is underway right now? Because a lot of people go, well,
6:45
Speaker 1: hang on a second. We got return to country, the
6:47
Speaker 1: Larakie Return to Country program?
6:50
Speaker 2: Is it still working?
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Speaker 3: So there's been a switch in March, So I'd say
6:53
Speaker 3: your two thousand and three thousand is probably roughly accurate.
6:56
Speaker 4: It's coming down now.
6:59
Speaker 3: We had obviously our first and only wave so far
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Speaker 3: off COVID during the start of the year. A lot
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Speaker 3: of our resources that normally attached to dealing with people
7:08
Speaker 3: who are doing it doing it rough were occupied by COVID.
7:12
Speaker 3: So that road which we stood up a short term
7:14
Speaker 3: accommodation became an affectious disease center Larakire. We put an
7:18
Speaker 3: extra resources of larach here over the period that we
7:21
Speaker 3: normally would put an extra resources to help deal with, say,
7:23
Speaker 3: anti social behavior, they were dealing with COVID, making sure
7:26
Speaker 3: there were tests and ppe and isolation and all that
7:29
Speaker 3: sort of stuff that had and Return to Country wasn't
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Speaker 3: working either because no one wanted to go either back
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Speaker 3: to community or the community do want them to go back.
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Speaker 3: We've seen a switch this month, so return to Countries
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Speaker 3: returned more people home in March than it did in
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Speaker 3: the first previous three months of December, January, and February.
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Speaker 3: We've seen more people return to community. It's just under
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Speaker 3: four hundreds. That's still a long way off from where
7:51
Speaker 3: we are when you think about how many extra were
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Speaker 3: physically in town now. The feedback we've had always Ancoatal
7:56
Speaker 3: is that we had extra intown again because of COVID.
7:59
Speaker 3: People didn't want to get locked in to a remote community setting,
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Speaker 3: so they came into town. They said, if we're going
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Speaker 3: to deal COVID, that's deal of COVID essentially in Darln
8:06
Speaker 3: and there's bad everywhere. But I think was worse and Darwin,
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Speaker 3: So there was a massive COVID impact all through that.
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Speaker 3: We're seeing a switch this month, so we're seeing people
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Speaker 3: start going back to community. We're seeing our resources that
8:16
Speaker 3: had been essentially sucked into dealing of COVID to reassert
8:21
Speaker 3: themselves and their sort of normal service delivery and bat
8:23
Speaker 3: and roads trending back to normal.
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Speaker 4: So we're starting to deal with it.
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Speaker 3: But it was again a very frustrating start of the
8:29
Speaker 3: year because all the leavers we normally would have to
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Speaker 3: deal with this, we're having to be focused towards COVID.
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Speaker 1: So does there need to be a boost to some
8:35
Speaker 1: of these services. I know that you said previously obviously
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Speaker 1: COVID was having an impact. We know that that should
8:40
Speaker 1: really not be having the same impact anymore. Four hundred people,
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Speaker 1: as you've stated, have now been returned to country last
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Speaker 1: month alone. Do we need to see a boost to
8:48
Speaker 1: these services so that we're able to get people back
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Speaker 1: home if they want to go back home, because right
8:53
Speaker 1: now what we're seeing on the streets is not good.
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Speaker 4: Enough, so open off for essentially there.
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Speaker 3: The boost in some respects has been the fact that
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Speaker 3: all these things are returning to be our work in
9:01
Speaker 3: these areas, so there's been an automatic boost just in that.
9:03
Speaker 3: But we're happy to put more on. If you look
9:05
Speaker 3: in January that we put more on. Unfortunately they all
9:09
Speaker 3: got soaked into dealing with COVID. So extremely happy to
9:11
Speaker 3: work with Larakie is a key one because they have
9:14
Speaker 3: those day patrols and help.
9:16
Speaker 4: Link in with the return to country.
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Speaker 3: So very happy to put extra on and Oboe actually
9:20
Speaker 3: puts some extra money in as well, so that there
9:21
Speaker 3: are more parties at play here than just very happy
9:24
Speaker 3: to make those vestments and those changes because I think
9:27
Speaker 3: people do want to go to country.
9:28
Speaker 4: We're happy to help them go back to country.
