Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Namatjira Bill Yan fears it’s only a matter of time before more lives are lost after another weekend of chaos and mayhem in Alice Springs

Transcript

Member for Namatjira Bill Yan fears it’s only a matter of time before more lives are lost after another weekend of chaos and mayhem in Alice Springs · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On Friday night. Well, a terrible night in Alice Springs,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a terrible weekend by the sounds of things. Shortly before
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: eleven o'clock on Friday, a security company notified the police
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: after a commercial building on Bath Street was unlawfully ended
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and five cars were stolen. The public reported multiple incidents
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: relating to those vehicles driving radically around the CBD Police
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  Speaker 1: CCTV continued to monitor and capture the happenings. The vehicles
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: all continued well and contained, I should say, several youths,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: sometimes hanging out of the car and attempting to swerve
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: at police before driving away at speed. Now joining me
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  Speaker 1: is the member for Namajira, Bill Yan, down in Alice Springs.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Bill, Good morning Katie.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: How are you not too bad? Bill?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Another shocking weekend by the sounds of things.
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  Speaker 2: Oh look, it was a weekend of chaos and mayhem
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  Speaker 2: in our springs from what we've seen those cars from
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  Speaker 2: the building next to my office there on that Thursday
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  Speaker 2: Friday night. And this is what I think the third
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: or fourth pond that these guys have been hit and
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  Speaker 2: had vehicle stolen. And then yeah, of course, then mayhem
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  Speaker 2: in the CBD again. Only just last night, Katie, we
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  Speaker 2: had a Congress got hit again by U's four vehicle
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  Speaker 2: stole on their one crash.
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  Speaker 3: In the CBD.
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  Speaker 2: Police managed to get the other three with the tigre
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  Speaker 2: deflation devices before they got too far out of town.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: So sorry, built four more cars stolen last night.
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  Speaker 3: Last night from Congress.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, one would all driven in train into
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  Speaker 2: the CBD to go on there Mary Mayhem yet again.
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  Speaker 2: But I said one crash because they get ready driving
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  Speaker 2: and police managed to stop the other three.
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  Speaker 3: So it's not getting any better, Katie.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: In fact, if anything, is probably getting worse. And this
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  Speaker 2: is on the back of what you guys had up
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  Speaker 2: in daw And over the weekend. Some of us always
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  Speaker 2: coming out of there. It's beyond belief. How somebody hasn't
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  Speaker 2: been killed yet. Is it's just by sheer bloody luck, Absolutely,
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  Speaker 2: sheer luck, because something really bad is going to happen soon,
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  Speaker 2: and I hate you'll see what they are come is.
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  Speaker 3: Going to be.
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  Speaker 1: And Bill, obviously we have seen something really bad happen
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  Speaker 1: at you know, just two weeks ago with the death
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  Speaker 1: of Decklan Lavity. But from what you were saying, you're
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: talking more you know about these cars being on the road,
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  Speaker 1: aren't you.
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  Speaker 2: Well we had it here months two years ago, said
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  Speaker 2: Shane Powell killed them the main intersection here in town
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  Speaker 2: by kids in a stolen car. Not much was sort
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  Speaker 2: of done about that. There was no particularly any law changes.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: There wasn't many, There wasn't any outcomes from that. Of course, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: Decklan Lavity just a few weeks ago the death there
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  Speaker 2: in the workplace, it said, we're going from from bad
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  Speaker 2: to worse, and I said, it's a matter of time
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  Speaker 2: before again something really bad is going to happen.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: And then it'll take something bad happening game we set
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  Speaker 3: it in.
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  Speaker 2: Part of it. It'll take that for government to finally
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  Speaker 2: come out and make some further changes. It seems it
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: has to be a crisis point and someone paying the
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  Speaker 2: ultimate price for government to actually act. Well, it shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: have to get to that, and Bill.
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  Speaker 1: It sort of makes a mockery, doesn't it. Of the
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  Speaker 1: fact that vehicles weren't included in the list of weapons.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose no.
