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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
0:04
Speaker 2: You are our eyes and ears in the territory.
0:07
Speaker 1: Next one oh four point.
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Speaker 3: Nine joining us live in the studio is the Police
0:11
Speaker 3: Commissioner Jamie Chalker.
0:12
Speaker 1: Good morning morning, Cody. Commissioner. Good to have you in
0:15
Speaker 1: the studio.
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Speaker 3: And I tell you what, there's certainly been a lot
0:18
Speaker 3: happening this week, and quite a bit of discussion on
0:21
Speaker 3: the show has really centered around the changes to the
0:23
Speaker 3: youth bail laws. The government says if a young person
0:26
Speaker 3: commits a serious breach of bail, their bail's going to
0:29
Speaker 3: be revoked and they will be taken into remand a
0:32
Speaker 3: serious breach of bail is going to include reoffending while
0:35
Speaker 3: on bail, breaching certain electronic monitoring conditions in curfew, as
0:40
Speaker 3: well as failing to attend court and failing to complete
0:43
Speaker 3: youth diversion. These changes are of course aimed at making
0:47
Speaker 3: it harder for offenders to breach bail and to stop
0:50
Speaker 3: repeat offending. Commissioner, A number of these changes are going
0:54
Speaker 3: to impact, as I would imagine, the day to day
0:56
Speaker 3: operations of police. How are they going to be managed now?
1:00
Speaker 3: From a police perspective in terms of those changes flowing through.
1:04
Speaker 4: When the legislation comes into force, We've already got a
1:06
Speaker 4: lot of policy and process that's been articulated. We're finally
1:10
Speaker 4: signing that off today. Obviously, given the passage of the
1:13
Speaker 4: legislation only occurred in the last sort of thirty six
1:18
Speaker 4: hot hours, We've already prepared some instructional videos as well
1:21
Speaker 4: for our people. There'll be process charts that'll be there,
1:24
Speaker 4: particularly for our custody sergeants who are based in our
1:26
Speaker 4: primary watchhouses and our territory duty superintendents and watch commanders
1:30
Speaker 4: are also going to be critically briefed on it, so
1:32
Speaker 4: all the shifts that occur, all the shifts sergeants will
1:35
Speaker 4: have an obligation to brief our people as well as
1:38
Speaker 4: obviously sending through the fact sheets for them to be
1:40
Speaker 4: able to understand the legislation and how we can utilize it.
1:43
Speaker 3: There is no doubt that there's a lot of different
1:45
Speaker 3: perspectives on these changes. There are some who've been calling
1:48
Speaker 3: for them, will saying that they're a step in the
1:50
Speaker 3: wrong direction and that it's going to mean that more
1:52
Speaker 3: young people are locked up. I mean, at the end
1:54
Speaker 3: of the day, Nobody wants to see young people locked up,
1:56
Speaker 3: but nobody wants to see young people out on the
1:59
Speaker 3: street commit in crimes either, And we certainly don't want
2:02
Speaker 3: to see the same volume of victims that we've had
2:05
Speaker 3: and that we've spoken to on this show in recent months.
2:09
Speaker 3: Do you think that this is going to make a difference,
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Speaker 3: We certainly do.
2:12
Speaker 4: Hence the reason we've worked very closely to put forward
2:15
Speaker 4: how we think things are going to work. And obviously
2:17
Speaker 4: the government of the days now past legislation that we
2:20
Speaker 4: have an obligation to ensure we're adhere to. So that's
2:23
Speaker 4: why we've taken all the preparatory steps to make sure
2:25
Speaker 4: that we'll have a police force that's well informed with this.
2:28
Speaker 4: At this heart, we've always had the focus that we
2:31
Speaker 4: know the success rates of diversion. We're actively trying to
2:34
Speaker 4: encourage youth to complete diversion at the first opportunity that
2:37
Speaker 4: will assist in diverting them away. So we've been saying
2:39
Speaker 4: continually and the advocates need to pick this up, get
2:42
Speaker 4: on board and support these youth. I'll see how quick
2:45
Speaker 4: people are to get out there in protest and make
2:47
Speaker 4: all sorts of other noises. But I'm not seeing them
2:49
Speaker 4: on the street at ten am or ten pm at night,
2:52
Speaker 4: at three am in the morning, at four am in
2:54
Speaker 4: the morning when my.