9:30
Speaker 1: Do you think that that once we do see those
9:33
Speaker 1: numbers minimized people going back home, do you think that
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Speaker 1: we're going to see a decrease in the crime.
9:38
Speaker 2: That we are experiencing in the territory right now?
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Speaker 3: I think we'll see a slow reduction in crime if
9:46
Speaker 3: we get our alcohol settings right.
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Speaker 4: That's going to take a little bit effort around what
9:51
Speaker 4: we're doing in remote communities.
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Speaker 3: But if you look at the linkage, so we had
9:55
Speaker 3: at the start of our last term, we brought in
9:57
Speaker 3: Australia's toughest alcohol rules. When we saw a big reduction,
10:01
Speaker 3: then it's fun back up again. I think to get
10:03
Speaker 3: it down now from where it currently is, we need
10:05
Speaker 3: to see things like the community licenses come in. In
10:08
Speaker 3: my personal opinion, that will see I hope or believe,
10:12
Speaker 3: less drift into urban settings. I think that will see
10:16
Speaker 3: a reduction. But there's a lot of things we need
10:18
Speaker 3: to do when it comes to tackling crime.
10:20
Speaker 4: That's one. I think.
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Speaker 3: The other one is Amiral Justice Agreement. Over half men
10:23
Speaker 3: and women who are in jail are there for domestic
10:26
Speaker 3: and family violence. That's the reason, the main reason why
10:29
Speaker 3: people are in jail. What the Acgual Justice Agreement says
10:32
Speaker 3: is let's look at that area first. Let's design the programs,
10:37
Speaker 3: train that people, build the facilities. Essentially, recognize we're not
10:40
Speaker 3: doing this well at all. Find a whole different way
10:42
Speaker 3: that we can cent as people who do domestic of
10:44
Speaker 3: family violence to a program that lead to an improved
10:46
Speaker 3: outcome of the least les domestic family violence. Until we
10:49
Speaker 3: really conquer that, I think we're going to be in
10:52
Speaker 3: a cycle for a while. We have to break this family,
10:55
Speaker 3: this function that's in the heart of too much of
10:56
Speaker 3: the crime in the lawn territory.
10:58
Speaker 1: Just on the alcohol, you'd said that, you know, those
11:00
Speaker 1: changes that you brought into place, that your government brought
11:02
Speaker 1: into place when it comes to alcohol were historic. You know,
11:05
Speaker 1: there's some of the strongest measures that we have around Australia.
11:08
Speaker 1: Why then, do you think we're seeing so many people
11:10
Speaker 1: intoxicated really misusing alcohol on the streets.
11:13
Speaker 2: Is the band drinkers registered working?
11:15
Speaker 3: So we saw essentially two year lows and then or
11:18
Speaker 3: two and a half year loads. I think it was
11:19
Speaker 3: quite extended period of historic lows, and then as soon
11:21
Speaker 3: as the stimulus money came in, alcohol spiked. We saw
11:24
Speaker 3: people products switch to spirits and even though stimless money
11:27
Speaker 3: came off, people have not made the switch switch back.
11:30
Speaker 3: So I felt like it undid a lot of our
11:32
Speaker 3: work or suctained success for a while. Like alcohol, genuinely
11:36
Speaker 3: we were tackling it. We now need to bring another
11:39
Speaker 3: policy solution in. Unfortunately, I think remote community settings is
11:43
Speaker 3: probably the one that will see the biggest behavioral change.
11:45
Speaker 1: Do you think though, that this has actually deteriorated over
11:48
Speaker 1: the last couple of years.
11:49
Speaker 3: The stat show that alcohol related advance has absolutely deteriorated.
11:53
Speaker 3: The main outcome of it more broken homes, more broken people.
11:57
Speaker 2: So how can we say that the alcohol measures are
12:00
Speaker 2: so they.
12:01
Speaker 3: Did work for not just for a one off period,
12:04
Speaker 3: they work for a solid chunk of two and a
12:05
Speaker 3: half three years before that extra money came in. I'd
12:09
Speaker 3: hate to think what situation in the normal terrectory would
12:11
Speaker 3: be without our measures in place.