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  Speaker 2: And the vehicle vehicles probably one of the most dangerous
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  Speaker 2: weapons that you can probably think of, because it can
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  Speaker 2: it's not just an individual that may get killed.
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  Speaker 3: It could be an entire family.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine running into a bus load of people forcing off
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  Speaker 2: the rate. You can't begin to imagine what some of
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  Speaker 2: those outcomes may be. And that family in Darwen who
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  Speaker 2: were effectively carjacked, imagine if that had offender how to
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  Speaker 2: jump in the car with those people and took off
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  Speaker 2: down Tiger brand with them in it and then crash,
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  Speaker 2: Well what would have happened Katie's fright ning. Luckily that
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  Speaker 2: family got out and it was only the fool in
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  Speaker 2: the car, but he nearly killed somebody else. Yeh, lucky
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  Speaker 2: they only got away with the laceration for anam. It
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  Speaker 2: could have been just so much worse.
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  Speaker 1: So Bell with the incidents from the weekend in Alys
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  Speaker 1: by the sounds of things, five cars or was it
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  Speaker 1: more on Friday night, Thursday night and Friday night.
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  Speaker 2: I think there was over five cars, Cadie. And then
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  Speaker 2: they said you've had the other fast the other fall
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  Speaker 2: last night, so we're coming up to round a taitle
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  Speaker 2: of ten or twelve again over I suppose that Thursday, Friday,
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  Speaker 2: Saturday and Sunday period plus the numerous break ins. Look
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  Speaker 2: the rock thrawin still goes on. I got home Saturday morning,
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  Speaker 2: and my daughter's telling me of an incident where her
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  Speaker 2: car got hit by a rock at the same intersection
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  Speaker 2: where Matt got hit in the eye by rock. She
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  Speaker 2: was on the way home late at night from work
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  Speaker 2: and she's coming up that intersection. He's a bang on
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  Speaker 2: the car and seas hi if they're throwing rocks as.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you are a politician, you're a member
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  Speaker 1: of the community, but made as a dad, that must
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  Speaker 1: make you feel pretty concerned worrying about your daughter getting
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  Speaker 1: home from work safely.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's right, and my daughter works out of town.
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  Speaker 2: She's always coming home later. No, that's just the nature around.
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  Speaker 2: So she's got to run the gaunt look through the
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  Speaker 2: gap and through those intersections every day coming home from work.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, I worry, And I said she worries too.
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  Speaker 2: That at the end of the day, you stop and think,
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  Speaker 2: what can we do. We've done everything, we've we've spoken,
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  Speaker 2: we've yelled from the rooftops. Nothing nothing is happening. So
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  Speaker 2: and that's where government needs to step up. They've got
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  Speaker 2: the ability to do something about this. They need to
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  Speaker 2: support our support our police and give them the resources
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  Speaker 2: they need to be able to address some of these issues.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of supporting the police, what do you make of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the news from over the weekend. And we spoke to
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  Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham from Sky News a little bit earlier this
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  Speaker 1: morning that the police Commissioner, Jamie Chalker, was well, he's
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  Speaker 1: been asked to resign by the Northern Territory government. Obviously
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  Speaker 1: no government minister out yet this morning to confirm that,
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  Speaker 1: but Sky News has revealed this information over the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the governor to come out and tell us
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  Speaker 2: what's going on. The people of the territory are all
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  Speaker 2: hearing this story, but the governor effectively mum on it.
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  Speaker 2: They're not saying a word. Even people within the police
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  Speaker 2: don't know what's going on. We're talking about restoring integrity
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  Speaker 2: and certainly within our police force, the governor are not
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  Speaker 2: really doing much about that at this point in time.
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  Speaker 2: I've heard the stories, as has everybody else, that the
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  Speaker 2: commissioner is on indefinitely, it is expected to go when
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  Speaker 2: he's been asked to resign, but we're not hearing anything
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  Speaker 2: from government. So it just it's more uncertainty in the community,
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  Speaker 2: particularly after the weekend of crime that we've seen. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: government needs out providing that certainty do every territory in
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  Speaker 2: that our police force is supported, that they've got the
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  Speaker 2: resources they need to get out there and protect this
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  Speaker 2: and they've got effective leadership. At the moment, nobody seems
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  Speaker 2: to know. It's it's a worry, Katie, it really is.