2:54
Speaker 2: People are out there.
2:55
Speaker 4: So let's lift as a community and start supporting these
2:58
Speaker 4: kids and letting them know if you waiver off the
3:00
Speaker 4: path and coming to the criminal justice pathway, the best
3:02
Speaker 4: way of success of not going into it into adulthood
3:04
Speaker 4: is to complete your diversion.
3:06
Speaker 3: So you reckon some of those advocates and some of
3:08
Speaker 3: those groups that have been critical over the last few days.
3:10
Speaker 3: They've got to put their money where their mouth is
3:12
Speaker 3: and get out there on the street with you guys
3:14
Speaker 3: and actually help in this space.
3:15
Speaker 4: That's the offer I'm making for them. We're more than
3:17
Speaker 4: happy to work with everybody. And we've been saying this
3:18
Speaker 4: for a long time. It's not something that's just popped
3:20
Speaker 4: up overnight. I keep saying about the importance of community
3:23
Speaker 4: being on board. We've seen some great initiatives now launched
3:26
Speaker 4: in Tenant Creek and our the Springs that we're supporting
3:28
Speaker 4: with the Grandmother's groups and the likes, and we're actively
3:30
Speaker 4: encouraging even further expansion of those type of community engagement activities.
3:34
Speaker 3: Now can you talk our listeners through some of those
3:37
Speaker 3: rates when you talk about crimes that are committed by
3:39
Speaker 3: youths on bail.
3:41
Speaker 4: So through twenty twenty, we assessed the offending rates sixteen
3:44
Speaker 4: percent of the youth offenders we're responsible for fifty percent
3:47
Speaker 4: of the offenses. What we know by reviewing then individual
3:51
Speaker 4: cases is that a number of youth we're obviously.
3:53
Speaker 2: Arrested, bailed, committed further offense, arrested, bailed, and so it went.
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Speaker 4: We've got any number of them with upwards of twenty
4:01
Speaker 4: thirty separate further criminal offenses that they've been responsible for
4:05
Speaker 4: over periods of bail and.
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Speaker 2: Remain currently on bail.
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Speaker 4: Importantly, the legislation isn't retrospective, so it will only come
4:11
Speaker 4: into force for those that receive bail for any offense
4:15
Speaker 4: that's committed post to the date that the legislation comes
4:18
Speaker 4: into force. So we've got a little bit of an
4:20
Speaker 4: era where we'll have to bridge over from the old
4:23
Speaker 4: to the new, but we're confident that we'll be able
4:25
Speaker 4: to make those changes and adapt to it very quickly.
4:27
Speaker 3: Now that Bail Act is going to be obviously amended
4:30
Speaker 3: to expand that list of prescribed defenses so it means
4:33
Speaker 3: that there's no presumption of bail given as I understand it,
4:35
Speaker 3: two offenses like unlawful entry, unlawful use of a motor vehicle,
4:39
Speaker 3: assault of a worker, assault of police, and other serious offenses.
4:43
Speaker 3: How come things like threats to kill and home and
4:46
Speaker 3: business invasion weren't needed to be on that list.
4:50
Speaker 4: Well, at the end of the day, I think most
4:51
Speaker 4: of those offenses and the circumstances around them will lead
4:54
Speaker 4: themselves for the court tolls when they make a decision
4:57
Speaker 4: in the event that we.
4:57
Speaker 2: Seek to oppose bail.