12:13
Speaker 1: Police still able to you know, like if there is
12:15
Speaker 1: a group of people that are drinking in a public place,
12:17
Speaker 1: so they still able to go and tip out that alcohol. Yes, well,
12:21
Speaker 1: I know that you've said that, you know, part of
12:23
Speaker 1: this is allowing alcohol on community, and I think that
12:26
Speaker 1: that's certainly part of the discussion. But do we have
12:29
Speaker 1: enough police then to be able to police that on
12:31
Speaker 1: community in.
12:33
Speaker 4: A remote commuity setting.
12:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, so obviously that's something the Liquor Commission would consider
12:37
Speaker 3: providing a license. We've got a lot of police and
12:39
Speaker 3: remote communities, We've got a lot of stations in remote
12:40
Speaker 3: community settings, and I think health clinics and other things
12:43
Speaker 3: are the things you've got to bear in mind. So
12:45
Speaker 3: if you look at it, I've got clubs in my electorate,
12:48
Speaker 3: but they're in a setting where there's hospitals and police
12:50
Speaker 3: and everything else. Now, we've got a lot of that
12:52
Speaker 3: in remote community settings. That's something they have to have
12:53
Speaker 3: to be considered. I think the LIKO Commission might struggle
12:56
Speaker 3: to go come a solution if there is a remote
12:58
Speaker 3: community that hasn't nessary go station or health clinic in it,
13:01
Speaker 3: that might be difficult. But there are a lot of
13:03
Speaker 3: remote communities that do have police and health clinics in them.
13:06
Speaker 1: So Chief Minister, to those listening this morning who have
13:09
Speaker 1: been victims of crime, who are feeling absolutely at their
13:12
Speaker 1: wits end, you know, we had other people called through
13:15
Speaker 1: last week just telling us different things. That is quite honestly,
13:18
Speaker 1: it's quite heartbreaking to think that it's happening in the
13:20
Speaker 1: Northern Territory, place.
13:21
Speaker 2: That I know you love. I love it.
13:23
Speaker 1: I feel really sad when I walk down the street
13:25
Speaker 1: and see some of what is going on. And then
13:27
Speaker 1: when you hear from the police that we've got historic
13:30
Speaker 1: levels of domestic violence.
13:31
Speaker 2: You know, we've got assaults that are up, we've got
13:34
Speaker 2: break ins set are up.
13:35
Speaker 1: What can you tell territorians listening this morning to really
13:38
Speaker 1: give them some confidence that things are going to get
13:41
Speaker 1: better in this space.
13:43
Speaker 3: First, to every victim, I'm sorry, I am your Chief Minister.
13:47
Speaker 3: If you're a victim of crime, then I have failed you.
13:49
Speaker 3: I believe that that's saying I've always got to try harder,
13:52
Speaker 3: work harder. We've got a lot of things in place.
13:54
Speaker 3: I believe if you keep doing things the same way,
13:56
Speaker 3: youll kee getting the same results. We've tried a lot
13:59
Speaker 3: of things this term and last term. The AGA is
14:02
Speaker 3: the big thing this term. I think genuinely this is
14:04
Speaker 3: a new pathway forward for tackling domestic and family violence
14:08
Speaker 3: in partnership with the community.
14:10
Speaker 4: And with family. So the AJAA is a big thing,
14:13
Speaker 4: not just government dictating.
14:14
Speaker 2: So that's the Aboriginal Justice Agreement.
14:16
Speaker 3: Polities have got bad governores as actionabal Justice Agreement, which
14:20
Speaker 3: is about how can we do something.
14:21
Speaker 4: Different to tackle domestic and family violence.
14:23
Speaker 3: I think you look at a lot of the other
14:24
Speaker 3: crime we have, it does come from families being torn.
14:27
Speaker 3: A bar often triggers everything else. So I believe there
14:30
Speaker 3: is a way forward, and it's not just on our own.
14:33
Speaker 4: We're genuinely doing it.
14:34
Speaker 3: In partnership and so I think that that is a substantive,
14:36
Speaker 3: one substantive reason why I think we can do better.
