Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was - October 29 2021

Transcript

The Week That Was - October 29 2021 · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: And it is Friday morning.
0:01
Speaker 2: It is time for the week that was also broadcasting
0:04
Speaker 2: on eighth and Alice Springs and in the studio with
0:07
Speaker 2: us this morning. We've got the opposition leader Leafanocchi Aarro.
0:10
Speaker 3: Good morning, have you Friday. Wonderful to be here.
0:12
Speaker 2: And good to see you. We've got Matt Cunningham from
0:14
Speaker 2: Sky News.
0:15
Speaker 1: Good morning, Matt, Good morning. We've got Robin Lamley, the.
0:18
Speaker 2: Independent member for Ara lun here from Alice Springs.
0:21
Speaker 4: Good morning, Good morning Katie.
0:23
Speaker 2: And we've got Natasha Philes, the Health Minister and also
0:25
Speaker 2: the Minister for Tourism.
0:26
Speaker 1: Good morning, morning, will Fee. And what a week. It's been.
0:29
Speaker 2: Always a busy week, but never any shortage of things
0:32
Speaker 2: to talk about. And we kick the week off with
0:35
Speaker 2: plans for home quarantine. We now know that it's going
0:37
Speaker 2: to be introduced for fully vaccinated domestic travelers arriving in
0:41
Speaker 2: the territory well from November twenty three. The trial though
0:44
Speaker 2: is underway at the moment, I believe well around one
0:48
Speaker 2: hundred people is what had been said that would be
0:51
Speaker 2: part of that trial that's underway right now. So it
0:54
Speaker 2: does mean that there's going to be a very extensive
0:57
Speaker 2: testing regime a test before you were in the territory
1:00
Speaker 2: to make sure that you don't have COVID, but then
1:03
Speaker 2: a further six once you do arrive, and then we've
1:06
Speaker 2: got a bit of a better idea. I guess sh'd
1:08
Speaker 2: say as to exactly how that opening's kind of going
1:11
Speaker 2: to happen in the sense that the Chief Minister had
1:14
Speaker 2: seid by January eighteen, I believe he ended up saying
1:17
Speaker 2: that at a press conference would be the date that
1:20
Speaker 2: realistically we'd see home quarantine for everybody, no matter where
1:24
Speaker 2: you'd arrive from. I know that there are still some
1:27
Speaker 2: in the community saying, really, could we be doing this
1:29
Speaker 2: a little bit better, a little bit faster and in
1:32
Speaker 2: line with other states. So there's been plenty of discussion
1:35
Speaker 2: about it throughout the week. What was your take, Leah.
1:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, Look, I mean it's good that there's some certainty around,
1:43
Speaker 5: and I think the feedback we've been getting from people
1:46
Speaker 5: is that it's still quite confusing. Some people feel like
1:50
Speaker 5: they're not sure how the testing regime is going to work.
1:54
Speaker 5: But ultimately, you know, at least it's something I think
1:57
Speaker 5: a lot of people we disappointed it doesn't provide them
2:01
Speaker 5: the certainty they need prior to Christmas. But it is
2:03
Speaker 5: what it is, and you know, the more information really
2:06
Speaker 5: the government can give on these things the better because
2:08
Speaker 5: there's a lot of you know, rules around COVID at
2:10
Speaker 5: the moment that people really struggling to get their head around.
2:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, there is, I mean, there is sort of a
2:14
Speaker 2: lot to take in with it, or there certainly was.
2:17
Speaker 2: It did seem as though there was a little bit
2:18
Speaker 2: more clarity as the week went on, but still a
2:22
Speaker 2: lot of people really wondering whether they are going to
2:24
Speaker 2: be able to travel away at Christmas time or what
2:26
Speaker 2: exactly is going to happen.
2:28
Speaker 4: People like to plan, Katie and I heard Alex Bruce
2:31
Speaker 4: make a really good comment a few days ago saying
2:34
Speaker 4: that people when they're on holidays, we're just fixing the Roberts.
2:42
Speaker 4: They make their best plans when they are on holidays.
2:46
Speaker 4: So we're all going to be heading into holiday season
2:49
Speaker 4: come late December during January. If we're not opened up,
2:54
Speaker 4: people aren't necessarily going to be on holidays, and interstate
2:58
Speaker 4: people want to look at offs and the Northern Territory
3:01
Speaker 4: might not be considered as a holiday destination if it's
3:06
Speaker 4: not opened up.
3:07
Speaker 2: Well, and you know that became very clear. I think
3:09
Speaker 2: you'd have to say throughout the week. And it is
3:12
Speaker 2: reported in the NT News today as well that Jetstar
3:15
Speaker 2: has canceled a range of flights to Melbourne in December.
3:18
Speaker 2: We know that customers who'd already booked their flights received
3:21
Speaker 2: emails apparently saying their direct flights had been canceled and
3:25
Speaker 2: a credit had been put onto their account. So it's
3:30
Speaker 2: no doubt that it is going to sort of, I
3:32
Speaker 2: think put us a little bit behind some other areas
3:35
Speaker 2: in terms of opening up when it comes to tourism.
3:38
Speaker 2: I guess the argument is that the government said that
3:40
Speaker 2: they want to take that staged approach so that you
3:42
Speaker 2: can sort.
3:42
Speaker 1: Of try and iron out any issues. So, Katie, the
3:45
Speaker 1: first step is this four week pilot program. And so
3:48
Speaker 1: we have had people that have entered the program and
3:51
Speaker 1: out of how it brings and they finished their quarantine
3:53
Speaker 1: and they've been able to go back into the community
3:56
Speaker 1: and other people as they come home will enter this program.
3:59
Speaker 1: So it allows us to check our systems. I think
4:01
Speaker 1: one of the you know, the testing is the key
4:03
Speaker 1: to it, because then we would like to move away
4:05
Speaker 1: from the quarantiningto a testing regime. We do want to
4:08
Speaker 1: capture COVID before it comes into our community, and so
4:12
Speaker 1: we're working through those processes so that we can make
4:14
Speaker 1: them as easy as possible on people, particularly where situations
4:19
Speaker 1: that some people are allowed to quarantine at home and
4:21
Speaker 1: other people in the house can come and go, but
4:23
Speaker 1: they have to undertake that testing regime.
4:25
Speaker 2: There's been some real questions from our listeners in the
4:28
Speaker 2: rural area, following on from the comments that you've made
4:31
Speaker 2: earlier in the week about them needing to have that
4:33
Speaker 2: access to four G. Do we know yet realistically after
4:38
Speaker 2: this trial period, are we going to see residents who
4:40
Speaker 2: are in the rural area able to quarantine from home.
4:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the G two G system needs the four G,
4:47
Speaker 1: but this trial will let us see if the Wi
4:50
Speaker 1: Fi individual wifis would be enough to sufficiently allow the
4:53
Speaker 1: system to work. Is the advice I've got.
4:55
Speaker 6: I think there's a bigger issue if you're in the
4:57
Speaker 6: rural area, and that is that other requirements for you
5:01
Speaker 6: to home quarantine is that your vax rate has to
5:04
Speaker 6: be eighty percent. Now, last time I looked at lichfield
5:06
Speaker 6: Shire it was less than fifty percent double vax, So
5:10
Speaker 6: I would say and that is an area where they've
5:12
Speaker 6: had the opportunity to be vaccinated for several months. So
5:16
Speaker 6: I would say that the way it's going, unless there's
5:18
Speaker 6: a dramatic change in people's opinions towards the vaccine, no
5:22
Speaker 6: one in the lichfield Shire and even Palmeston's going to
5:25
Speaker 6: be questionable, But no one in the lichfield Shire is
5:27
Speaker 6: going to be able to home quarantine.
5:29
Speaker 2: Natasha, are you able to give us a bit of
5:30
Speaker 2: an update on some of those vax numbers.
5:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, So we expect the city of Darwin to become
5:34
Speaker 1: a high vaccination zone later this month. It's currently at
5:37
Speaker 1: ninety one percent first dose and seventy eight percent second dose.
