Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Donna Demaio: Australia Correspondent on Northern Territory reintroducing the use of spit hoods as a tough on crime policy

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Donna Demaio: Australia Correspondent on Northern Territory reintroducing the use of spit hoods as a tough on crime policy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Look out, New Zealand. They're coming for our doctors at
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: quarter to six. This is the Australian government. Doctors from
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the UK, Ireland and New Zealand will be fast tracked
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to work in Australia and changes designed to address their
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: GP shortage. They are Donna Demaz their Australia correspondent, donnad
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: just leave them alone.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Oh look, we don't have enough doctors here. So we
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: have heard now that well the Federal Health Minister Mark
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Butler and his state counterparts have recommended this proposal. It's
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: effectively going to get rid of a significant amount of
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: red tape. In fact, so the Medical Watchdog looks like
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: it will proceed with this overhaul of the accreditation process
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  Speaker 2: for overseas doctors. And yes it does include NZ doctors.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: And this means that gps who are qualified from New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: Ireland and UK can then get this specialist registration with
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  Speaker 2: the Watchdog and they don't need to be assessed by
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  Speaker 2: the Royal Australian College of Gps anymore. Well, the College
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: is a little myf to say the least. They're bringing
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: up issues with oh you know what about safety standards.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: So the Health minister says no safety standards will not
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  Speaker 2: be compromised. He says, for too long, highly trained doctors
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: have been caught up in this red tape. So I
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: think it's about three hundred gps from these areas and
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: countries apply each year. But now interestingly they will now
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: no longer have to pay. It's about twelve thousand dollars
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: for this assessment feed that they used to pay for
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  Speaker 2: the college. Perhaps that's why the college is unimpressed with.
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  Speaker 1: This many Yeah, okay, so this side stepping it, trying
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  Speaker 1: to get some of the cut, some of the fat
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  Speaker 1: out of it. Hey, what's going on with the spit
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  Speaker 1: hoods in Northern Territory.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Well, this is described as a way to be tough
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  Speaker 2: on crime. It is a controversial device. It's a spithood.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: It's exactly what it sounds like. It's put over the
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  Speaker 2: head of a young people. And in this instance we're
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: talking about the Northern Territory and it's used to restrain
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory children. Now I know that we heard from
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the police chief that over the last x three months,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: sixty eight police have been assaulted in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: and there've been twenty counts of spitting. It's been described
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: as abhorrent to what's happened to police. So they're saying
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  Speaker 2: now that the new government, the Country Liberal Party, is
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  Speaker 2: going to reintroduce spithoods on Northern Territory children only when
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: they're being held at watchhouse facilities. But we know that
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  Speaker 2: last year the UN Committee against Torture recommended Australia take
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: all necessary measures to end the use of spitthoods. So
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  Speaker 2: interesting that it's being reintroduced.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. God, that's a tough one, isn't it, Because if
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  Speaker 1: you're the police officer, you don't want to be spat at,
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  Speaker 1: do you? And if it's happened twenty times, thank you
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  Speaker 1: very much for that. Donald de Mayo are Australia correspondent.
• 2:43
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• 2:46
  Speaker 2: to News Talks.
• 2:47
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• 2:50
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