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Katie Woolf spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the latest flight of repatriated OSSI's has
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: arrived in Darwin from India this morning with about one
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy Australian citizens on board. Joining me on
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  Speaker 1: the line to talk more about this is the Health
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Minister Natasha Files.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Minister, the flight arrives this morning as I understand it,
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  Speaker 1: and there's more on the way later in the week.
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  Speaker 3: I haven't had an update yet from the National Critical
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Care and Trauma Response and to her running that quarantine
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  Speaker 3: facility Howard Springs, but I'm sure that they'll get information
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  Speaker 3: to me. But that program has seen hundreds of Australians,
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  Speaker 3: Katie who's been caught up overseas vulnerable people have spoken
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  Speaker 3: to you about some of those heartbreaking stories of young
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  Speaker 3: children separated from their parents and elderly grandparents who really
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: need to be cared for. So the Northern Territory is
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  Speaker 3: certainly playing its part in getting these Australians home and
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: will continue to work with the commonwealths government.
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  Speaker 1: It does seem to be something that's happening really rather regularly.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Now it's flowing quite smoothly. You would have to.
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  Speaker 1: Say, in terms of the quarantining where the international repatriation
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  Speaker 1: flights are coming through and then staying out at Howard Springs.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, it's certainly from my perspective, going smoothly, but
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  Speaker 3: it is a significant effort and I think we need
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  Speaker 3: to acknowledge all involved. There's DEFAT and Foreign Affairs officials
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  Speaker 3: on the ground overseas. The flight today arrived from India,
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  Speaker 3: the flight on Saturday will be from London, so there's
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  Speaker 3: those people. It's working in with the professionals as I
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  Speaker 3: just said, from OSMAT and Critical Care and Trauma Response Center,
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  Speaker 3: and then our government and the federal government and also
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  Speaker 3: quantest As the airline that the commonwealths have engaged to
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  Speaker 3: bring them home. So it's an enormous effort and it
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  Speaker 3: is getting these people that have been identified as vulnerable
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  Speaker 3: stuck in those situations, getting them home to Australia. I've
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  Speaker 3: certainly had feedback, you know, from the and I've been
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  Speaker 3: able to visit the facility and looking at Howard Springs
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  Speaker 3: from the outside and it's very professionally run. So all
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  Speaker 3: territories should.
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  Speaker 2: Be proud, Minister.
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  Speaker 1: We are back open to South Australia and we're going
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  Speaker 1: to be real happening to Melbourne next week. How are
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: authorities preparing for that?
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  Speaker 3: So we saw last week what can happen when people
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  Speaker 3: provide misleading information to those contact traces, and the South
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  Speaker 3: Australian authorities will be dealing with that. But it certainly
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: caused a significant impact in South Australia and right across
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: the country with the information that initially came through. Once
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  Speaker 3: that medical advice was updated, we were able to remove
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  Speaker 3: that hot spot declaration and people were able to leave
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  Speaker 3: quarantine and other people who were able to fly in.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: But ahead of next week's arrival and I guess learning
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  Speaker 3: to Live with COVID, Katie will have the Territory check In,
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  Speaker 3: which will be an app based system that people will
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  Speaker 3: be able to access for free that people can use
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  Speaker 3: to check in if they're at a location for more
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: than fifteen minutes. And so this is to help industry
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  Speaker 3: to help venues. If they have a current system, they
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  Speaker 3: don't need to change that. We just want to have
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  Speaker 3: the information available for up to twenty eight days to
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  Speaker 3: give to our contact traces. Yeah, so this is a
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  Speaker 3: step forward in making sure that we've got measures in
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  Speaker 3: place to protect the community as we learn to live
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  Speaker 3: with this virus.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Minister, with those QR codes and with that system,
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  Speaker 1: has there been a centralized system that businesses have to
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  Speaker 1: use or are they able to use whatever system best
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  Speaker 1: works for them, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: They're able to use whatever system best works for them.