5:40
Speaker 1: Alice Springs is not far behind that eighty nine percent
5:43
Speaker 1: first dose and seventy seven percent second dose, But the
5:45
Speaker 1: point that Matt raises is valid. Palmerston is sitting at
5:48
Speaker 1: about seventy six percent first dose. These statistics might be
5:51
Speaker 1: a couple of days old, but certainly below that eighty
5:54
Speaker 1: percent double vax rate that's needed. So we do need
5:57
Speaker 1: the community to get vaccinated.
5:59
Speaker 6: And what about Field because I know a lot of
6:00
Speaker 6: people have been having trouble for even finding the data
6:03
Speaker 6: for literally you guys are saying we're going on the
6:05
Speaker 6: territory government's data, But the only data I'm ever able
6:09
Speaker 6: to find for Lichfield is the Commonwealth data.
6:11
Speaker 1: So we've been working through that with our health officials.
6:14
Speaker 1: How can we have accurate data to have that confidence
6:16
Speaker 1: that we have eighty percent vaccination in those areas? That
6:18
Speaker 1: we'll keep working through that as well.
6:20
Speaker 6: So do you know what the Lichfield rate is at
6:21
Speaker 6: the moment?
6:22
Speaker 1: I don't have that in front of me.
6:23
Speaker 2: Sorry, Well, and it does seem as though there's a
6:25
Speaker 2: few areas where people don't actually know exactly what the
6:28
Speaker 2: rate of vaccination is. I know again in the paper
6:30
Speaker 2: today that it's being reported that vax facts are in
6:33
Speaker 2: the EA and the federal government. Well, the Federal Health
6:36
Speaker 2: Department has claimed that the Northern Territory government is receiving
6:39
Speaker 2: vaccination data for thirty five remote communities being managed by
6:42
Speaker 2: our Aboriginal Community controlled Health Organizations FARSI, do you guys
6:48
Speaker 2: actually have the data for those different communities.
6:52
Speaker 1: We don't have the community by community data for the
6:55
Speaker 1: communities that are cared for by the Aboriginal Medical Organization,
6:59
Speaker 1: so that the air data is the vaccinations are uploaded
7:03
Speaker 1: but we don't have them community by community, which doesn't
7:06
Speaker 1: give us that accurate information.
7:07
Speaker 2: So why in that Senate hearing on Community Affairs on
7:10
Speaker 2: Wednesday did the Federal Health Department's first Assistant secretary say
7:15
Speaker 2: that the data was in fact being provided to the
7:17
Speaker 2: Northern Territory government through a federal database.
7:19
Speaker 6: I think I can answer that question because when I've
7:21
Speaker 6: asked the Federal Health Department for that information, they are
7:24
Speaker 6: providing the data. But it's the regional data. It's not
7:27
Speaker 6: broken down community community. Okay, what he's saying there is
7:30
Speaker 6: you're getting the regional data, but that's not what we want.
7:33
Speaker 6: And I think it's they're being a little bit clever,
7:35
Speaker 6: and I really do think that the federal government needs
7:37
Speaker 6: to make sure that that data is available. There's about
7:41
Speaker 6: thirty communities at the moment, including Mudajulu, which is right
7:46
Speaker 6: at Ularoo, where we don't know what the vaccination rate is,
7:50
Speaker 6: and our government doesn't even know what the vaccination rate is.
7:53
Speaker 6: I don't just think it's ridiculous.
7:54
Speaker 2: I've got a question here from Kiesi Epiric, and it says,
7:56
Speaker 2: how do people home quarantine if they live outside of
8:00
Speaker 2: local government area like Marakai.
8:03
Speaker 1: So Katie, I'll go back and ask that specific question,
8:06
Speaker 1: but we need to see that eighty percent vaccination rate
8:08
Speaker 1: in that area. And it comes back to the point
8:10
Speaker 1: that Matt was just raising. We know that overall in
8:12
Speaker 1: the regions, we've got figures, you know, overall figures, but
8:16
Speaker 1: we know that in some communities we've got very little protection.
8:19
Speaker 1: I was pleased to see in Central Australia Papannya, for example,
8:22
Speaker 1: has had a significant number of vaccines delivered this week.
8:25
Speaker 1: So the community by community strategy is working and I'll
8:28
Speaker 1: be out next week in you know, communities working with
8:31
Speaker 1: traditional owners around how we can continue to get that
8:33
Speaker 1: message across.
8:34
Speaker 5: But you know that work should have been done starting
8:36
Speaker 5: from has been done for months.
8:38
Speaker 1: It's been to sit there and done. It's a failure.
8:42
Speaker 5: I just think the numbers speak for themselves. I mean,
8:44
Speaker 5: we've got vaccination rates in some communities you know, still
8:47
Speaker 5: in the high twenty perably, we've.
8:49
Speaker 1: Got vaccination rates in other communities that are over ninety percent.
8:52
Speaker 1: Hard grinding work, and you haven't offered one positive idea.
8:54
Speaker 1: All you do is sit on the fence and snipe
8:56
Speaker 1: negative remarks.
8:57
Speaker 3: Okay, well none of those things are true.
8:59
Speaker 5: I've been told about vaccination rates, low vaccination rates in
9:02
Speaker 5: remote community since May this year.
9:04
Speaker 1: She've been wishy washy about the vaccination making it mandatory.
9:08
Speaker 1: And it's easy to sit and be critized.
9:10
Speaker 3: It's really hard true.
9:12
Speaker 2: You know, what we are sure of is that in
9:14
Speaker 2: some areas the vaccination rates are incredibly low, whether you're
9:17
Speaker 2: talking about regional areas, whether you're talking about remote areas,
9:21
Speaker 2: in some areas they are incredibly low. And you know,
9:25
Speaker 2: we can sit here and sort of argue about the
9:26
Speaker 2: reasons why, or we can.
9:28
Speaker 1: You can get out there and do the hard work kaiting.
9:30
Speaker 2: But the thing is, you know, we're now like we're
9:32
Speaker 2: at the point where the reality is the rest of
9:35
Speaker 2: the territory wants you know, like a lot of people
9:36
Speaker 2: are saying they want to open up. They're really worried
9:38
Speaker 2: about tourism, they're really worried about business, they're really worried about,
9:43
Speaker 2: you know, not being able to see their families. And
9:46
Speaker 2: so what at what point do we go, Okay, well,
9:49
Speaker 2: some areas do not want to get this vaccine. They've
9:51
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to get it. There's vaccine in the fridge.
9:54
Speaker 2: Whether you're talking about you know wherever I and I
9:58
Speaker 2: do not mean it, you know, only talking about communities,
10:01
Speaker 2: I mean any location around the territory. At what point
10:04
Speaker 2: do we go, we're opening up on this date if
10:06
Speaker 2: you're not vaccinated, well we're opening up.
10:11
Speaker 6: Well I completely agree Katie that point, and we're being
10:16
Speaker 6: left behind and we're going to miss out from a
10:18
Speaker 6: tourism point of view. I mean, we lose to Queensland
10:20
Speaker 6: now right because they open up on the seven eighth
10:22
Speaker 6: of December. You've got to be double vaccinated. But you know,
10:26
Speaker 6: if people were tossing up between Darwen and Cans, they're
10:28
Speaker 6: going to Cans. So you know, that's the problem we've
10:30
Speaker 6: got now. And I think that does come down to
10:33
Speaker 6: a point where you say, I mean, do we really
10:39
Speaker 6: you know, the great Land of the Free Northern Territory,
10:41
Speaker 6: do we really need our government to continue to protect us?
10:44
Speaker 6: At some stage it has to become a question of
10:46
Speaker 6: personal responsibility, you know. And if you are of the
10:49
Speaker 6: opinion that you don't believe that the pandemic is real,
10:53
Speaker 6: or you think that vaccination is some kind of government hoax,
10:56
Speaker 6: well I don't think we should be keeping our borders
10:59
Speaker 6: closed forever to protect those people. Everyone in the Northern
11:02
Speaker 6: Territory has had a chance to get vaccinated, So you know,
11:05
Speaker 6: I think I don't have a lot of sympathy, you know,
11:10
Speaker 6: and when the virus does arrive, you know, if we
11:13
Speaker 6: suddenly have a whole heap of people who are not vaccinated,
11:15
Speaker 6: who are getting COVID nineteen, well it's not as though
11:18
Speaker 6: they haven't had the chance to be protected.