4:58
Speaker 4: So the process of bail when we've made in arrest
5:01
Speaker 4: is police will make the first assessment. The offender then
5:04
Speaker 4: has the opportunity with their legal team to seek a
5:06
Speaker 4: review of the police bail. So I would sort of
5:10
Speaker 4: suggest with my own exposure those types of offenses they're
5:13
Speaker 4: ones that we would tend to oppose because of the
5:16
Speaker 4: seriousness of those offenses. But clearly the offenses that have
5:20
Speaker 4: been moved and the prescribed ones are the ones that
5:21
Speaker 4: are far more frequent and certainly, as you can clearly see,
5:25
Speaker 4: a victim based offenses. And this is all at its
5:28
Speaker 4: heart about ensuring that youth understand there's a consequence, and
5:31
Speaker 4: we don't want to see as many victims continue to
5:33
Speaker 4: be offended against by recidivist youth.
5:36
Speaker 3: One of the other changes is to the electronic monitoring.
5:39
Speaker 3: Police are going to have the ability to place those
5:41
Speaker 3: electronic monitoring devices on youths as an interim measure as
5:45
Speaker 3: they're being assessed for an electronic monitoring device as a
5:49
Speaker 3: condition of bail.
5:50
Speaker 1: How are you going to roll this out?
5:53
Speaker 2: Again?
5:53
Speaker 4: This is all in place to make sure that family,
5:55
Speaker 4: the guardians, the other peers around them understand that electronic
5:59
Speaker 4: monitoring there is to enable a.
6:01
Speaker 2: Person to have the privilege.
6:03
Speaker 4: To be at large while on bail, So their liberty
6:06
Speaker 4: has been provided to them, but it's acknowledging the fact
6:08
Speaker 4: they've committed an offense that deserves a consequence and will
6:11
Speaker 4: ultimately appear before the court. We'll be actively monitoring those
6:14
Speaker 4: that we consider a high risk, and of course those
6:17
Speaker 4: that ultimately breach those bails will have alert systems that
6:19
Speaker 4: will let us know. We can then go and make
6:21
Speaker 4: an assessment whether that breach has been a serious breach,
6:24
Speaker 4: because it may well have been coupled with further offending,
6:27
Speaker 4: and in the event that it's been coupled with further
6:28
Speaker 4: offending such as an unlawful entry at night at an
6:31
Speaker 4: occupied dwelling that would constitute a serious breach and will
6:34
Speaker 4: place them back before the court where their bar won't
6:37
Speaker 4: be extended.
6:38
Speaker 3: I mean, how soon do you reckon we're going to
6:39
Speaker 3: see some changes as a result of these legislative changes
6:43
Speaker 3: on the ground for those victims of crime.
6:45
Speaker 1: How soon are they going to see an impact?
6:47
Speaker 4: We certainly anticipate with the recidivism rates that a number
6:50
Speaker 4: of those.
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Speaker 2: Key highly active youth their activities will be.
6:53
Speaker 4: Nipped in the bud potentially within the space of twenty
6:55
Speaker 4: four to thirty six hours.
6:57
Speaker 3: All right, let's move along and talk about these school
6:59
Speaker 3: based constable. Are you able to give us an update
7:01
Speaker 3: on which schools we're going to see them moving into and.
7:03
Speaker 4: How quickly all the middle schools from term three in
7:06
Speaker 4: darw and we'll have school.
7:07
Speaker 2: Based officers based there.
7:09
Speaker 4: There'll be an auxiliary model that we've moved to and
7:13
Speaker 4: we'll have school based constables based out in the regional
7:16
Speaker 4: and remote areas, which is more around ensuring that they've
7:19
Speaker 4: got appropriate access to broader engagement in those places. Because
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Speaker 4: I've got a finite amount of resources erehas. Darwin's obviously
7:26
Speaker 4: a far more dominant resource and has the largest number
7:29
Speaker 4: of middle schools across the whole of the Northern territory.
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Speaker 3: So why are you going down that auxilliary model rather
7:34
Speaker 3: than sticking I know you've just explained, but to some
7:36
Speaker 3: people out there listening, they'll be thinking to themselves, well,
7:38
Speaker 3: why are we going down this path when in our schools,
7:41
Speaker 3: particularly in some of those schools, let's say Daha Middle School,
7:45
Speaker 3: they want an experienced officer there.
7:48
Speaker 4: Again, that's all based on perception, and I have to
7:50
Speaker 4: tip my hat. Previous police officers who've done the school
7:52
Speaker 4: based policing.