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  Speaker 2: Every Territorian should be concerned that the government are not
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  Speaker 2: out there letting us know what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, they need to come out and they
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  Speaker 1: need to tell us exactly what is happening. I will
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  Speaker 1: say though, to the Northern Territory Police, you know they
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  Speaker 1: were out over the weekend working their bums off. The
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  Speaker 1: Commander Danny Bacon out having a press conference yesterday following
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  Speaker 1: on from that crime spree on Saturday night. So they
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  Speaker 1: are continuing on with that hard work, which is incredibly
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  Speaker 1: heartening I think for the whole community. But the government
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  Speaker 1: needs to step up here and they need to tell
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  Speaker 1: us exactly what's going on.
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  Speaker 3: Look, how police are doing the hard yards.
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  Speaker 2: Kay, They're on the ground doing absolutely everything that they
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  Speaker 2: can to keep all of us safe. But yeah, they
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  Speaker 2: need that support. They need that support from your government
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  Speaker 2: and their minister to provide that certainly as to what
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  Speaker 2: it's going to look like into the future and sadly
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  Speaker 2: at the moment, nobody seems to know what the hell's
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  Speaker 2: going on.
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  Speaker 1: Bill. We've gotten you on to talk about the health system.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have a huge amount of time, but mate,
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  Speaker 1: can I ask you with everything that is going on
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  Speaker 1: in Central Australia at the moment and even up here
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  Speaker 1: at the top end, we know that there was just
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  Speaker 1: last week a code yellow, how are things going from
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  Speaker 1: your perspective as the opposition spokesperson for health with our
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  Speaker 1: staffing levels right now?
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  Speaker 2: Our staffing levels are absolutely critical in our health system, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: I know that we're at least one hundred and forty
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  Speaker 2: four down here in Central Australia and we're only a
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  Speaker 2: small jurisdic from Darwin's probably got a large area to
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  Speaker 2: call on where they can move people around to cover
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  Speaker 2: what they need to do with our their A and
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: E surgery are on the wards, but al Springs a
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  Speaker 2: little bit smaller, we don't have that capacity. In some respect.
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  Speaker 2: We've been pulling nurses in from our remote communities to
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  Speaker 2: foster that both Alice Springs our remote communities are suffering
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  Speaker 2: there and of course that creates a dynamic shift within
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  Speaker 2: those communities. People who meet healthcare are now coming into
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  Speaker 2: town to get that healthcare they need because they can't
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  Speaker 2: get it back on communities.
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  Speaker 3: So it creates a horrible situation for all involved.
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  Speaker 2: But the code yellow the other week, it got lost,
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  Speaker 2: like we had a horror week on the entire territory
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  Speaker 2: had a horror week after the death of Declan and
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  Speaker 2: that's when that code yellow was announced and sort of
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  Speaker 2: it got lost. But another code yellow and our major
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  Speaker 2: hospital system is a major issue, and we asked the
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  Speaker 2: minister about it. Finally when we've got the opportunity and
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  Speaker 2: we got the Simon dantre utine that we've heard so
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  Speaker 2: many times about health you know, the old chestnut COVID
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  Speaker 2: was trotted out, told about how good they are.
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  Speaker 3: It was like I didn't want to hear that.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to hear from the minister what they're doing
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that our nurses are supported as well,
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  Speaker 2: because again, like police and nurses and their healthcare teams,
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  Speaker 2: they're on the coal pace supporting our audits and they
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  Speaker 2: need that support and the government needs to be really
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  Speaker 2: doing everything it can to be able to recruit and
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  Speaker 2: fill those positions to alleviate some of the work lad
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  Speaker 2: for those guys.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you spot on, and we know that the health
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  Speaker 1: system is under so much pressure at this point, Bill,
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  Speaker 1: we might have to get you on to have a
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  Speaker 1: bit more of a chat about the health system at
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: some point in the very near future. Thank you as
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: always for your time this morning.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: CA. Do you have a great day you too.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you