11:20
Speaker 1: And matt Ras is a good point, Katie. Every territory
11:22
Speaker 1: and has been offered the vaccination some communities, we've been
11:25
Speaker 1: out there multiple times. There's been multiple methods enacted, and
11:28
Speaker 1: we of course will keep doing that work. We won't
11:29
Speaker 1: turn our back on the most vulnerable. But people that
11:32
Speaker 1: choose not to be vaccinated have to understand they're putting
11:35
Speaker 1: themselves at risk, They're putting their loved ones at risk,
11:37
Speaker 1: and they're putting our broader community at risk. And the
11:39
Speaker 1: reason why this is an issue that people have to
11:42
Speaker 1: be vaccinated is because it will be a burden on
11:44
Speaker 1: our health system. It will overburden our health system if
11:47
Speaker 1: we have large numbers of unvaccinated people when COVID comes
11:49
Speaker 1: into the territory, has there.
11:50
Speaker 2: Been some additional planning and some you know, making sure
11:54
Speaker 2: that our health system is able to cope when we
11:57
Speaker 2: do open those forward us.
11:59
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Katie, been scenario planning right from when we first
12:02
Speaker 1: heard about this virus, and there's been different scenarios and they.
12:05
Speaker 4: Change been talking about this nature.
12:07
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
12:08
Speaker 4: I spent time in Queensland last week and they are
12:12
Speaker 4: talking about what will happen when their border is open,
12:16
Speaker 4: how many people will get COVID, how many people will die,
12:19
Speaker 4: the pressure on the hell system. I haven't heard much
12:22
Speaker 4: from you, and mind you, I live a long way
12:24
Speaker 4: away from Darwin. We don't have a newspaper. Maybe it's
12:27
Speaker 4: not being covered, but I'm not hearing about the future
12:31
Speaker 4: that's inevitable, that's in front of us.
12:33
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure the Centrailing Advocate will be a bit
12:35
Speaker 1: disappointed that you heard that you don't have a newspapers
12:39
Speaker 1: and I take it to comment honestly.
12:43
Speaker 4: Central and Advocate was effectively cut by News Corp.
12:47
Speaker 1: A year ago.
12:48
Speaker 4: We had two pages once a week in the NT
12:50
Speaker 4: News and most people in Alice Springs do not purchase
12:53
Speaker 4: the N ten years.
12:54
Speaker 6: I think you get two pages at least every day.
12:57
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, anyway to the point, Katie, we have done
13:01
Speaker 1: scenario testing, and the message is really clear. Our health
13:04
Speaker 1: system will be burdened if the virus comes in. It
13:06
Speaker 1: will be catastrophic. It will not only impact on those
13:09
Speaker 1: people that have got COVID and are very, very sick
13:11
Speaker 1: from this illness, it will also impact on those other
13:14
Speaker 1: people that get hurt in car accidents and become unwell.
13:16
Speaker 1: And so the message is really clear. The vaccine is safe,
13:19
Speaker 1: it's effective. I know people the life hous have been
13:21
Speaker 1: developed so quick.
13:22
Speaker 2: Look, I totally understand what you're saying, and I think
13:24
Speaker 2: you know I've copped a lot of shit over the
13:26
Speaker 2: last few days. I've got to say for saying that
13:28
Speaker 2: I'm pro getting the vaccine, But I am, and I'm
13:31
Speaker 2: happy to wear that on my sleeve, as I'm sure
13:33
Speaker 2: plenty of.
13:33
Speaker 1: You guys are.
13:34
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, you know, we
13:37
Speaker 2: know that even when we do have those vaccine rates
13:39
Speaker 2: up at eighty ninety percent, the reality is that we
13:42
Speaker 2: will still have cases in the territory and we will
13:45
Speaker 2: still have those cases going through our hospital system. Obviously,
13:48
Speaker 2: the work is being done to roll out the vaccine,
13:50
Speaker 2: but have we done additional work in terms of bolstering
13:53
Speaker 2: the health force to make sure that we're able to
13:56
Speaker 2: deal with COVID when it does arrive, because we know
13:59
Speaker 2: that the health's system is.
14:00
Speaker 1: Already under stress.
14:01
Speaker 5: Yes we have well, I mean we've had four Code
14:03
Speaker 5: yellows this year. We've been asking numerous questions in Parliament
14:07
Speaker 5: about this last sittings and the sittings we ran a
14:10
Speaker 5: matter of public importance on the health crisis. I mean
14:13
Speaker 5: we've got elective surgeries being canceled, understaffing of our hospital,
14:17
Speaker 5: bed block, nurses working you know, around eighteen hours a day,
14:22
Speaker 5: the hospital being at one hundred and forty percent capacity.
14:25
Speaker 5: People who need an age care facility are in beds
14:28
Speaker 5: in hospitals, which is inappropriate. We've had beds at the
14:31
Speaker 5: emergency department at Parmesan Regional Hospital shut down. I mean,
14:34
Speaker 5: this is at crisis point and we don't have COVID
14:37
Speaker 5: and the government have not talked about how many people
14:40
Speaker 5: will get sick from COVID. If they've done that modeling,
14:42
Speaker 5: they certainly haven't shared that. And you know, yesterday we
14:45
Speaker 5: saw the South Australian government announce this huge package to
14:50
Speaker 5: bolster health given the impending opening of borders, and yet
14:54
Speaker 5: we've got a system that hasn't suffered COVID and it's
14:56
Speaker 5: falling apart. And that's you know, we've got hard working
14:59
Speaker 5: health professional out there who've just been completely abandoned by
15:02
Speaker 5: this government. And the Howard Springs quarantine facility is clearly
15:05
Speaker 5: too much for this government to handle. We can't staff both.
15:09
Speaker 5: And you know, the government needs to be setting out
15:11
Speaker 5: its health plan and being honest about how many people
15:14
Speaker 5: are going to get sick, how many people might die,
15:16
Speaker 5: and all that alleged modeling you say you've done.
15:19
Speaker 1: There has been more. The question has just shifted. Lee
15:21
Speaker 1: has been talking about modeling. The question was around scenario testing.
15:24
Speaker 1: So have we done the scenario testing for when COVID
15:26
Speaker 1: comes into our community? And we have for the past
15:28
Speaker 1: modeling Well, get your terms right, but we have for
15:31
Speaker 1: the past eighteen months two years. Because initially we thought
15:34
Speaker 1: the virus would sweep through and have a huge impact,
15:36
Speaker 1: we didn't have a vaccine. Then over time the vaccines
15:39
Speaker 1: become available. We know that the higher percentage in our
15:42
Speaker 1: community's vaccinated. But yes, Katie, there's a range of both
15:44
Speaker 1: modeling and scenario testing. Costing is all the time. What's
15:47
Speaker 1: the plan? Have we got additional bids?
15:49
Speaker 2: That we're able to activate if required in our emergency
15:51
Speaker 2: wards and do we call in ozmat do we end
15:54
Speaker 2: up in a situation where, you know where we do
15:55
Speaker 2: need to set up a hospital next to the hospital.
15:59
Speaker 1: I guess she'd say, oh, Katie, there would be a
16:01
Speaker 1: range of different scenarios. But we when we had COVID,
16:03
Speaker 1: initially we had two separate eds. We treated people that
16:06
Speaker 1: were respiratory illness and pretending it was potentially COVID versus
16:11
Speaker 1: non respiratory illnesses. So we'd go back to that type
16:13
Speaker 1: of model to stop the infection. We've got our intensive
16:15
Speaker 1: care unit, we've got our cardiac care unit. We would
16:18
Speaker 1: then start to as we needed people in hospital on
16:20
Speaker 1: ventilators needing that one on one nursing care would have
16:23
Speaker 1: to split those resources so we're not merging COVID and
16:27
Speaker 1: non COVID patients. And then there's redundancies beyond that as
16:30
Speaker 1: we see those numbers potentially rise. We haven't ruled out
16:33
Speaker 1: setting up the field hospitals in car parks. We haven't
16:35
Speaker 1: ruled out It would depend where the virus was, For example,
16:38
Speaker 1: would it be in Darwin Alie Springs. We've got different.
