Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro as she responds to the Chief Minister's Facebook mistaken claims about the travelling Covid case

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Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro as she responds to the Chief Minister's Facebook mistaken claims about the travelling Covid case · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, a lot of messages flowing through on the three
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: sixty text line. Now I am going to get to
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  Speaker 1: some of those in a few minutes time, but there's
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  Speaker 1: certainly lots of you saying obviously the Health Minister won't
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: answer the question, typical politicians passing the buck. And there
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: is someone else saying, good morning Katie, the girl who
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  Speaker 1: lied on her border entry forms, claiming her mental health
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  Speaker 1: is affected.
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  Speaker 2: Well, all territory.
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  Speaker 1: Ands mental health has been affected by her lying. She
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  Speaker 1: needs to get over herself and face up to what
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  Speaker 1: she did, says Gail in Woodroff. But however, you look
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  Speaker 1: at this, we do know that really a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people wondering how on earth a woman, this young woman
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  Speaker 1: was labeled a sex worker when she isn't on the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister's Facebook page. Now joining me in the studio
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  Speaker 1: is the opposition leader Leah Finocchio. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Lead Come morning Katie into your listeners, Lea.
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  Speaker 1: There is obviously some kind of serious flaw here in
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  Speaker 1: the way in which things are being posted to the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister's official Facebook page when something like this goes up.
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  Speaker 1: We know that this young woman now has spoken to
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory News and said that she's livered at
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  Speaker 1: a post made by the Chief Minister on social media
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  Speaker 1: which wrongly stated her occupation.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie, and I can imagine just how livid that
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  Speaker 3: young woman is. But I think this goes to a
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  Speaker 3: bigger issue that Territorians have been grappling with since the
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  Speaker 3: start of the pandemic, and that is the fact that
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  Speaker 3: the Chief Minister continues to use his Facebook page as
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  Speaker 3: some sort of public messaging site.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I've got a message here from one of our
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  Speaker 1: listeners and it says I'm blocked from his page, so
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  Speaker 1: I didn't see it, like I guess most of.
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  Speaker 2: The population, says that person.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and look, I know that you know that that
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  Speaker 1: is obviously something that some people aren't actually able to access.
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  Speaker 3: That. Sure, I mean, and I'm sure the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 3: blocks plenty of people, But ultimately, what he's done over
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  Speaker 3: this pandemic has created a dependency for Territorians to get
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  Speaker 3: the most up to date COVID informations is global pandemic
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  Speaker 3: health information. They've forced people to go to his Facebook
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  Speaker 3: page so that he can have greater political influence and control.
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  Speaker 3: I've been calling this out for months. I think it's
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  Speaker 3: absolutely disgusting, Katie. And once again what we've seen people
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  Speaker 3: need to understand that it is fifth four political staffers
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  Speaker 3: who are putting this stuff together and putting it on
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  Speaker 3: the Chief Miness's Facebook pages. Is not public health officials,
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  Speaker 3: It is not public health messaging. And what we've got
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  Speaker 3: is a stuff up that just really highlights the weakness
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  Speaker 3: of the government's this control system they've got in directing
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  Speaker 3: people to his face.
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  Speaker 1: What do you reckon should happen here? Politicians are allowed
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  Speaker 1: to use Facebook.
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  Speaker 3: It's not that it's the way in which he drives
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  Speaker 3: people to his Facebook and forces them to get the
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  Speaker 3: most up to date information there. We've regularly called out
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  Speaker 3: instances where his Facebook has the public health messaging, but
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  Speaker 3: the website doesn't for hours and hours and hours after,
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  Speaker 3: you know, until hours after his Facebook posts.
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  Speaker 2: So that's not acceptable.
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  Speaker 3: And I imagine that this young lady wants a policy
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  Speaker 3: direct from the Chief Minister himself.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, I know that you know, this young woman may
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  Speaker 1: be livid at the claims that have been.
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  Speaker 2: Made, but the territory is pretty livid that.
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  Speaker 1: She sent us into a lockdown and cost many territory
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  Speaker 1: businesses thousands and thousands of dollars. In your opinion, do
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  Speaker 1: you think that a five thousand dollar fine is enough
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  Speaker 1: for this person or do we realistically need to look
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  Speaker 1: at further penalties in jail time as we saw in
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  Speaker 1: Western Australia with those two blocks that light on their
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  Speaker 1: border forms, light on their entry forms and got in
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  Speaker 1: for the footy finals over there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we should be looking at that.
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  Speaker 3: I think we need to send a really strong message
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  Speaker 3: to people that you must comply with our public health processes.