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  Speaker 3: We just need the information. Potentially, if we're to see
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  Speaker 3: any cases, then we need to be able to get
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  Speaker 3: that quickly to our contact traces. So we issued the
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  Speaker 3: draft directions, which is the public Health Advice which establishments
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  Speaker 3: have to adhere by, so that they had time to
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  Speaker 3: work that into their COVID safety plans. And Katie, many
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  Speaker 3: businesses already do this. Gyms, for example, collect that information.
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  Speaker 3: This is for anyone that might not be collecting that information.
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  Speaker 3: They can use their own system, or they can utilize
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  Speaker 3: this system that will make available for free.
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  Speaker 1: And Minister, are there rules in there that prevent those
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  Speaker 1: businesses then from being able to use the information that
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  Speaker 1: they gather for marketing purposes?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, this is very much designed and around having
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  Speaker 3: information for public health officials if they're needed. It's an
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  Speaker 3: industry have certainly cadium my meetings with them, they've been
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  Speaker 3: really clear on that point that they want to have
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  Speaker 3: a system that will allow for the public health officials
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  Speaker 3: to get the information and that the consumer doesn't feel
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  Speaker 3: might be a back way way of getting their details
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  Speaker 3: for marketing. And so i've certainly from hospitality and Tea
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  Speaker 3: they've given me their absolute assurances they want to work
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  Speaker 3: with the health authorities and they're not interested in trying
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  Speaker 3: to get that information. So territories can be reassured of that,
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  Speaker 3: and if they do have any instances, which I think
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  Speaker 3: would be rare, they can reach out and that will
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  Speaker 3: certainly put a stop to that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that is good news now, Minister. I've still got
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  Speaker 1: a few questions I want to get through. I know
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  Speaker 1: you are pressed for time, but as you mentioned before,
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  Speaker 1: we saw in South Australia someone lie about where they've
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  Speaker 1: been and lie about that contact tracing. It caused serious
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  Speaker 1: issues the whole state to go into lockdown. We're here
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory considering changes to legislation or to
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  Speaker 1: rules to find people who do this in the North Territory.
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  Speaker 3: So, Katie, that's something that I very much when it
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  Speaker 3: became apparent on Friday that we had that, and I
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  Speaker 3: do need to be careful with my comments because in Victoria,
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  Speaker 3: in South Australia, they're obviously assessing what's happened and seeing
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  Speaker 3: if an individual can be charged. But I brought it
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  Speaker 3: back to the territory because all of this is under
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  Speaker 3: the Public un Environmental Health Act and the notifiedble Diseases Act.
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  Speaker 3: I've asked that question, do we need to look at
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  Speaker 3: what's in place presently and would we need further measures?
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  Speaker 3: So I've certainly asked my Agency Health about that and
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  Speaker 3: will continue that conversation as a government, and if we
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  Speaker 3: need to make changes, I'm sure the Cabinet would consider it.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: So it's not off the table. Certainly.
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  Speaker 1: If we do end up in a situation here where
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  Speaker 1: somebody were to lie about their contact tracing, they could
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  Speaker 1: be significantly fine.
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  Speaker 3: Katie's completely unacceptable. What that individual did they know? It
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  Speaker 3: caused such a huge impact. People couldn't attend funerals, they
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: had to cancel their weddings and parties, not to mention
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: the impact on business and community generally. And so for me,
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  Speaker 3: I want to look at what we have in place,
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  Speaker 3: and this is complicated space. None of us have been
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  Speaker 3: in a pandemic before, and so I want to see
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  Speaker 3: how our legislation that we currently had has stacks up,
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  Speaker 3: and if we have advice that we need a stronger
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  Speaker 3: penalties in place to deter that, we certainly will consider it.
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  Speaker 2: As a cabinet I reckon it'd be bloody essential.