16:41
Speaker 4: Options modeling Natsha, how many Territorians will get COVID once
16:46
Speaker 4: we open the borders.
16:48
Speaker 1: In terms of COVID, the more people that have vaccinated.
16:50
Speaker 4: Once we get to aidy quest according to your modeling,
16:53
Speaker 4: which is what I heard when I went to Queensland
16:56
Speaker 4: last week. They have modeling, they provide figures. What's our
16:59
Speaker 4: modeling showing us, Natasha.
17:01
Speaker 1: So we've been looking at We particularly looked at New
17:03
Speaker 1: South Wales and the case numbers in New South Wales.
17:05
Speaker 1: People will get COVID, but they're not a burden on
17:08
Speaker 1: the health system.
17:08
Speaker 4: If that's not my question, answer the question how many
17:11
Speaker 4: people will get COVID.
17:13
Speaker 1: So if people are vaccinated, they will get COVID, they'll
17:15
Speaker 1: have a relatively mild illness and they can be cared
17:18
Speaker 1: for in their home. It's when people are unvaccinated and
17:20
Speaker 1: they become very ill and they end up needing to
17:23
Speaker 1: go into hospital and going onto ventilators and receiving specialist treatment.
17:27
Speaker 1: That's when the burden on a health system comes. And
17:29
Speaker 1: that's why it's so important that people.
17:31
Speaker 4: Have agains of whether they hit hospital. They will be
17:33
Speaker 4: a burden on our health system because they will be
17:35
Speaker 4: sick to some extent.
17:38
Speaker 1: I'm still around health if people are.
17:43
Speaker 4: You've done. But the information about that modeling, which I
17:48
Speaker 4: think is really unfortunate because you're slamming people for not
17:51
Speaker 4: getting vaccinated. You've demonized anti vaxes and people who are
17:56
Speaker 4: against being told that they have to be vaccinated through
18:01
Speaker 4: a mandate, and yet you're not giving the public, the
18:04
Speaker 4: people of the territory, accurate information which other states are getting.
18:09
Speaker 4: We're not getting it. And I think this is where
18:10
Speaker 4: you're going very wrong, Natasha. You're not being completely open
18:15
Speaker 4: and transparent with territories. Give us the full picture. We're
18:18
Speaker 4: not stupid. Tell us what you're modeling shows us.
18:22
Speaker 5: It would actually encourage it would actually encourage people to
18:25
Speaker 5: get vaccinated.
18:26
Speaker 3: It might be a reality check.
18:27
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that if you know, like according to us
18:30
Speaker 2: getting to that eighty percent vaccination rate, that realistically that's
18:33
Speaker 2: probably what most of that modeling is going off. Fosy
18:36
Speaker 2: getting to the eighty percent vaccination rate and then assuming
18:38
Speaker 2: that you've got twenty percent of the population that's potentially
18:41
Speaker 2: unvaxed and if they do get sick, you know, trying
18:45
Speaker 2: to deal with it.
18:46
Speaker 1: Then So, Katie, we need people to be vaccinated. And
18:49
Speaker 1: I dispute completely. Rot Robin's just been saying about if
18:51
Speaker 1: people are vaccinated, they'll be a burden on the health system.
18:54
Speaker 4: To some extent, they will, because even people who are
18:57
Speaker 4: fully vaccinated will get sick with COVID. We know that,
19:01
Speaker 4: we've heard that across the world. Natasha, it's a fact, Robin.
19:04
Speaker 1: You don't give me an opportunity to answer the question.
19:06
Speaker 1: So you've clearly made up your mind on this. But
19:09
Speaker 1: what we need people to understand is the importance of
19:11
Speaker 1: being vaccinated. Absolutely, reassure them that our health staff have
19:15
Speaker 1: done a range of scenario testing. They have done a
19:18
Speaker 1: range of looking at different models. It's not just our
19:20
Speaker 1: health staff, it's our emergency staff right across the board.
19:22
Speaker 1: That's why we've got an emergency operations center set up
19:25
Speaker 1: with the Territory Controller at the head of it. And
19:27
Speaker 1: people should be reassured that the work has been done.
19:30
Speaker 1: But it will be a huge burden on our health
19:32
Speaker 1: system when COVID comes. It's inevitable that the virus will
19:35
Speaker 1: come into the territory.
19:36
Speaker 2: But you're confident that the health system that there's been
19:38
Speaker 2: enough planning, there is enough resources, we're bolsted enough that
19:42
Speaker 2: we're able to deal with it.
19:43
Speaker 1: If we get to the eighty percent vas right, we
19:45
Speaker 1: will care for Territorians. But the situation we're in with
19:48
Speaker 1: the vaccine is that, particularly in remote regional areas, remote communities,
19:54
Speaker 1: we have some communities where there's absolutely no coverage of
19:57
Speaker 1: the vaccine and that will be catastrophic when COVID into
20:00
Speaker 1: those communities.
20:01
Speaker 2: And I guess that that is when potentially we'd be
20:03
Speaker 2: able to see a field hospital set up by the
20:05
Speaker 2: likes of os matt Iff required potentially Katie.
20:08
Speaker 1: So when we first had the virus, we would we
20:10
Speaker 1: thought that we would take people out of communities. Since then,
20:14
Speaker 1: we've learned, particularly seeing it in remote communities or remote
20:18
Speaker 1: townships in western New South Wales, that we need to
20:21
Speaker 1: leave people there. But those resources that need to go
20:23
Speaker 1: into them are intense, and so we're preparing to provide that.
20:27
Speaker 2: All right, We're going to take a very short break.
20:28
Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine
20:30
Speaker 2: is three sixty. It is the week that was also
20:33
Speaker 2: broadcasting on AH in Alice Springs. You are listening to
20:37
Speaker 2: Mix one oh four point nine. It is the week
20:39
Speaker 2: that was also broadcasting on AH. We've got Leofanocchiaro, Matt Cunningham,
20:43
Speaker 2: Robin Lamley and Natasha Files in the studio.
20:46
Speaker 1: Now, Matt, you have a story today on the.
20:49
Speaker 2: Front page of the Northern terrat Trey News about the
20:52
Speaker 2: situation at dawn Dale. One assault every two days on
20:57
Speaker 2: the guards.
20:59
Speaker 6: Look, it's pretty serious situation, Katie, and I think it's
21:03
Speaker 6: fair to say that those Youth Justice officers are very
21:07
Speaker 6: concerned about how safe or unsafe their workplaces, and I
21:13
Speaker 6: would suggest that this is something of a cry for help.
21:16
Speaker 6: I mean, I have seen an email that was sent
21:18
Speaker 6: by Youth Justice officer to management where he is basically
21:24
Speaker 6: saying that they fear that someone will be killed. Now,
21:28
Speaker 6: I've only seen the data for the past two months,
21:31
Speaker 6: but in the past two months, twenty nine assaults on
21:36
Speaker 6: staff in two months, so that's almost one every two days,
21:40
Speaker 6: and a lot of them are quite serious, Katie. I
21:42
Speaker 6: mean we're talking about twenty of those being in the
21:47
Speaker 6: category one, which is the most serious category. Eleven of
21:49
Speaker 6: those that actually resulted in a physical injury to a
21:52
Speaker 6: staff member. So you know, I know that the department
21:56
Speaker 6: and the Minister are aware of this, and they say
21:58
Speaker 6: they're doing things to address the situation. But I think
22:00
Speaker 6: things are not good at Dondale, at the Marment.
22:02
Speaker 3: It's you know, sorry, it's not been good for a
22:04
Speaker 3: long time.
22:05
Speaker 5: Of course, when this government came in and watered down
22:08
Speaker 5: youth justice laws and Bower laws and rich use justice
22:11
Speaker 5: out of corrections and put in territory families, they also
22:14
Speaker 5: warded down the powers of corrections offices. Now, the big
22:18
Speaker 5: important point is that these the people working in our
22:21
Speaker 5: youth detention facilities are not corrections officers, their use justice officers.
22:25
Speaker 5: So their training is completely different and the powers government
22:28
Speaker 5: have given them are also completely different. And that's part
22:31
Speaker 5: of the reason why we say youth justice needs to
22:33
Speaker 5: go back to corrections, because these poor use justice officers,
22:36
Speaker 5: and when you speak to some of them, they are
22:38
Speaker 5: literally some are terrified.