14:39
Speaker 1: So those two look some of those things are obviously
14:42
Speaker 1: longer term. They're going to be longer term to really
14:45
Speaker 1: see that change. So, you know, two women who are
14:48
Speaker 1: feeling unsafe about going into the shopping center to get
14:50
Speaker 1: money out from the ATM. You know, two people who
14:54
Speaker 1: are worried that if someone is going to break into
14:55
Speaker 1: their home, who's already let's say broken into their home.
14:58
Speaker 2: What would you say to them?
14:59
Speaker 1: R Now, well, you know, to manual down at Fanny
15:03
Speaker 1: Bay shops, you know, to some of these shop owners
15:05
Speaker 1: that have really been subjected to some woeful behavior.
15:08
Speaker 3: So there's probably two different or so for the Manual
15:12
Speaker 3: and the Fanny Bays and my electorate.
15:14
Speaker 4: We're obviously seeing.
15:15
Speaker 3: A big change at the moment around return to country
15:17
Speaker 3: and it's COVID related and people wanting to get back home.
15:19
Speaker 3: So I can see a defusing or reducing in numbers
15:23
Speaker 3: there for the people who have experienced that property crime
15:26
Speaker 3: or or you know, you know, not feeling safe in
15:28
Speaker 3: a shopping center. Operation CRAM which was a police led
15:31
Speaker 3: cover response that had to have a significant number officers
15:34
Speaker 3: involved in our boarders, et cetera. That has centially reduced
15:37
Speaker 3: right down. We've frid of a lot more police to
15:39
Speaker 3: essentially go back to normal duty. So there is going
15:41
Speaker 3: to be a lot more additional police activity you'll see
15:43
Speaker 3: as well across this year. So you know, coming out
15:45
Speaker 3: of COVID means a lot to many. This is one
15:47
Speaker 3: of the things that all mean.
15:48
Speaker 1: I believe, all right, Chief Minister, I do want to
15:51
Speaker 1: talk about these extended powers for the chief Health officer.
15:54
Speaker 1: Why are we moving towards this when other states seem
15:56
Speaker 1: to be scaling back.
15:57
Speaker 3: So my understanding is that you know, quite controversial Victoria.
16:01
Speaker 3: They're looking at how they transitioned out. They took a
16:02
Speaker 3: different path to us. They moved away from their chief officer.
16:05
Speaker 3: We obviously sticking with our chief officer. These have ours
16:07
Speaker 3: arnste had already had powers in place along these lines
16:10
Speaker 3: at Victoria. We're essentially model their legislation of we want
16:13
Speaker 3: to have a soft landing to this. We've had the
16:15
Speaker 3: best response to COVID, I believe in Australia and Australia
16:18
Speaker 3: have the best response in the world. How do we
16:20
Speaker 3: transition out of an emergency setting. I don't want to
16:22
Speaker 3: go from emergency setting to no emergency setting and then
16:25
Speaker 3: suddenly see thousand of the tertiary lives at risk again
16:27
Speaker 3: and flick back into an emergency. So you've got to
16:29
Speaker 3: have a transition out plan. This is what this allows
16:32
Speaker 3: for specific to COVID. It keeps trusting in a medical lead,
16:35
Speaker 3: evidence led, clinical led response. I don't want to see
16:38
Speaker 3: these powers come to a polley like they did in Victoria.
16:40
Speaker 3: So it's about backing in the Chief Health officer to
16:42
Speaker 3: keep making sure we just get our this smoothly and
16:44
Speaker 3: keep saving lives and saving jobs.
16:46
Speaker 2: Why not more reporting?
16:47
Speaker 1: Then, you know, like why not be there are still
16:49
Speaker 1: people who are really concerned about this and they're thinking,
16:52
Speaker 1: why are we going to be having? Then the chief
16:54
Speaker 1: Health officer able to call for mandates on vaccines must
16:58
Speaker 1: to be worn downs without there being that opportunity to
17:02
Speaker 1: see the reasons why, and that reporting.
17:05
Speaker 3: Well, I feel we've been formally explaining our way all
17:07
Speaker 3: the way through. I think we've been very open transparent
17:09
Speaker 3: government about talking through everything that we're doing. I think
17:14
Speaker 3: that people understand exactly what measures we have in place
17:16
Speaker 3: and why. They don't always agree with them, but they
17:18
Speaker 3: understand what we're doing.
