Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tom Morgan from the NT News gives us an update on the harrowing story of the little girl that was exposed to mould in police housing

Transcript

Tom Morgan from the NT News gives us an update on the harrowing story of the little girl that was exposed to mould in police housing · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We are going to head across straight away and catch
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  Speaker 1: up now with Thomas Morgan from the Northern Territory News,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: because we know that there has been a reporter which
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  Speaker 1: was initially published over the course of the weekend which
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  Speaker 1: showed that Anti Police management was aware of a home
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  Speaker 1: it housed offices in and had been having mold issues
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  Speaker 1: with as far back as two thousand and three. Now
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  Speaker 1: joining me on the line to tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more about this situation is Tom Morgan. Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to you, Tom.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, good morning Katie. Thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you on. Tom. Now tell us
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more about this story. What exactly has happened.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's a bit of a long story. But back
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  Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen, this lovely family, Stephen who I talked
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  Speaker 2: to in the original story in the Sunday paper, they
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  Speaker 2: all moved up to a remote community on the Tewee Islands.
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  Speaker 2: They were provided with at home and you know, quite
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  Speaker 2: soon after Stephen tells me, they started noticing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of mold growing on the wall. It now turns out
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  Speaker 2: Anti Police were aware of issues with that home as
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  Speaker 2: early as two thousand and three, and that there was
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  Speaker 2: you know there was mole reports dating back that far
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  Speaker 2: and that you know, the advice that the police had
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  Speaker 2: given tenants in that anti police home was you know,
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  Speaker 2: just keep your eck on running twenty four seven basically. Now,
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  Speaker 2: it all sort of came to a head back in
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  Speaker 2: I think March twenty nineteen when this young girl, Sienna,
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  Speaker 2: had a pretty frightening medical episode. She ended up having
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  Speaker 2: to be medivapped to the Royal Darwin Hospital where she
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  Speaker 2: was you know, basically had a throat infection and needed
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  Speaker 2: intensive care for eleven days. She suffered complications such as
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  Speaker 2: setsus and you know, has been left with debilitating sort
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  Speaker 2: of ailments. She can't move or fear perpose on her
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  Speaker 2: right foot, and I believe she also can't blink in
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  Speaker 2: her left eye. So it's quite shocking. And the family
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  Speaker 2: are very much of the belief that the mold in
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  Speaker 2: that home, which a later report founder were very high
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  Speaker 2: levels of mold spores in the air as well. Yep,
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  Speaker 2: they were very much of the opinion that that was
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  Speaker 2: the cause.
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  Speaker 1: Tom. What has been the reaction from the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police foreign Emergency services since this story first ran over
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  Speaker 1: the weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I went to them on Thursday for just
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  Speaker 2: you know, I sent them very detailed questions. I think
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  Speaker 2: it was about five or six questions and I sent
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  Speaker 2: them I outlined basically the entire story, and then on
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  Speaker 2: Friday just got told look, probably won't be able to
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  Speaker 2: get your response before the end before Monday, and I
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  Speaker 2: was like, fair enough, I think we'll continue to run
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  Speaker 2: the story though. Yeah, And basically they got back to
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  Speaker 2: me yesterday with I think three lines of responses, which
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  Speaker 2: you know, fair enough if it's a matter that's before
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  Speaker 2: work Safe. There is an investigation now that's been launched
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  Speaker 2: by work Safe. There was a letter from the Attorney
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  Speaker 2: General of the time, Selina Yubo, saying that they will
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  Speaker 2: launch an investigation into this and they want to look
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  Speaker 2: into it more so I guess they have to respect
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  Speaker 2: that investigation. But not a great deal of information coming
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  Speaker 2: out of Antique.
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  Speaker 1: Police Tom Where to now for this little family? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: how is this little girl and where is her father?
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  Speaker 1: Still a member of the territory police force.
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  Speaker 2: No, he moved back to New Zealand and that's part
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  Speaker 2: of his anger. Is the only real thing that anti
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  Speaker 2: police that have provided him with in the aftermaths. According
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  Speaker 2: to him was moving expenses to move to New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: So they now live in New Zealand on a farm.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Luisiana's still got lifelong you will have to
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  Speaker 2: deal with those issues from her medical episode for the
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  Speaker 2: rest of her life. And Stephen, her father, is is
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  Speaker 2: obviously still pretty upset about it. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he moved to that island for a dream job. He
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  Speaker 2: moved his family, and and I guess now that they're
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  Speaker 2: living with the aftermath of it, and you know that
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  Speaker 2: they are really angry and want to see action. They
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  Speaker 2: want to see, you know, at least some answers as
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  Speaker 2: to you know, or some acknowledgment that you know, the
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  Speaker 2: home wasn't up to standard and that he played a
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  Speaker 2: role in you know, his daughter's condition.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's a terrible situation, Yeah, Tom, Yeah, it's a
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  Speaker 1: terrible situation, mate. And and look, I'll be really interested
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  Speaker 1: to see if you know, if you do get a
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  Speaker 1: response obviously then from the Territory Police. I understand that
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  Speaker 1: you did. You have had a spons though from the
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  Speaker 1: Police Association.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, Paul Mcue did talk quite extensively about it
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  Speaker 3: to me yesterday, basically outlined that you know, the NTPA
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  Speaker 3: were aware of reports dating back to two thousand and
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  Speaker 3: three of this home that you know, this is far
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  Speaker 3: from you know, it's a significant, severe incident, but it
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  Speaker 3: is far from alone. There are lots of other issues,
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  Speaker 3: not just with you know, police housing, but with remote
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  Speaker 3: housing broadly as well. And that's an issue that obviously
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  Speaker 3: anti government, mister mckew says, is you know, that's an
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  Speaker 3: issue that's been dating back over multiple anti government.
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  Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, Well, we've got to make sure these
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  Speaker 1: homes are up to scratch. You know, we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: accommodation that you know that our police and those that
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  Speaker 1: work in those communities, whether it's police or whether it's
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  Speaker 1: whatever government department, it needs to be up to scratch.
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  Speaker 1: And certainly people need to be safe in those homes.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean, you know, people people do like
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  Speaker 3: as Stephen said to me, he moved out there for
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  Speaker 3: his dream job and he wanted to know, to create
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  Speaker 3: an experience for his family and provide for his family,
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  Speaker 3: and do it in a.
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  Speaker 2: Very unique part of the world. And for this to happen,
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  Speaker 2: I think, you know, in his eyes, it's deeply shocking
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  Speaker 2: and and I feel like he also feels a bit
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  Speaker 2: of guilt about it, which I don't think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: necessarily he needs to feel. And so to bring me
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  Speaker 2: to the issues to light I think is really important
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  Speaker 2: and I think actually needs to be taken on on
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  Speaker 2: making sure that these homes are up to scratch. You know,
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  Speaker 2: even if you know a link between this little girl's
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  Speaker 2: medical episode and the mold in that home cannot be
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  Speaker 2: definitively reached. I mean, the pictures that you may have
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  Speaker 2: seen in my story paint a pretty, you know die
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  Speaker 2: picture of the living conditions in that home and the family.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they did do their due diligence. They tried
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  Speaker 2: to clean the home, they used chemicals, it just grew back.
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  Speaker 2: So for them, you know, they at least want to
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  Speaker 2: see something done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think is absolutely fair enough. Well, Tom Morgan,
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  Speaker 1: the political reporter and also covering off on lots of
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  Speaker 1: different issues with the Northern tiret Trend News, It's always
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  Speaker 1: good to catch up with you. We appreciate your time
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  Speaker 1: this morning and talking us through this story.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you