22:40
Speaker 3: To go to work every day, Katie.
22:42
Speaker 5: I mean they've been given human shields, full length shields, helmets,
22:46
Speaker 5: protective right suits, punctured proof vests. I mean, it's out
22:50
Speaker 5: of control in there because the kids believe they're untouchable
22:53
Speaker 5: and the use justice officers haven't been given the right
22:56
Speaker 5: powers to be able to deal with them. It's not
22:58
Speaker 5: a sustainable situation.
23:00
Speaker 4: I looked at this story Katie in the early hours
23:03
Speaker 4: of the morning, and I thought, nothing's changed. And I
23:06
Speaker 4: don't mean to minimize the experience of these workers, but
23:09
Speaker 4: this is an ongoing story. I mean, there was an
23:13
Speaker 4: There's been incidents at the Alice Springs Juvenile Detention Center
23:17
Speaker 4: over the years described in similar ways as what Matt
23:20
Speaker 4: has put his story. So it hasn't been fixed. It's
23:24
Speaker 4: an ongoing problem.
23:25
Speaker 2: Well, and I think at the end of the day,
23:27
Speaker 2: you know, it is part of a broader discussion, and
23:29
Speaker 2: we had a discussion earlier in the week with two
23:31
Speaker 2: of our Assistant commissioners for the Darwin Region and also
23:34
Speaker 2: for Rural and Remote Policing and spoke about some of
23:38
Speaker 2: those numbers when it comes to youth crime. You know,
23:41
Speaker 2: Assistant Commissioner Craig Ladler had told us about a scenario
23:46
Speaker 2: where there was four nine year olds who'd been out
23:48
Speaker 2: on the street and he said, you know, you're talking
23:49
Speaker 2: about four nine year olds who'd broken into a home
23:52
Speaker 2: and there was no parent looking for them. You know, like,
23:54
Speaker 2: to me, that is unbelievable. I've got kids that are
23:57
Speaker 2: around that age and I just can't believe that a
23:59
Speaker 2: child would be out on the street at that time
24:01
Speaker 2: of the night. Well, I can believe it, but it's mortifying.
24:04
Speaker 2: So that was in Ala Springs. We also then, you know,
24:06
Speaker 2: we know that over the course of last weekend there
24:10
Speaker 2: were seven youths who were arrested in the end, but
24:12
Speaker 2: he told us, you know of some of these youths
24:14
Speaker 2: that have got criminal history of two hundred and forty,
24:18
Speaker 2: two hundred and eighteen, one hundred and ninety eight charges
24:21
Speaker 2: against their age. They're seventeen, they're sixteen, they're fifteen years old.
24:26
Speaker 2: You know, they're massive rap sheets, and you've just got
24:28
Speaker 2: a question, how on earth does it get to a
24:31
Speaker 2: situation where firstly you've got a nine year old who's
24:33
Speaker 2: on the street like that or four of them in fact,
24:36
Speaker 2: But then you know they're going through the system, and
24:39
Speaker 2: as much as everybody's saying the right things and we're
24:43
Speaker 2: you know, hoping that they're being diverted and that they're
24:45
Speaker 2: going through a program.
24:47
Speaker 1: Clearly something is not working.
24:49
Speaker 2: When you've then got a child, a teenager, you know whatever,
24:53
Speaker 2: whether they're fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, who's got a criminal history,
24:56
Speaker 2: you know, with two hundred and forty charges against them.
24:59
Speaker 3: Well, there's two May problems here.
25:00
Speaker 5: One of them is obviously what is going on in
25:03
Speaker 5: the care and protection of children like that. That's a
25:06
Speaker 5: huge part of it. If you've got nine year olds
25:08
Speaker 5: out on the street, where is territory families? If you've
25:10
Speaker 5: got kids who've got rap sheets of over two hundred offences,
25:14
Speaker 5: where is territory families? The next part of that is,
25:18
Speaker 5: then how do we have fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year olds
25:21
Speaker 5: still allowed to be out on the street to break
25:23
Speaker 5: in and cause more destruction in people's lives when they
25:26
Speaker 5: do have rap sheets of two hundred and fifty.
25:28
Speaker 3: So you know, it's a two pronged approach here.
25:31
Speaker 5: One is right from the start, this is a care
25:33
Speaker 5: and protection issue, and then the second one is, at
25:35
Speaker 5: some point you have to stop these repeat offenders from
25:39
Speaker 5: perpetrating more crimes and creating more victims. People don't deserve
25:43
Speaker 5: to be violated. And you know, every child deserves a
25:47
Speaker 5: good life. We all want these kids to have a
25:48
Speaker 5: great life, but you know they can't be allowed equally
25:51
Speaker 5: to go and destroy other people's lives.
25:53
Speaker 2: Well, and you know then we had Assistant Commissioner of
25:56
Speaker 2: Greater Dawa, Martin Dole, so that sometimes custody is actually
25:59
Speaker 2: the same place for some of these youths.
26:02
Speaker 1: That in itself is unbelievable as well.
26:04
Speaker 2: You know, I said that remand is not the place
26:06
Speaker 2: for these kids, but it becomes an option of last
26:08
Speaker 2: resort if they're still committing these types of offenses.
26:11
Speaker 1: Where else is there and who else takes action?
26:14
Speaker 2: If it's not the police on the street responding to
26:16
Speaker 2: these matters and taking these children to a safe place,
26:19
Speaker 2: it'd said on the show, But then there has to
26:21
Speaker 2: be other options, like where are these supports.
26:24
Speaker 4: That we've been talking about this stuff for years? What's
26:27
Speaker 4: changed over the last five years? Not much? And at
26:31
Speaker 4: this point in any discussion around children being on the
26:35
Speaker 4: street at night, particularly and Alice Springs, my only answer
26:38
Speaker 4: is bring in a kind curfew. Get these kids, as
26:42
Speaker 4: Leah said, take a child protection approach, get them off
26:46
Speaker 4: the street, give them a bed, give them a feed,
26:49
Speaker 4: and find out what the hell's going on.
26:51
Speaker 3: You know, the follow up just isn't happening.
26:53
Speaker 5: You know, if we've got kids, you know in Alice Springs,
26:56
Speaker 5: you've got the bus, you've got all these different services,
26:58
Speaker 5: So what happens in them? You know, things obviously happened
27:01
Speaker 5: during the night, we're picking up kids, trying to take
27:03
Speaker 5: them home, et cetera. Where's the follow up the next
27:05
Speaker 5: day with the parents with the custom you know, whoever's
27:08
Speaker 5: looking at are meant to be looking after that child,
27:10
Speaker 5: And what's happening in that space, Like how can a
27:13
Speaker 5: child be allowed to be out on the street repeatedly,
27:15
Speaker 5: be allowed to rack up two hundred and forty offences?
27:18
Speaker 5: And you know that fifteen year old with the two
27:20
Speaker 5: hundred and forty offences was ten years old when when
27:23
Speaker 5: labor came to power, and you know, you want to
27:25
Speaker 5: talk about generational change, Well, five years of that child's
27:30
Speaker 5: life are gone in the blink of a night. And
27:33
Speaker 5: how many victims has that one child caused?
27:35
Speaker 6: And I would make a point CODEO that I think
27:37
Speaker 6: I've made sort of until I'm blue in the face.
27:40
Speaker 6: But you know, having sat through pretty much every day
27:43
Speaker 6: of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children,
27:47
Speaker 6: that Royal Commission spent ninety five percent of its time
27:50
Speaker 6: on the detention of children. And that's what those poor
27:52
Speaker 6: youth justice officers are dealing with the namily and it
27:55
Speaker 6: tacked on the protection of children as a sort of
27:58
Speaker 6: last minute after thought, and what we're dealing with in
28:01
Speaker 6: our youth detention system is a failure in our ability
28:05
Speaker 6: to protect those children. And that's what you see play
28:07
Speaker 6: on the streets of Alice Springs and Darwin and all
28:10
Speaker 6: over everywhere else.
