Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Tourism and Health Natasha Fyles

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Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Tourism and Health Natasha Fyles · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, minister.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: How did those vouchers go last night, Katie?
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: They went very quickly. Our people tested the system to
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: have eight times the number of people that we had
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: for the first round, and we went over that. So
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: I apologize to those people that are a little frustrated,
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: but twelve thousand vouchers have now been issued. But encourage
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: people to go on the weight list. What we've done
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: is this round has the two hundred dollars tourism voucher,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: but it also has the opportunity for if you travel
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: further than four hundred kilometers to get another two hundred
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: dollars redeem. So we've had to allow for that. So
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: certainly encourage people if they haven't got their voucher to
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: go on the weight list, and we'll if people don't
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: use their voucher or they don't use that extra bonus,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: we'll be able to re issue more vout.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: You. Wow, so twelve thousand already gone. What time did
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: that all wrap up, Katie.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: I don't have the specifics, but it's certainly fantastic to
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: see these vouchers fully subscribed. I know some people were
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: a bit frustrated. We've got to remember what this is
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: about the tourism and hospitality industry has been devastated by coronavirus.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: This is a stimulus measure from the government to encourage
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Territorians to get out there to holiday in their own
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: backyard and to support some of these operators that have
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: had a really difficult year. We know the first round
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: about Katie injected nine point six million dollars into the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: tourism and hospitality sector. So certainly lots of people have
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: got those vouchers. Encourage you to jump on the wait
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: list if you have missed out.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: How long were some people forced to sit in wait?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea, Katie.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I've heard different stories. Some people were able to get
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: straight through, other people you know, were able to get
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: through at certain times, and other people got up early
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: this morning and we're able to grab a voucher. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: we certainly had a huge amount of interest. But I
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: understand there was about twenty six thousand unique visitors to
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: the website in the first hour, so that was ten
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: times what we you know, the traffic that we expected
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: in that we had in round one. So certainly huge
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: interest and hopefully people can follow through with that interest
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: and get out there and support the tourism sector.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Minister, taking that into account.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, we've spoken about how popular this scheme seems
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: to be and also how positive it is for our
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: tourism and hospitality sector. Would you consider and is the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: government actually considering either extending this or putting some more
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: money into it so that we can try to keep
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the tourism sector alive.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: So we've got a third round, Katie, that will be
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: available in February. So what will happen with this round
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: is people will start to receive their vouchers from the
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: fourth of November in a staggered approach, and then they
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: will have fourteen days from the data issue to make
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: that booking and then they must undertake their travel by
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: the thirty first of January. And what we saw last time, Katie,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: was people applied for those vouchers and then they couldn't
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: actually use them, and so they went back into the
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: pool and people that were waitlisted were able to get vouchers,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you know, in the weeks following the initial alex of vouchers.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, now can I ask about those borders opening yesterday
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to regional Victoria.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Do you know how many people came into the territory yesterday.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: What we saw yesterday was, as you've just outlined, those
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: regional Victorians are able to enter the territory without quarantining.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I don't have a specific on the numbers. We've still
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: got a number of people in Howard Springs, but certainly
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: this is a positive sign for family and friends that
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: have been cut off, and also for people in Regional
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Victoria that can't go elsewhere. They can certainly look to
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory for that unique holiday experience.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Now, in terms of the QR code or you know,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: people obviously having to leave their details when they go
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: into different establishments, that's being rolled out in the next
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I understand it. How exactly is it going to.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Work, Katie. It's a really simple system for businesses that
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: don't currently collect information. So for example, your gym, they
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: probably know who's been at what class and what time,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: so they don't need to implement this system. It's designed
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: for businesses where people are there for longer than fifteen
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: minutes and there's no record of the booking or them
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: being there, and this is to help our contact tracing teams.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: If we were to see cases of coronavirus, we don't
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: mind if if it's a business's own system or we're
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: working on a platform as well. We're not fastify what
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: the system is. We just need the information collected and
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: kept for twenty eight days in case we see cases
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: in the territory.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Now, Minister, a question that we continue to get through
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: on the.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: TECHT line is this, Katie, can you ask how many
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: respirators are available for Territorians?
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Actual numbers not waffle, so Katie, in.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Terms of respirators that would be utilized in an intensive
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: care environment. So we have a number of intensive care
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: beds and I will get these figures to UKT Offare
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: so that you can read them out. We've also got
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the capacity to increase that significantly. And how that would
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: happen at the hospital. We have the ICU HDU, the
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Coronary Care Unit. We could utilize those for intensive care
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: respirator type illnesses if we were to see an outbreak
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: of COVID. We've also got the National Critical Care and
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Trauma Response Center which can set up those field hospitals,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: so they could be set up in RoHS Island Hospital
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: to back up if we were to see mass cases,
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: or they could go into a regional area if that
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: was the best clinical advice. But I'll get those specific
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: numbers to you, Katie, But.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Are we sort of talking you know, in the tens
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: or in the twenties of our capacity in intensive care
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: or you know, I know you'll come back with those
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: direct numbers, but what kind of numbers are we talking?