17:19
Speaker 1: But so no comprehensive report until after the next election.
17:24
Speaker 2: Does that seem open and transparent?
17:26
Speaker 4: That's just the two things are. For me, the two
17:28
Speaker 4: things aren't tied.
17:30
Speaker 3: I think the last election the next election that we
17:32
Speaker 3: lot issues that people make their mind up on, then
17:34
Speaker 3: they'll choose whether they want to stick the course or
17:36
Speaker 3: change direction. That's the basically the big question and an election.
17:40
Speaker 3: I don't know when this emergency will end. I don't
17:43
Speaker 3: I know this legislation will pass in May, depending on
17:46
Speaker 3: the House will pass in May. I don't think the
17:48
Speaker 3: emergency whenless really end in May. We could be in
17:51
Speaker 3: emergencyting for quite a while.
17:52
Speaker 1: So if we don't know when it is going to end,
17:54
Speaker 1: whether it's going to end in May, whether it's going
17:56
Speaker 1: to take longer, when exactly this is all going to
17:59
Speaker 1: come to an end, why do we need to give
18:00
Speaker 1: the Chow powers for two years?
18:02
Speaker 3: So it's up to two years, doesn't necessarily mean directions
18:04
Speaker 3: will be in place. We've been in an emergencytting for
18:07
Speaker 3: over two years already, and for all I know, it
18:10
Speaker 3: could be three four years before we get out of
18:11
Speaker 3: the emergency. I honestly don't know the answer to that question.
18:14
Speaker 3: But I think it's quite proportionate to say and reasonable
18:18
Speaker 3: to presume that we may be in a long tail
18:21
Speaker 3: and have to have ability to respond to things over
18:23
Speaker 3: two years.
18:23
Speaker 4: But it's up to two years.
18:24
Speaker 3: Doesn't mean there'll be directions of place, just means that
18:26
Speaker 3: we can have the ability to make sure we never
18:28
Speaker 3: get back into an emergency setting.
18:30
Speaker 2: All right.
18:30
Speaker 1: Last week these rules changed a bit for those who
18:32
Speaker 1: are COVID positive. As I understand it, you can now
18:35
Speaker 1: pick your kids up from school childcare, also catch a
18:38
Speaker 1: plane out of the Northern Territory when you COVID positive.
18:42
Speaker 1: How is it that a person with COVID can do
18:44
Speaker 1: all of that? But you still need to be vaccinated
18:45
Speaker 1: to go to work or a pub.
18:47
Speaker 4: So we need to be very careful.
18:51
Speaker 3: So the reason why we've got through the first wave,
18:53
Speaker 3: in my opinion successfully, just though we shouldn't take up granted,
18:56
Speaker 3: was because we had a highly vaccinated population and make
18:58
Speaker 3: sure those people who are vulnerab those people who work
19:01
Speaker 3: in vulnerable or high res settings on critical infrastructure, were vaccinated.
19:05
Speaker 3: So that's that's important. I do think though, that we
19:10
Speaker 3: can make some very practical changes. I know you intro
19:12
Speaker 3: you mentioned the lasting stuff, so mind standing here, I
19:16
Speaker 3: might have to go double check the tent. So I
19:17
Speaker 3: thought this had happened maybe it's about to happen. The
19:20
Speaker 3: chow has said that the vax pass will apply at
19:23
Speaker 3: the bar, not at the front good door.
19:25
Speaker 4: So you'd have to check every patrons only at the.
19:27
Speaker 1: But you still need to be vaccinated to go in.
19:30
Speaker 1: But you can have COVID to drop your kids off
19:32
Speaker 1: into child care. And let's be honest, you can't drop
19:34
Speaker 1: your kids off across the road and send them across
19:36
Speaker 1: to child care. You've got to go in, you've got
19:38
Speaker 1: to sign them in, you've got to take them into
19:40
Speaker 1: the room.
19:41
Speaker 3: So, as I understand it, the way we worked our
19:45
Speaker 3: way through this is that we've said if you're a
19:47
Speaker 3: non symptomatic child, so essentially like a no asymtomatic worker,
19:52
Speaker 3: you're exceeded the central and you can go. It put
19:55
Speaker 3: families in very difficult situations where the child couldn't go
19:58
Speaker 3: in and out. So this was seen as a practical
20:01
Speaker 3: way through that. So as we said, we've always tried
20:03
Speaker 3: to be practical, they seemed like a practical way through that.