28:11
Speaker 1: And it's incredibly complex, Katie. We acknowledge that the correlation
28:14
Speaker 1: between child protection and youth justice and the examples that
28:17
Speaker 1: have just been talked about highlight that it is a
28:20
Speaker 1: different system. The Minister in that space has been doing
28:22
Speaker 1: an enormous body of work. We have a fundamental difference
28:25
Speaker 1: around the in terms of the facility. We believe it
28:28
Speaker 1: should sit with territory families. We've put in place measures.
28:31
Speaker 1: It's very concerning to hear the points that Matt has
28:34
Speaker 1: raised in that article around the safety. Everyone has the
28:38
Speaker 1: right to go to work and be safe at work.
28:40
Speaker 1: We are building that purpose built facility, but I know
28:43
Speaker 1: the minister.
28:44
Speaker 2: Where's the tender at with that and where's it at
28:46
Speaker 2: in terms of being constructed.
28:47
Speaker 1: I think it's well under construction.
28:49
Speaker 3: I would have to refer to ministers sixteen election prom I.
28:53
Speaker 6: Did ask the Minister yesterday when I interviewed her, and
28:56
Speaker 6: she said they expect it to be completed by the
28:59
Speaker 6: end of next year. But it has thirty beds fourteen
29:02
Speaker 6: months away.
29:02
Speaker 3: And how much is it costing. It's fifty or seventy
29:04
Speaker 3: million for thirty beds million dollars, it's going to be
29:07
Speaker 3: pretty plush.
29:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, just sitting there laughing just shows her.
29:13
Speaker 5: Completely complish, shows how outrageous your government is on youth justice.
29:17
Speaker 5: I mean, fifty or seventy million whatever it is for
29:19
Speaker 5: thirty beds in an election commitment you made in twenty sixteen,
29:24
Speaker 5: just highlight it's the extent of your incompetence and there's
29:26
Speaker 5: no will to tackle this issue and put territory ins
29:29
Speaker 5: first and put the rights of victims above the rights offenders.
29:32
Speaker 1: It does seem to me.
29:33
Speaker 2: And I know we always talk about other programs and
29:35
Speaker 2: that kind of thing, and I know that the government
29:37
Speaker 2: has certainly said that is what they're wanting to focus on,
29:39
Speaker 2: you know, like wanting to have these other rehabilitation programs.
29:43
Speaker 2: Do we actually have enough of those operating at the moment,
29:45
Speaker 2: and what is the success rate you know when we
29:47
Speaker 2: talk about kids going through them. I know you're not
29:49
Speaker 2: the minister, Natasha, so you probably don't have all of
29:52
Speaker 2: that detail. But I do wonder with some of these
29:55
Speaker 2: different programs that we're talking about, are they successful, how
29:58
Speaker 2: many kids are we sending through them? What is the
30:00
Speaker 2: repeat you know, what is the rate of reoffending once
30:04
Speaker 2: they're out or do they end up on the straight
30:06
Speaker 2: and narrow. And if we've got some of those programs
30:09
Speaker 2: that do actually work well, why aren't we trying to
30:11
Speaker 2: get every kid going through them?
30:12
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and there isn't enough. There's a lot of talk.
30:16
Speaker 5: I can't one hundred percent remember it, but the police
30:18
Speaker 5: and your report just came out and it talked about
30:21
Speaker 5: victim offender conferencing and there's a follow up at six
30:24
Speaker 5: months to see how many kids are not offending within
30:28
Speaker 5: that six month period, and I.
30:30
Speaker 3: Just can't remember the percentage.
30:31
Speaker 5: But then there's a follow up at twelve months, and
30:33
Speaker 5: I think at six months there was about one hundred
30:35
Speaker 5: and forty kids who got followed up, but at twelve
30:38
Speaker 5: months only twenty nine got followed up. So the police
30:41
Speaker 5: ministers using the statistic that seventy she often says, seventy
30:44
Speaker 5: nine percent of offenders who go through victim offender conferencing
30:48
Speaker 5: don't go on to reoffend. I just need people to
30:50
Speaker 5: know that's seventy nine percent of twenty nine people.
30:53
Speaker 3: You know, it's not.
30:54
Speaker 5: The full cohort of youths who are going through victim
30:57
Speaker 5: offender conferencing. So we've got some figures from the government
31:00
Speaker 5: that sure might be factually correct, but they're painted to
31:04
Speaker 5: territories in a way that's very misleading.
31:06
Speaker 4: The Minister for Territory Families was asked about youth camps
31:09
Speaker 4: in budget estimates in June and I heard her say
31:15
Speaker 4: that there were options being considered and followed up, But
31:19
Speaker 4: in actual reality, I think they still send most kids
31:24
Speaker 4: down south to the Flinders Youth Camp down there, and
31:28
Speaker 4: there are still very few facilities in the Northern Territory
31:31
Speaker 4: to provide that sort of boot camp youth camphabilitation.
31:35
Speaker 2: Look impression, I did get the impression from Alice Springs
31:39
Speaker 2: that there is actually a real will from some of you,
31:42
Speaker 2: from some of the elders that do actually really want
31:45
Speaker 2: to try and help get these kids on the right track,
31:47
Speaker 2: don't you know.
31:48
Speaker 1: I certainly don't have the artists school to run.
31:50
Speaker 4: I think most of us can reflect on you the
31:53
Speaker 4: examples in the territory of youth camps that have failed
31:56
Speaker 4: there's been problems throughout the years, so it's not an
31:59
Speaker 4: easy gig. But we've heard a lot of talk and
32:01
Speaker 4: no action in this space.
32:03
Speaker 5: I think, okay, well you've got that done quickly if
32:05
Speaker 5: I can, just everyone knows. So the six months follow up,
32:08
Speaker 5: one hundred and forty three kids didn't were asked and
32:11
Speaker 5: seventy four percent of those didn't reoffend. At the twelve
32:14
Speaker 5: month follow up, only twenty nine kids were followed up
32:17
Speaker 5: and sixty nine percent didn't go on to reoffend. So
32:20
Speaker 5: again you've got to question why such a tiny percentage
32:23
Speaker 5: of those kids were followed up at the twelve months mark,
32:26
Speaker 5: and for the government to use that as some sort
32:28
Speaker 5: of figure to show it's working just doesn't hit the mark.
32:30
Speaker 1: Well, we are going to take a very short break.
32:32
Speaker 2: You are listening to mix Onellow four point nine is
32:34
Speaker 2: three sixty It is the week that was. You are
32:37
Speaker 2: listening to mix Mollow four point nine. It is sixteen
32:39
Speaker 2: minutes away from ten o'clock. Now throughout the week, as
32:42
Speaker 2: we know, Parliament sat, like I always say on.
32:45
Speaker 1: This show, I listened to it. So you don't have
32:47
Speaker 1: to our listeners and.
32:48
Speaker 2: You don't have torture because, let's be honest, there was
32:52
Speaker 2: a lot of carry.
32:53
Speaker 1: On to be honest with you.
32:55
Speaker 6: Interesting.
32:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, can you give me time.
33:01
Speaker 1: That's because you're missing an action. You know.
33:04
Speaker 2: There was some Yeah, there was some interesting things happened.
33:06
Speaker 2: But can I just confirm did Steve Edgington, the Member
33:10
Speaker 2: for Berkley, end up getting referred to parliamentary privileges over
33:14
Speaker 2: Facebook posts?
33:15
Speaker 1: It did happen in the end, didn't.
33:16
Speaker 5: So the government it did. It was extraordinary. The Privileges
33:21
Speaker 5: Committee is the disciplinary committee for lack of a better word,
33:25
Speaker 5: of the Parliament. It is reserved for, you know, grievous
33:28
Speaker 5: breaches of contempt of parliament and things like that. And
33:32
Speaker 5: the vindictive Labor government made an outrageous political stunt in
33:39
Speaker 5: which they referred the Member for Berkley to privileges for
33:42
Speaker 5: an interjection during debate.
33:45
Speaker 4: Three word interjection at that.
33:47
Speaker 3: I think it was actually a two words what you say?
33:51
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to say? What he said?
33:52
Speaker 3: I think the words were they did.
33:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, something like that. Clicking in mind that the Member
34:00
Speaker 4: for Blaine was referred to privileges for being a party
34:03
Speaker 4: to the alleged so called cocaine sex scandal.
34:08
Speaker 2: Well, and following on that speech that he'd been delivering
34:11
Speaker 2: in parliament. So can I just ask, I mean, what
34:14
Speaker 2: kind of precedent does it sit there when somebody is
34:17
Speaker 2: thin referred to two privileges over Facebook posts.
34:21
Speaker 3: Now it was an interjection, so it was.
34:23
Speaker 1: Over the interjection.
34:24
Speaker 6: Why was he referred to privileges? Yea, Natasha, what was
34:28
Speaker 6: he referred to privileges?
34:29
Speaker 1: So Steve Edgington was referred to Privileges Committee for misleading parliament, Katie,
34:33
Speaker 1: and that's now matter before privileges.
34:34
Speaker 6: So what did he say that misled the parliament.
34:37
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into the detail. I'm the
34:39
Speaker 1: chair of the Privileges Committee. It's a matter before that
34:41
Speaker 1: committee now, so it would be inappropriate for me to
34:43
Speaker 1: comment further.
34:43
Speaker 6: But he said three words, Yes.
34:45
Speaker 1: He was referred for misleading the parliament.
34:47
Speaker 6: Well, I could give you a thousand examples of when
34:50
Speaker 6: politicians on both sides mislead the parliament. I mean seriously,
34:54
Speaker 6: I mean you said this week I saw on the
34:57
Speaker 6: channel Line that the rivers of greg started flowing after
35:01
Speaker 6: the SEALP scraped the BDR. That is misleading parliament. The
35:05
Speaker 6: rivers of greg are flowing more strongly. Now than they've
35:08
Speaker 6: ever flowed before. Wouldn't that be something for which you
35:11
Speaker 6: could be then referred to privileges?
35:12
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if the Sealp's got the numbers there, Matt,
35:15
Speaker 2: don't problem, that's the problem.
35:19
Speaker 4: It's a political stunt. I must admit. I was appalled,
35:22
Speaker 4: absolutely appalled by what happened in Parliament around this referral
35:26
Speaker 4: to privileges. I've never seen anything like it. As Matt said,
35:30
Speaker 4: I could write a book about all the bloody ridiculous
35:32
Speaker 4: things that I've so called I've been claimed to have
35:35
Speaker 4: said and done over the last ten or eleven years.
35:38
Speaker 4: This was pitiful. It was instigated by Chancey Paig, the
35:41
Speaker 4: Minister for Housing and other things Central Australia Economic Reconstruction.
35:46
Speaker 4: He was being very precious and it was a political
35:49
Speaker 4: stunt to put Steve Edgington in his box to effectively
35:53
Speaker 4: gag him.
35:55
Speaker 2: I mean, is this like does it set a precedent
35:58
Speaker 2: though in terms of saying something in Parliament using for
36:02
Speaker 2: your words there are three words in Parliament to then
36:04
Speaker 2: ending up getting referred to privileges. Like I thought, privileges
36:08
Speaker 2: was something that was considered to be incredibly seriously.
36:15
Speaker 6: Of misleading the Parliament. I mean the k the former
36:19
Speaker 6: IKA Commissioner was referred to privileges because there were allegations
36:24
Speaker 6: that he had misled the Budget Essence Committee. You know,
36:29
Speaker 6: not because he'd made some flippant remark to.
36:32
Speaker 1: Some of our listeners this morning.
36:33
Speaker 2: They might be thinking, I don't even know what parliamentary
36:35
Speaker 2: privileges is.
36:36
Speaker 1: How does this impact my life?
36:38
Speaker 2: But I guess the thing is, you know you're talking
36:39
Speaker 2: about something happening in parliament that then he's going to
36:42
Speaker 2: take up those resources. It is going to mean that
36:45
Speaker 2: we're going through a situation where Steve Edgington presumably has
36:49
Speaker 2: to front up and explain himself to the Privileges Committee
36:53
Speaker 2: over what a lot of us kind of can't understand
36:57
Speaker 2: why he's going through that process or.
36:59
Speaker 1: If it's actually serious.
37:00
Speaker 4: Keep in mind, Katie, that the government has the numbers
37:03
Speaker 4: in the on the Privileges Committee. We've got Natasha Files
37:06
Speaker 4: the chair of the Privileges Committee. Whatever the decision of
37:09
Speaker 4: the Privileges Committee will be in favor of the government
37:12
Speaker 4: they control and operate. It happened to him Steve could
37:17
Speaker 4: get into a whole world in trouble.
37:19
Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure Privileges can even I mean it's extreme,
37:22
Speaker 5: but I'm pretty sure they can even do six months
37:25
Speaker 5: in prison.
37:25
Speaker 6: What well the chair of the Privileges Committee is and
37:29
Speaker 6: the Privileges Committee send someone to jail for six months.
37:32
Speaker 1: So it's difficult because there's a number of matters before
37:34
Speaker 1: the Privileges Committee right now. But the Privileges Committee does
37:37
Speaker 1: have the ability to impose those types of sanctions.
37:41
Speaker 6: So why has he been referred to Privileges for what
37:44
Speaker 6: appears to just be a run of the mill comment
37:46
Speaker 6: in power?
37:47
Speaker 1: I can't comment, but he misled the parliament is why
37:49
Speaker 1: he's been.
37:50
Speaker 6: He allegedly misled the Parliament. He misled. Did the Privileges
37:54
Speaker 6: chair just say.
37:54
Speaker 1: That he did? Is why he was referred to that committee.
38:00
Speaker 6: You've got to admit that is absolutely absurd and over
38:03
Speaker 6: the top, is it not.
38:04
Speaker 1: I can't comment, but he's been referred and so to
38:06
Speaker 1: only out which the Privileges Committee. It certainly seems that.
38:09
Speaker 4: I hope, Natasha, you've got the sense as the chair
38:12
Speaker 4: of this committee to throw the matter out on that night.
38:16
Speaker 1: We might take it.
38:16
Speaker 2: It's called integral, we might take a very short break.
38:19
Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one, Oh, four point nine
38:21
Speaker 2: three sixty. Well, we've only got a few minutes left.
38:24
Speaker 2: You are listening to the week that was in the
38:26
Speaker 2: studio Leafanocciaro, Matt Cunningham, Robin Lamley and Natasha Files. And
38:30
Speaker 2: like I said earlier, it's been a busy, busy week.
38:33
Speaker 2: And the Deputy Chief Minister, Nicole Madison actually revealed throughout
38:37
Speaker 2: the week that the Northern Territory government, well we've still
38:40
Speaker 2: got an eye watering deficit of more than one billion
38:43
Speaker 2: dollars last financial year. But in that speech in Tuesday night,
38:47
Speaker 2: apparently it's not as bad as we thought.
38:49
Speaker 1: Day said that.
38:51
Speaker 2: Minister Madison said that the one point one to three
38:53
Speaker 2: billion dollar shortfall in the twenty twenty one twenty twenty
38:57
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one financial year was actually one point three
39:00
Speaker 2: billion dollars less than the gloomy forecast mood during the pandemic.
39:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, well it's still horrific, right Katie. And what we
39:07
Speaker 5: so we've got an eight hundred and thirty three million
39:09
Speaker 5: dollar deficit, which means the Gunner government putting eight hundred
39:12
Speaker 5: and thirty three million dollars on the credit card, more
39:14
Speaker 5: than what the territory can bring in.
39:16
Speaker 3: No household or business can sustain that.
39:18
Speaker 5: But they all gave each other a big cuddle and
39:20
Speaker 5: high five for doing such a great job with a
39:22
Speaker 5: six point.
39:22
Speaker 3: Seven billion dollars.
39:27
Speaker 5: The reality is, the reality is it was shifting. It
39:31
Speaker 5: was shifting maneuvers. About four hundred million dollars of that
39:35
Speaker 5: was just in projects that got moved out of the
39:39
Speaker 5: out of the reporting period, so they've been kicked down
39:41
Speaker 5: the road, which means which means construction jobs have been
39:47
Speaker 5: pushed aside. About sixty four million dollars is in increased GST.