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I think that we can easily have around
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: fifty ICU bes in the territory. We can then increase
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: those as I've just talked through with different approaches, so
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: it could be utilizing existing hospital resources, or if we
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: were to see multiple cases needing intensive care, remembering that
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: a large majority of people have a very mild illness,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: and we've learned more about the virus. We've also seen, Katie,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: with the virus outbreak in Victoria, around how people have
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: been cared for and how the virus has acted in
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Australia as opposed to overseas. But these, of course are
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: questions that people want to know that there's those resources.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: There absolutely and I think that Territorians just want to
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: be assured that if we do end up with an outbreak,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: we've got the capacity to be able to care for everybody.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: And I think looking at Victoria when they did have
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: their mass outbreak, resources went in from around Australia. The
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Critical Parent Trauma Response Center OZMA went into Victoria. If
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: we were to see that in South Australia, the same
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: thing would happen, and if, unfortunately it was the Northern Territory,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: we certainly would get support from other jurisdictions and what
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: we have strong plans in place to care for people.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Minister, one of the areas at the moment that people
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: are crying out for help is Catherine. I've got a
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: message here that came through yesterday and it says, good
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: morning Katie. Could you please ask the Minister for Health
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: what's being done about getting doctors for care? Can not
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: everyone can afford to go to Darwin or Palmerston and
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: tellyhealth isn't always the answer either. We need doctors in
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: our town. That one there from Noel in Catherine. What's
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: your response?
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: So I met with the Federal Minister for Health Greg
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Hunt last week and this is one of the issues
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: that we discussed was the continuation of GP and primary
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: healthcare services in Catherine. So we have a number of
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: services that provide primary health care, but for people wishing
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: to access a private GP. The existing service as we know,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: has closed down. The Primary Health Network has been working
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: and there's a range of plans in place. But they
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: put out a statement, Katie, in the last week that
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: indicates that they have secured space for an intriim service
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: to operate from and they're working with FCD. They're the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: group that run the Palmerston Superclinic around the provision of
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: GPS to go down and operate that service in Catherine.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: So absolutely, as that listener had said, tellyhealth is not
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: always the answer, and we've also made sure that at
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the hospital if we need to, through the ED, we
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: can care for people.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So when will those doctors and those medical services from
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: the Palmerston Regional Hospital or the same service, when are
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: they going to begin operating in Catherine.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I'll have to come back to you with that date, Katie.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: The media release that I'm reading from was put out
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: on the twenty second of November, but it clearly indicates
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: the PHN secured the GP services. They've secured that space
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: as well as this is just an interim service. They'll
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: work through the longer term option of making sure that
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Catherine has a sustainable GP service.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Something that was raised on the week that was by
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Kesyopuric on Friday. She had said, could we in the
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: interim have patients able to go to some of those
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: indigenous healthcare services where there are gps already operating in Catherine.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, all of this has been worked droughing great detail.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: There's been a number of measures that have been identified.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: The primary health network who have the responsibility of GP
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: service have come up with the solution of an interim
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: whilst they work on that longer term GP private GP
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: for the Catherine region.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's really not good enough though at the
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: moment is it that some people in the town you
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: know today for example, if somebody's got a sick child
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: that really doesn't need to go to the hospital, there
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: just isn't a GP that they can take them to.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Katie. This is a difficulty that small regional towns right
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: across Australia have based and that was in the discussion
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: with Greek can't the federal Health Minister. We talked about
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: how can we have a sustainable workforce coming through and
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: how can we work so that you know, the support
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: that comes from both the Commonwealth and the territory government
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: provides for GPS to be in our small regional town.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Do you think it's acceptable though, that people aren't actually
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: able to go to a GP right now in Catherine.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: What I want to say to the people of Catherine
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: is that we have been following this issue for many
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: months when the private GP indicated that they were going
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: to close, working closely with the PHN. From our perspective
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: at the hospital with everything we can to support and
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: will continue to do so so that people have that
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: long term secure GP service in the region.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: So how soon do you reckon it's going to be
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: that that intra measure will be operating? Are we talking
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: like over the next week, over the next month.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: My understanding it is in the coming weeks, and they're
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: working as efficiently as they can. Obviously, the previous service
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: closed around a week or so ago, and so FCD
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: have agreed to provide those GPS. The phn's come up
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: with this space and so hopefully that will begin as
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: quickly as possible.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: So right now, what is your advice for the residents
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of Catherine if if you know, I like the example
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I just gave. If a mum gets up this morning,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: she's got a sick child and she thinks, all right,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: my child isn't sick enough to go to hospital.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: What should she do?