20:05
Speaker 1: So just to confirm, you said that there are going
20:08
Speaker 1: to be some changes now to license venues.
20:10
Speaker 3: I thought that one. I thought that one had already
20:12
Speaker 3: come in. I'll just follow it up on the tents
20:14
Speaker 3: of that with the chow. So it was discussed with
20:17
Speaker 3: the chief officer and so, and the chief officer said
20:19
Speaker 3: there were a number of directions he was essentially reducing down,
20:24
Speaker 3: and one of them was that he was going to
20:27
Speaker 3: change it for some of those settings, not all, but
20:30
Speaker 3: some of those settings where you need to do the
20:32
Speaker 3: vaxpass at the bar. So I'll get some clarity about
20:35
Speaker 3: exactly which settings. I don't think it was all of them,
20:36
Speaker 3: but it was a majority of a lot of settings
20:38
Speaker 3: he was changing it. So it wasn't at the Doyles
20:40
Speaker 3: at the bar, so for example, at basketball or at too.
20:44
Speaker 3: Rather than too stating mother checking around the front gate,
20:47
Speaker 3: you were checking him at that.
20:48
Speaker 1: I guess taking that into account, can you see why
20:50
Speaker 1: some people do think it's a good idea then that
20:52
Speaker 1: the show would be reporting back so that we've got
20:54
Speaker 1: a bit more clarity on some of those decisions and
20:57
Speaker 1: they're able to make sense of it.
20:59
Speaker 3: I think the show, I think the fritiall direction is
21:02
Speaker 3: easy to read, and the trow talks to him a lot.
21:03
Speaker 3: Apologies if talking off the cuff here, I haven't explained
21:07
Speaker 3: them as well as I could have. But I don't
21:08
Speaker 3: think me not being as fluent as I might normally
21:11
Speaker 3: be on a Monday suddenly triggers throughout three a point
21:14
Speaker 3: from the show.
21:15
Speaker 1: Well, look, well we'll obviously follow up on what you've
21:18
Speaker 1: just said about the showing of the vaccine. I think
21:20
Speaker 1: either way, though, whether you're showing it at the bar
21:22
Speaker 1: or whether you're showing it when you're walk in, it's
21:24
Speaker 1: still something that is difficult, and there's still plenty of
21:26
Speaker 1: people wondering why you need to do that if you
21:29
Speaker 1: can be COVID positive and catch a play.
21:31
Speaker 4: So that's very careful about that.
21:35
Speaker 3: There's a way in which you do leave to return
21:39
Speaker 3: to a different setting, which is allowed for so it's
21:41
Speaker 3: not just free rein. But I think we're also very
21:44
Speaker 3: clearly transitioning out of the backs pass setting. So we
21:47
Speaker 3: said we'd be stepping our way out of this. So
21:48
Speaker 3: the vax pass isn't going to be around forever. There's
21:50
Speaker 3: going to be a clear transition. You can see how
21:51
Speaker 3: we've already moved back from check in apps, et cetera.
21:53
Speaker 3: So we're on a transition pathway out for the vas pass.
21:56
Speaker 3: So that's not a long term measure, all right.
21:59
Speaker 1: So TARGETI now have announced that there will probably be
22:02
Speaker 1: a fourth dose for the vulnerable.
22:04
Speaker 2: Are Territorian is going to have to do this? Is
22:06
Speaker 2: it going to be mandated.
22:07
Speaker 3: I haven't had any formal advice yet from our Choe
22:09
Speaker 3: around the fourth dose. I think our preference, you got
22:13
Speaker 3: to see what the evidence shows. Our preference would be
22:14
Speaker 3: to get towards the flu shot as soon as we can,
22:18
Speaker 3: and the flu shot being that's recommended for certain categories,
22:21
Speaker 3: that would be my desire. He's got to keep seeing
22:24
Speaker 3: what the evidence shows. There's been some worrying signs out
22:27
Speaker 3: say Israel in places like that that natural immunity and
22:30
Speaker 3: vaccine immunity both wayne to the extent to which we
22:33
Speaker 3: need the fourth dose might depend a little bit on
22:35
Speaker 3: that evidence and what variant we're dealing with. So if
22:38
Speaker 3: we keep heading down this path where they get more
22:41
Speaker 3: contagious but less dangerous, then the requirement.