39:51
Speaker 5: So thank you very much federal government for that. There
39:54
Speaker 5: was zero This is a clincher, Matt. There was zero
39:57
Speaker 5: dollars saved in policy refores. So in actual nothing the
40:01
Speaker 5: government actually intended to do delivered any savings. And I
40:05
Speaker 5: think that's the hallmark. And in actual fact that was
40:07
Speaker 5: negative thirty five million dollars because the Gunner government are
40:11
Speaker 5: giving thirty five million dollars to use criminals instead of
40:14
Speaker 5: putting victims first.
40:15
Speaker 6: Well, a handy increase in GST, but I'm just wondering
40:18
Speaker 6: whether the Deputy Chief Minister and former Treasurer needs to
40:22
Speaker 6: be referred to privileges for her previous comments to the
40:25
Speaker 6: Parliament that our GST was being cut millions of dollars,
40:29
Speaker 6: It actually wasn't. Our relative share was increasing. Is that
40:32
Speaker 6: something that was misleading the Parliament and should therefore be
40:35
Speaker 6: referred to.
40:36
Speaker 1: I think we decline in our GST, but we've.
40:39
Speaker 3: Seen in this I'm getting straight onto it, mack.
40:43
Speaker 1: GST revenue because we've seen across Australia a stronger growth
40:47
Speaker 1: in the economy. But it shows that we're managing our
40:49
Speaker 1: economic responsibilities at the same time.
40:52
Speaker 2: I did note this morning that the ABC, I believe
40:55
Speaker 2: ABC News was running a story that the public service
40:58
Speaker 2: has continued to grow over thee I think it's over
41:00
Speaker 2: the last financial year. I'm assuming it's come out of
41:02
Speaker 2: the annual report that the public service has continued to grow.
41:06
Speaker 1: Matt correct me if I'm wrong, But I thought it was.
41:08
Speaker 2: A recommendation of the Langolent Review that the public service
41:11
Speaker 2: would not grow.
41:13
Speaker 6: It was a promise of the government in fact. But
41:17
Speaker 6: that may may have been misleading the Parliament and privileges,
41:21
Speaker 6: but I think that they threw they threw that cap well,
41:26
Speaker 6: they had a freeze and then they theys and then
41:29
Speaker 6: they because the freeze didn't work, and then the cap
41:32
Speaker 6: hasn't worked, and now I think they said, well, we've
41:34
Speaker 6: got a pandemic, so bugger it, we'll just have a
41:36
Speaker 6: We'll just.
41:37
Speaker 5: Have more and more, and there, you know, we've got
41:39
Speaker 5: You know, the Deputy Chief Minister always likes to spreak
41:42
Speaker 5: minds and jobs, jobs, jobs as their favorite little cheap slogan.
41:46
Speaker 3: But we only don't talk over the top of me.
41:51
Speaker 5: One million dollars in additional taxation or revenue to the
41:55
Speaker 5: territory for a mining which shows that their commitment around
41:59
Speaker 5: that industry is completely hollow. I mean, this government is
42:02
Speaker 5: all smoke and mirrors and nothing else. The substance is
42:06
Speaker 5: just not there, and it's really disappointing.
42:09
Speaker 4: I've opened over the last five years in the Northern
42:11
Speaker 4: Territory one. So despite all the crap that comes out
42:16
Speaker 4: of the mouth of the Deputy Chief Minister, the mining Minister,
42:20
Speaker 4: there's a lot of speculation, a lot of big talk,
42:22
Speaker 4: but not a lot of action. There was nothing to
42:24
Speaker 4: get excited about in the Treasurer's report that came out.
42:27
Speaker 5: I just think for zero dollars to be attributed to
42:30
Speaker 5: policy change just shows they have absolutely no commitment to
42:33
Speaker 5: budget repairs we are.
42:34
Speaker 2: Going to have to wrap up. But one question I
42:36
Speaker 2: do want to ask Folesy. This one's actually for you,
42:38
Speaker 2: because earlier in the week we got a phone call
42:40
Speaker 2: from a nurse who has graduated from her nursing degree.
42:45
Speaker 2: She's done all of her practicals, but cannot get a
42:48
Speaker 2: job in the Northern Territory at the moment. She Reckon says,
42:50
Speaker 2: about two hundred odd grad nurses who are unable to
42:54
Speaker 2: get work at the moment. Why are we not utilizing
42:57
Speaker 2: these graduate nurses that are there ready to get started.
43:01
Speaker 2: They are super keen. They're able to get work into state,
43:04
Speaker 2: but not here in the territory.
43:05
Speaker 1: So Katie On need to get that individual's details. And
43:08
Speaker 1: I don't know her specific case, but we've got a
43:10
Speaker 1: commitment from the Department of Health that every grad nurse
43:13
Speaker 1: that is eligible, so we need to of course made
43:14
Speaker 1: sure that they have completed their requirements will get a
43:17
Speaker 1: position within NTI Health. We know that the graduate program
43:19
Speaker 1: is a fantastic way to have a pathway for growing
43:22
Speaker 1: our own and that number has increased, so be happy
43:26
Speaker 1: to look into the specific.
43:27
Speaker 3: But that's different.
43:28
Speaker 5: How many graduates are able to go into that program
43:31
Speaker 5: that's quite different to how many people graduate.
43:33
Speaker 1: Fincially, because you've got an opinion on everything when you
43:35
Speaker 1: don't have any factual base for it. I was about
43:37
Speaker 1: to say to you, touching over two hundred gradness there.
43:41
Speaker 1: It's over two hundred grad nurses that we expect coming
43:44
Speaker 1: into the program this year. But it is important that
43:47
Speaker 1: they are eligible, so you know, I don't know if
43:49
Speaker 1: they haven't met all the criteria. I don't know that
43:51
Speaker 1: circumstances either.
43:52
Speaker 2: Because she was still able to get a job into state,
43:55
Speaker 2: and she'd said to us she didn't want to be identified,
43:57
Speaker 2: but she had said that there was certainly others as
44:00
Speaker 2: well who are in the same situation who'd actually gone
44:03
Speaker 2: into state for work because they couldn't get it here.
44:06
Speaker 3: In the territory dunting through CDU.
44:08
Speaker 1: Through CDU, Katie.
44:09
Speaker 4: Real lives a problem.
44:11
Speaker 1: Okay, well, Katie, we made a commitment though, that's all
44:15
Speaker 1: the grad nurses coming through. If they would like a
44:17
Speaker 1: job in the territory and they're eligible, that will provide
44:19
Speaker 1: them for it. Because we know that it's a really
44:21
Speaker 1: great pathway to grow our own workforce.
44:23
Speaker 2: We are going to have to leave it there. Thank
44:24
Speaker 2: you all, so very much for your time this morning.
44:26
Speaker 2: Leaf and Oki, thank.
44:27
Speaker 3: You, thank you.
44:28
Speaker 5: And it's the last Palmerston Market so come down support it.
44:31
Speaker 3: It'll be great. I'll see you there.
44:32
Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham from Sky News, thank you.
44:35
Speaker 6: Thanks Katie. And there's a big day on at the
44:37
Speaker 6: Warata Footy Club tomorrow, big function from twelve o'clock to
44:40
Speaker 6: raise money for the te Wee Bombers who've been struggling
44:43
Speaker 6: a bit. But the TV Bombers first home game in
44:45
Speaker 6: Darwin that we played at Gardens Over fantastic.
44:48
Speaker 1: That'll be a good one, no doubt about it. Robin Lamley,
44:50
Speaker 1: thank you for being here this morning.
44:51
Speaker 4: Thank you, Katie, Darby Day, the Alice Springs to get
44:56
Speaker 4: us down. It's going to be a party.
44:57
Speaker 2: Who I have told the story I won sixteen thousand
45:01
Speaker 2: dollars at the Allie Spring Races when I was a
45:03
Speaker 2: young whipper snapper.
45:04
Speaker 5: That's it.
45:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a very long time ago.
45:07
Speaker 2: Accidentally accidentally, Yes, Natasha Philes, thank you very much for
45:12
Speaker 2: your thanks everyone.
45:14
Speaker 1: Thank you. You are listening to Mix one O four
45:17
Speaker 1: point nine