Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Fleur O'Connor form the Northern Territory Emergency Services says it's so important to have our women step up to be volunteers for the organisation

Transcript

Fleur O'Connor form the Northern Territory Emergency Services says it's so important to have our women step up to be volunteers for the organisation · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that there is so much happening around the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: nation at the moment, particularly when it comes to the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: terrible floods that we've seen in Queensland and New South
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Wales and the Northern Territory. Well we've got some of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Emergency Service volunteers being sent to those
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: flood areas to help out. And joining me in the
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  Speaker 1: studio right now is the Northern Territory Emergency Services Director,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Flur O'Connor. Good morning to you, Flir.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thank you for having me this morning.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, lovely to have you in the studio. We really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. How many of our volunteers have we
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: got going into those flood affected areas.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: So yesterday we deployed eight volunteers to New South Wales.
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  Speaker 2: They had a bit of a long trip down there
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  Speaker 2: last night. Their flight was delayed by two hours. They
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: arrived in tweed Heads at two am this morning. So
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  Speaker 2: they're meant to be undertaking twelve hour shifts from today onwards,
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  Speaker 2: but because of their long trip, they stood down until
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: twelve o'clock today and we'll start their duties well, so
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: they're coworking with wa SS volunteer team as well, so
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  Speaker 2: they'll be starting those duties at twelve today.
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  Speaker 1: And what type of duties are they expected to be
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  Speaker 1: involved in.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the team that we've deployed are storm damage teams,
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  Speaker 2: so obviously with the widespread rain that New South Wales
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  Speaker 2: has been experiencing since the twenty second of February, there's
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  Speaker 2: been a lot of storms even as over the last
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  Speaker 2: few days, so they'll be undertaking storm damage assessments and
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  Speaker 2: duties that might be associated with trees down, clearing access,
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  Speaker 2: assessing whether there needs to be any temporary repairs made
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  Speaker 2: to a house and that might just be putting a
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  Speaker 2: tarp over a hole in a roof and whatnot.
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  Speaker 1: And it's so I suppose for our emergency service volunteers,
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  Speaker 1: we go through these types of situations really very regularly,
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  Speaker 1: and I guess we're lucky in some ways in the
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  Speaker 1: territory in the sense that we're always so prepared for
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: terrible weather because it is something that we've got to
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  Speaker 1: deal with every year, isn't it exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Our volunteers are well versed in dealing with such incidents
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  Speaker 2: or events. So we've got a well prepared team of
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  Speaker 2: eight people. Two of them female as well. Mind you,
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  Speaker 2: you're awesome. So we've got a great team that are
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  Speaker 2: down there now that we'll be spending the next three
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: days working in hot and humid conditions. When we say
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: hot and humid, it's probably not the same as what
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: we experience here in Darwin, but you know, the conditions
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  Speaker 2: aren't that great down in New South Wales.
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  Speaker 1: How important do you reckon it is for for our
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  Speaker 1: territory volunteers to be able to get to those other
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  Speaker 1: states when something like this happens, to be able to
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  Speaker 1: help out you know, well our fellow Aussies.
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  Speaker 2: It's extremely important and we're very fortunate that we had
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  Speaker 2: volunteers that were available to be deployed at the drop
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  Speaker 2: of a hat. We only requested by New South Wales
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  Speaker 2: sees on what day was it? On Wednesday? Tuesday, and
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: we deployed them yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: So wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the replaced is you know, the turnaround time in
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: getting people out to be deployed quite quickly. Yeah, So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they're very very good and fortunate that they were available
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  Speaker 2: and also to their employers because most of our volunteers
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  Speaker 2: do have a permanent job yep, that their employers were
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: able to release them for the time that they're being deployed.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Good on them. What fantastic territories. So I know that
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  Speaker 1: all of our emergency services volunteers do a phenomenal job.
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  Speaker 1: You're always on the lookout for volunteers, aren't.
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  Speaker 2: You, Exactly. We've got to call out to action actually
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  Speaker 2: all the time or here around. We're looking for volunteers.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment on our books we have around two
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  Speaker 2: hundred and forty four volunteers. We're always looking for more.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, if you are interested in joining, go
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  Speaker 2: on to the PFS website and there is a contact
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  Speaker 2: number there that you can call if you want more
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: information about how to join and what we're about.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a great thing to do. And I
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  Speaker 1: know that our volunteers as well, our emergency service volunteers
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  Speaker 1: help out with all sorts of things around the community.
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  Speaker 1: At different times. We've had them help out it run
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  Speaker 1: with Dad, the Father's Day Fund run that I organize
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  Speaker 1: on the track there over the years. They do a
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  Speaker 1: great job and they're a huge part of the community.
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  Speaker 1: On this International Women's Week, and you are actually the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territories first Emergency Services Director female director on this
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  Speaker 1: international Women's Week. How important is it as well that
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  Speaker 1: we have those female volunteers?
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  Speaker 2: Extremely important? I mean women are you know what we're
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: looking for within Northern Territory Emergency Services a volunteer base
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  Speaker 2: that is representative of our community. And like I mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: we have two hundred and forty four volunteers. Out of
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  Speaker 2: those two hundred and forty four volunteers, forty percent of
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  Speaker 2: them or just shy of forty percent we have you know,
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  Speaker 2: those are female. And it's extremely important that we have
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  Speaker 2: a representative base. And I really like the theme of
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  Speaker 2: International Women's Day which is around break the bias and
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  Speaker 2: women can do many things and can do anything. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, while it might sound like a you know,
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  Speaker 2: volunteering for Northern Churchy Emergency Service might sound like something
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  Speaker 2: that you don't think that you can do, you know what,
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  Speaker 2: give us a call, ask us what you know what
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  Speaker 2: we're about, and you know, I'm sure we have a
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  Speaker 2: position for you and might not be operational. We have
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  Speaker 2: different roles that are not always hands on. We accept
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  Speaker 2: anyone and everyone and we would love to have you
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  Speaker 2: volunteer with us.
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  Speaker 1: Wonderful stuff, O Reckon, that's a really you know, a
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  Speaker 1: really great way of looking at it, and don't think
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  Speaker 1: that you can't do something. Don't ever tell the ladies
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  Speaker 1: out there think that you maybe can't do something because
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  Speaker 1: you maybe think it's more of a male dominated area,
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  Speaker 1: because there are you know, there are so many opportunities
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  Speaker 1: for us, and we've got to embrace them. Flur. I
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: want to ask as well, we know that cyclone season, Well,
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  Speaker 1: it sort of feels like it's the build up again
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, but cyclone season is still upon us
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time. Are we still, you know,
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  Speaker 1: having to make sure that we're prepared for anything, or
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  Speaker 1: are we sort of coming towards the end of things.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'd love to say we're coming towards the end
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  Speaker 2: of things, but you know, past experience, we have had
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  Speaker 2: cyclones in April, so always be prepared. And yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: think while we still were coming closer to the end
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: of our wet season, there's still the risk of a
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: cyclone impacting the top end in particular, So yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: would say stay prepared. The dry season is coming, but
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  Speaker 2: not so well away.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like it could be a long way away
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  Speaker 1: at this point. Flour, great to speak with you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: coming in.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much