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  Speaker 3: They're there to keep people safe, they're there to ensure
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  Speaker 3: our economy can be as robust at this really difficult time,
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  Speaker 3: and it's not okay for the government to say, oh,
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  Speaker 3: if the police want tore up the fine, they can,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, what a ludicrous thing to say. This is
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  Speaker 3: you know, fines aren't just made up by police, and
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  Speaker 3: it's surprising coming from a former attorney general. That comment
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  Speaker 3: scares me, actually, Katie. But this is about the Parliament
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  Speaker 3: making sure that we've got the right rules in place
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  Speaker 3: to be protecting territorians. But of course we the government
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  Speaker 3: don't like sitting in parliament, hence the slashing of three days.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not surprised they're blaming police.
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  Speaker 1: A jail term.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think, well, well, let's look at it.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, what was the level of non compliance? You know,
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  Speaker 3: what lengths are people going to to avoid the system?
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  Speaker 3: And I think all of those things need to be
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  Speaker 3: looked at and the government need to be honest with
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  Speaker 3: territories about how many non compliances have there been Like
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  Speaker 3: this one is obviously very public one because she did
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  Speaker 3: have COVID. Are there other situations where this has been
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  Speaker 3: happening but the people who've been absconding haven't had COVID,
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  Speaker 3: so it hasn't really hit the pages the papers. So sure,
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  Speaker 3: we're very happy to look at this as an issue,
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  Speaker 3: and you know government should be doing the same.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we will continue on that topic now. Lia the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister, I'm not sure if you saw that press
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  Speaker 1: conference yesterday afternoon, but he seemed to really blow up
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  Speaker 1: over these remote vaccination numbers. In fact, he looked like
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  Speaker 1: he was on the verge of tears, calling for these
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  Speaker 1: vaccination numbers in remote communities to be made available to
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government from the federal government and also
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  Speaker 1: from some of those aboriginal health organizations that are obviously
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  Speaker 1: in those remote communities Lea. Do you think that we
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  Speaker 1: need to get these numbers?
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  Speaker 2: What's your perspective here?
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  Speaker 3: It just doesn't pass the pub test for me. We've
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  Speaker 3: got a Chief Minister sitting in National Cabinet, we've got
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  Speaker 3: a Health Minister sitting with the other health ministers around
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  Speaker 3: the country, and of course Greg Hunt, the Federal Minister,
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  Speaker 3: and all these months later, we still apparently don't have
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  Speaker 3: this information. It just doesn't make any feasible logical sense
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  Speaker 3: to me. I think what we've got is a government
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  Speaker 3: distracting from the fact that they have royally bungled the rollout.
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  Speaker 2: I can't state enough, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: From May this year, I have been saying repeatedly that
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  Speaker 3: the rollout in the bush has failed and we need
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  Speaker 3: to be doing more to get that role out going.
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  Speaker 3: We need to change our remote engagement strategy when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to rolling out the vags and nothing has happened
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  Speaker 3: until now, and all of a sudden there's this sense
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  Speaker 3: of urgency, but ultimately we are way behind the eight
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  Speaker 3: ball on this and it's the Gunner government's fault.
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  Speaker 1: Now we know that the Australian Medical Association is this
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  Speaker 1: morning sing that those borders should realistically remain closed until
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  Speaker 1: everyone over the age of five can actually be vaccinated,
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  Speaker 1: as stated well in that modeling by the Dougherty Institute LEA,
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  Speaker 1: do you actually think that we should realistically be holding
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  Speaker 1: off on, you know, sort of lifting those restrictions on
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  Speaker 1: traveling into other states or do you think that realistically
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  Speaker 1: people who have been vaccinated should be rewarded with being
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  Speaker 1: able to travel around. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I didn't hear the AMA say this, Katie, so
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  Speaker 3: I don't know the context. But obviously there is no
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  Speaker 3: vaccine for children over five, and they may never be.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we don't know that the TGA is going
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  Speaker 3: to approve this. I don't think you can just assume
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  Speaker 3: it's going to happen or happen anytime soon. So I
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  Speaker 3: don't know that that is really a viable option. I
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  Speaker 3: appreciate what they're saying. Obviously they want to protect territorians
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  Speaker 3: and that's got to be at the forefront of all
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  Speaker 3: of our minds. But ultimately we need to be doing
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  Speaker 3: more with our vaccine rollout. We're way behind the other
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  Speaker 3: states and territories. I mean, for a population of two
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  Speaker 3: hundred and fifty thousand people, we could have all been
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  Speaker 3: jabbed ten times over if you look at how New
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  Speaker 3: South Wales and Victoria have been able to manage their roleout.
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  Speaker 3: So the Gunner government have got a lot of legwork
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  Speaker 3: to do and they've got to stop being so brash
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  Speaker 3: about things and stop being so stubborn. They've just got
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  Speaker 3: to get on with doing something that actually works well.
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  Speaker 1: Look, we are going to catch up with the Australian
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  Speaker 1: Medical Association in just a couple of minutes. I do
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  Speaker 1: want to ask you though, yesterday we heard from a
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  Speaker 1: business owner here on the show who is one of
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  Speaker 1: many businesses who've got serious concerns over the vaccine mandate
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  Speaker 1: coming into play obviously on the weekend. Is anyone like
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  Speaker 1: have you sat down with any of these businesses and
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  Speaker 1: are you being told of these concerns at this point
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  Speaker 1: in time.