22:44
Speaker 4: Will also be less. Is we keep following the evidence.
22:46
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's a chance that it could be scaled back.
22:50
Speaker 3: I think we'd all like the vaccine. Sorry, we all
22:52
Speaker 3: like the COVID shot at the moments of vaccine, and
22:55
Speaker 3: it's necessary for all of us. I think we'd all
22:58
Speaker 3: like that to become similar to the flu shot soon possible.
23:00
Speaker 3: I don't know when that will be. The flu SHOT's.
23:02
Speaker 4: Recommended for certain categories.
23:05
Speaker 3: I do note this year, because we haven't really had
23:06
Speaker 3: flu for two years, that nationally we said we're gonna
23:09
Speaker 3: have to mandate the flu shot for age care workers,
23:11
Speaker 3: for example, just because of that extra protection. But normally
23:14
Speaker 3: the flu for example, I recommend I get the flu
23:16
Speaker 3: shot each year for various health reasons. It's not manatary
23:20
Speaker 3: to get the flu shot. I think we all like
23:23
Speaker 3: to get to that position with COVID. I'm not sure
23:26
Speaker 3: when that will be. I make a false promises the
23:28
Speaker 3: fourth shot. It might be the fifth shot. I like
23:30
Speaker 3: to think it's the fourth shots. It means we're getting
23:32
Speaker 3: out of this thing that you know. I think, like
23:34
Speaker 3: all of us, I like to get past COVID. I
23:36
Speaker 3: just can't give you that promise. Well, to follow the evidence.
23:38
Speaker 2: Okay, Well we will get ready to wrap things up.
23:40
Speaker 1: I know that we're fast running out of time, but
23:42
Speaker 1: I do want to ask the federal budgets being handed
23:44
Speaker 1: down tomorrow night, is there anything that you are hoping
23:46
Speaker 1: to see for the Northern Territory.
23:48
Speaker 4: Well, maybe two answers.
23:49
Speaker 3: First, every state in territory has made a consistent request
23:52
Speaker 3: now for a matter of months, arguably years, that federal
23:56
Speaker 3: gum much to go fifty to fifty in hospital funding.
23:58
Speaker 4: At the moment it's forty five.
23:59
Speaker 3: So that's a strong request from every single jurisdiction that we.
24:04
Speaker 4: Go fifty to fifty funning on hospitals.
24:05
Speaker 3: Then for the normal territory, I'd love to see an
24:07
Speaker 3: investment into those things that we know will create jobs.
24:10
Speaker 3: We've got a number of things that we're discussing in
24:11
Speaker 3: the Australian government, from an energy and emissions.
24:13
Speaker 4: Bilateral to.
24:16
Speaker 3: Another sea deal. I think we fantastic that Waterfront Stage
24:19
Speaker 3: two is a great thing. Where that's in the budget
24:21
Speaker 3: or there's a pathway to those things in the budget
24:23
Speaker 3: always be interesting to see. But for me personally, we
24:26
Speaker 3: can never have enough jobs in normal territory. We have
24:29
Speaker 3: to grow ourselves. We have to grow our jobs, we
24:31
Speaker 3: have to grow our population. Jobs is always number one.
24:34
Speaker 3: The more jobs we have, the more ability we have
24:35
Speaker 3: as territory government to make that long lasting social change
24:38
Speaker 3: very quickly.
24:39
Speaker 2: The fuel ex size, you want to see that go
24:41
Speaker 2: ahead parting.
24:42
Speaker 3: Of it, I think that would be one of the
24:44
Speaker 3: sensible options to deal with the pressures of the Ukraine
24:47
Speaker 3: basically and what's been spiking in our supply chain.
24:50
Speaker 1: Chief Minister Michael Gunner, we always appreciate your time. Thanks
24:52
Speaker 1: very much for coming in this morning.