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  Speaker 1: Like honestly, if we end up in a situation in
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  Speaker 1: the territory like they had in South Australia, I would
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  Speaker 1: be mortified, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: And that's why I want to make sure we may
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  Speaker 3: have the provisions there. Even though these the acts that
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  Speaker 3: I've just talked about, the notifiable diseases and the public
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  Speaker 3: and environmental health, it could be that police could use
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  Speaker 3: another measure. So I just want to get that correct
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  Speaker 3: legal advice. Absolutely make sure that, as I said, it's
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  Speaker 3: just uncomprehensible what someone has done in South Australia, but
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  Speaker 3: we don't want to be in that situation into the future,
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  Speaker 3: so we'll certainly make sure there's strong penalty.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Minister.
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  Speaker 1: A couple of quick ones before we finish up. I
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: asked you on the week that was on Friday, the
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  Speaker 1: cost of that charter flight from Alice Springs to Darwin
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  Speaker 1: to bring those people that were in Alice Springs to
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  Speaker 1: Darwin to go into the Howard Springs quarantine facility.
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  Speaker 2: Any idea how much that flight cost?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, I did chase that up and the Territory
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  Speaker 3: Control of the Police Commissioner advised me that the flight
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  Speaker 3: to bring people from Alice Springs to Darin was approximately
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: forty thousand dollars and then I've since been advised at
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  Speaker 3: around thirty thousand dollars were spent in repatriating people back
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  Speaker 3: down to that Alice Springs facility. But we need to
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  Speaker 3: remember these measures are to keep our community safe. Of
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  Speaker 3: course that's an inconvenience, but it would be far greater
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  Speaker 3: inconvenience to see the virus in our community.
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  Speaker 1: Well, quite an expensive inconvenience, by the sounds of things,
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  Speaker 1: seventy thousand dollars, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: We've been across the board with coronavirus. Our Police on
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: Board is operating these quarantine centers. We saw those figures
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  Speaker 3: in our budget around keeping people safe and then also
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  Speaker 3: support to business. So COVID certainly had a huge impact
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  Speaker 3: financially on the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Minister, I'm going to power through because I've
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  Speaker 1: got one last thing i want to ask you about.
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  Speaker 2: We know that on a current affair.
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  Speaker 1: Last night, the QUANTUS CEO Alan Joyce spoke about those
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  Speaker 1: repatriation flights into Darwin and also the quarantine links potentially
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  Speaker 1: being reduced into the future.
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  Speaker 2: I can listen to what he had to say.
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  Speaker 4: So what's great about the repatriation flights that we're now
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  Speaker 4: doing from Europe in particular that are flying into dar
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  Speaker 4: One is that we are doing a test before people
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  Speaker 4: get on the aircraft for the PCR test, and we
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  Speaker 4: are doing testing then in dar One, which hopefully will
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  Speaker 4: allow us to determine what the fourteen days quarantine is
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  Speaker 4: too long? Can it be done shorter than that. We're
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  Speaker 4: actually testing the waste water on the aircraft as well well, hopefully,
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  Speaker 4: and I think the view of the hypothesis that the
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  Speaker 4: scientists have that we could get that to show if
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  Speaker 4: you have the right testing regime, you could get the
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  Speaker 4: fourteen days down to a lot shorter periods potentially seven,
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  Speaker 4: potentially five and if that happens it makes them more viable.
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  Speaker 2: Minister, is that on the carts.
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  Speaker 3: Katie, we're looking at every measure and this is not
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  Speaker 3: just the Northern Territory but Australia and globally. If we
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: can understand more about this virus and we can have
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  Speaker 3: measures in place that protect our community from catching it,
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  Speaker 3: but at the same time allow people to resume somewhat
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: normal travel schedule. Particularly we're supportive of that and so
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: as Allan outlines there there are measures that they're looking
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  Speaker 3: at around these repatriation flights, but there's also a range
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  Speaker 3: of scientific research that's taking place across Australia in the world,
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  Speaker 3: and of course that evidence would be considered by HPBC
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: and then potentially acted upon.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to get it right in this space,
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  Speaker 1: particularly when you're talking about those international arrivals. Minister for Health,
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Files, we always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine
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  Speaker 2: three sixty