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  Speaker 2: We certainly are. We're meeting with anybody who wants to
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  Speaker 2: meet with us.
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  Speaker 3: You know, our doors are open, We're not hiding. We're
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  Speaker 3: still going to events and functions. Were chatting to people
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  Speaker 3: about an issue that everyone is talking about.
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  Speaker 2: Whether you're an.
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  Speaker 3: Anti faccery, whether you're vaccinated, or whether you're just vaccine
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  Speaker 3: hesitant or something in between. And I think that's really
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  Speaker 3: important as elected members that we hear it, whether we
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  Speaker 3: like what we're hearing or not. And I think that's
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  Speaker 3: part of the problem for especially the business community. They're
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  Speaker 3: feeling completely ignored. We've had the Chief Minister repeatedly say
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  Speaker 3: he's not going to provide industry specific support. And when
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  Speaker 3: I say that, I don't mean handouts or payouts. I
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  Speaker 3: mean doctor legal advice, the HR advice, the insurance advice,
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  Speaker 3: the all of those types of really detailed things that
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  Speaker 3: come into play when you're talking about having to sack
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  Speaker 3: your workforce, and for some businesses it's their entire workforce.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and this is the thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's not only obviously private enterprise and private business, but
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  Speaker 1: it is also it's also actually the public seer. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to see how many of
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  Speaker 1: those public servants are indeed impacted. We did put that
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  Speaker 1: question to the Chief Minister earlier in the week. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't have those numbers. Is that something that you guys
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  Speaker 1: are also taking a look ash.
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  Speaker 2: Of course he didn't have the numbers. Katie.
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  Speaker 3: It's an incredibly convenient thing to say when you're on radio,
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  Speaker 3: but I.
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  Speaker 1: Can't remember exactly what the words was so, I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to put works in his mouth shure, But but
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  Speaker 1: is that something that you are keen to try and
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  Speaker 1: find out?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh absolutely, and we're having a briefing on that
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  Speaker 3: very issue soon. Of course, we, like many Territorians, heard
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  Speaker 3: coming out of the lockout that nurses were being turned
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  Speaker 3: away from work at Royal Darwin Hospital, that police were
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  Speaker 3: being sent home, and all sorts of other frontline services.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, then we saw the government scurry to make
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  Speaker 3: sure that people who are unvaccinated were able to still
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  Speaker 3: work during the lockout, despite the fact that unvaccinated people
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  Speaker 3: were not allowed to go anywhere during the lockout. So
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  Speaker 3: we've had some extremely confusing positions and we think Territorians
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  Speaker 3: deserve to know what Monday looks like. You know, is
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: there going to be an emergency services cliff? Are we
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  Speaker 3: going to see huge volumes of people staying home out
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  Speaker 3: of work?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what does that look like.
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  Speaker 3: The Gunner government must have done the modeling, They must
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: know the numbers, and our question has been where's the plan?
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  Speaker 3: Like the government have put in the mandate, they haven't
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  Speaker 3: supported business to implement it. I don't know what their
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: plans are for the public service yet and we will
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  Speaker 3: get that information soon. But what's the plan for all
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  Speaker 3: the jobs, that number of jobs that are going to
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  Speaker 3: be gone.
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  Speaker 2: What are we doing to backfill that?
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  Speaker 3: The territory doesn't have surplus people walking around just waiting
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: to be a nurse or a police person or a
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  Speaker 3: construction worker.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess, you know, in their defense, the unions,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: like of the Health Union or the Nursing with re
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Union and the Education Union has said that they are
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: expecting those numbers to be sort of smaller in scale.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: So we may not be talking large numbers. But the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: fact is, we really don't know.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: We don't know, and I hope it is really small numbers.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: But I think the reality is in a jurisdiction our size,
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: small numbers have huge impact as well. So even if
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: it's twenty police, you know, by a percentage of our
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: police force, that's a small number, but it's huge number
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: of police off the road, for example, And that's not
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: a genuine number.
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  Speaker 2: I just you know, made that up as an example.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, we heard about childcare centers having to
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: be closed during the lockout schools. We're questioning whether or
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: not they could handle the volume of students coming in,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: and some schools were urging parents to keep their kids
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: at home if they could. So there is going to
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: be an impact. I think we'd be silly and naive
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: to think there's not. Of course, we all hope people
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: go and get the job and that the impact of
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the mandate is minimal, but ultimately there will be an impact.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: And what is the government doing to plan and prep
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: for that so that we don't have any more pressure
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: on a strained health system, any more pressure on crime
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: and policing, and any more pressure on people just getting
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: the job done.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Well, Leaf and Occhiaro, we are going to have to
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: leave it there. Always good to catch up with you.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time today.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Take care everyone you are listening to Mix one oh
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: four point nine. It is just twenty five minutes away
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: from ten o'clock.