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: So the advice is that there is the Telehealth Health
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Now service and there's a telephone number Katie, and I'll
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: get that through to use. Your listeners have got it
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: and they're able to seek advice at no costs. There's
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: also the Pharma say Catherine, you provide pharmacy services. They're
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: also able to provide medical certificates based on a medical
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: assessment at a small cost. And there's also Headspace Telehealth
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Services which provides some mental health support. So the Western
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Diagnostics to Theotology clinic continues to operate as normal, or
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: they can if they feel they need to and they
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: don't want to contact that phone number they feel that
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: it's more critical of course ring triple zero or go
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: to the hospital in Catherine.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: All right, But for those out there listening, obviously, for you,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: as the Health Minister of the Northern Territory, can you
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: assure those residents of Catherine that this issue is going
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: to be sorted in the coming weeks.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: So this the primary health of GP services, as I said,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: is the responsibility of the PHN and the Commonwealth. I
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: was in Canberra last as they spoke with Greg Hunt.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: He absolutely agrees it's a priority. The PHN are working
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: through as efficiently as they can, with a sense of
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: urgency to make sure that we can have a sustainable
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: model going forward.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: All right, if you're able to keep us up to date.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of our listeners in Catherine are
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: really really very concerned about this issue, So it will
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: be really good if we're able to find out exactly
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: when this does get sorted. And obviously a sense of
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: urgency is really felt from everybody at this point.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Made all cent through that information so that you can
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: have it for your listeners to easily access.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that would be good.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Now, Minister, I do want to take you to a
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: call that we took from one of our listeners last
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Thursday regarding services with the NDIS and her little boy.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: It Tager.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Listen, my beautiful son who's nearly three. He has a
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: development delay and we're just in the process of getting
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: him an assessment done for autism, which it most likely is.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: We have received funding from the NDAs, which is fantastic.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: We've got all this money, We've got this funding but
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: we cannot get in to see any specialists. We've been
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: on a waiting list for eight months to get into
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: a clinic that provides psychology, ot and speech pathology. So
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: you know, something has to change, the government has to
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: have And the funny thing is if you go through
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: the public system. So if you go and see the
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Children's Development Clinic, that's fine. You can access those services.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: They're really good.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: You can see them regularly. As soon as you have
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: NDIS funding, you are an able to attend those clinics.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: So you know, what is the answer? Is the answer
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: not getting NDIS funding and just going through the public system.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: It's quite slawed really, because you're damned if you're doing
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: damns if you don't. You're just trying to do the
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: best for your child.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Minister, what is the answer here?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Clearly the NDIS or clearly the system is letting territory
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: parents down.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: What is the answer?
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to comment on the specifics, of course,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: you know, my thoughts go out to that mother. She's
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: trying to do the best for her child and I
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: don't know enough information and they're not clinical to provide
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: any you know, specific advice or commentary The National Disability
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Insurance Scheme is designed to give individuals the control and
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: to make decisions over their care and the supports that
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: they have. It does cross over from social supports and
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: every day living into medical care and healthcare. In terms
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: of thin markets, which is what we call jurisdiction such
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: as the Northern Territory, it is difficult because we've got
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: this theme set up where people get the funding and
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: they're able to make the decisions and take their decisions
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: where they want to get the care from the provider
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: of their choice, I should say, but in terms of
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: where there's not many providers, it does make it difficult.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But this is something that the NDIS is acutely aware of.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Minister Kate Warden is responsible for disability services now in
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory at an MTG level, and I know
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: that I certainly raised it at my time with the
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Commonwealth Government about how we can have supports for these
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: areas where there might not be a range of services
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: so people who've got that payment plan can access what
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: they need.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: All right, Minister, it is something that I think will
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: continue to talk about throughout the week, so we will
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: get in contact with Kate Warden as well. I know
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: you are very pressed for time this morning, as am
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: I quick tip for the Melbourne Cup.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Oh o, Katie, I haven't thought about that yet, but
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: I'll be certainly around lunchtime. Hopefully I'll be able to
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: take a moment ender and watch the race. But yeah,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: obviously twenty twenty has been a very different year and
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: normally heading into the Melbourne Cup there's a bit of
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: excitement about usually for me, the fashion and the fascinators
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: more than the horse racing itself, but at something that
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: hasn't been given much attention to date.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Sorry, no, that's all right.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: You can text us your tip a bit later. Minister Files.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with you. We really appreciate
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: your time today.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O four point nine
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: three sixty