7:53
Speaker 2: Role have been exceptional in it.
7:55
Speaker 4: But that comes down to the qualities of the individual
7:57
Speaker 4: and their school sets and their talents and their capability for
8:00
Speaker 4: that specific role. It's really not so much about how
8:03
Speaker 4: much lived experience they've had in the police force and
8:06
Speaker 4: where they've undertaken their policing duties. However, the auxiliaries are
8:10
Speaker 4: not as flexible for deployment for me as a fully
8:13
Speaker 4: fledged constable is. So when I'm in a higher priority
8:15
Speaker 4: environment such as COVID nineteen and I need to make
8:18
Speaker 4: a decision as to the safety of the Northern Territory
8:20
Speaker 4: over the activities that we do in a school from
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Speaker 4: a community engagement perspective, I'll make no apology about it.
8:25
Speaker 4: I'll make that decision every single day of the week
8:27
Speaker 4: for the betterment of the Northern Territory.
8:29
Speaker 3: Have all of those constables who've been in those jobs
8:31
Speaker 3: previously been notified that they're going to be deployed to other.
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Speaker 4: Roles, so discussions have been taking place with them actively
8:38
Speaker 4: through their teams. They've been well engaged, is my understanding,
8:41
Speaker 4: because it's something I requested from the management team to
8:43
Speaker 4: ensure went into place. We're also limited for quite a
8:47
Speaker 4: period of time around a cabinet decision, so we weren't
8:50
Speaker 4: able to go actively out and engage because we had
8:52
Speaker 4: to allow a process to go through there. Unfortunately, others
8:55
Speaker 4: put it into the domain. I know the NTPA were
8:57
Speaker 4: upset about that. They're aware that we we're adhering to
9:01
Speaker 4: what we needed to. Our relationship is strong in that regard.
9:03
Speaker 4: That will continue to work with them and consult, but
9:05
Speaker 4: it would have been preferable that we could do those
9:07
Speaker 4: things without other interference accring.
9:11
Speaker 3: I've been contacted by a parent who says that there's
9:14
Speaker 3: been a potential breach was made last week at one
9:17
Speaker 3: of the middle schools around Darwin regarding school based police
9:21
Speaker 3: and that there is an investigation underway. This parent is
9:24
Speaker 3: wondering our police that are being allocated for placements in
9:28
Speaker 3: our middle and high school specifically trained to work with
9:31
Speaker 3: teenagers and what experience do they have.
9:35
Speaker 4: I'm not sure what the context is of the breach
9:36
Speaker 4: they're talking about. If they're talking about a criminal defense
9:39
Speaker 4: being undertaken, It's not our practice ordinarily that we'll have
9:42
Speaker 4: school base undertake a criminal investigation. We've got specific investigators
9:46
Speaker 4: who undertake child related defending and they are the specialist investigator.
9:51
Speaker 3: I'm not one hundred percent sure either what that breach is,
9:54
Speaker 3: but I guess the essence of the question is with
9:56
Speaker 3: those auxiliaries or with those police officers going into the schools,
10:00
Speaker 3: are they specifically trained to work with those teenage kids?
10:03
Speaker 4: So they will be certainly those who are not currently
10:05
Speaker 4: in that role. But again I go back to it,
10:07
Speaker 4: the role of the school base is to do community
10:10
Speaker 4: engagement and education type activities. They're not there to go
10:13
Speaker 4: and pull kids out of a classroom and conduct a
10:15
Speaker 4: criminal investigation interview with them. That's not their role and
10:18
Speaker 4: has not been their role for a considerable period of time.
10:21
Speaker 2: OK.
10:21
Speaker 3: Can I ask you about these attrition rates? Why are
10:24
Speaker 3: officers leaving the force? At what is estimated to be
10:28
Speaker 3: ten a month.
10:29
Speaker 4: Officers have continued to leave the police force, and I
10:32
Speaker 4: think everybody's critically aware of the fact that COVID had
10:34
Speaker 4: a big impact and certainly not exclusive to the Northern
10:37
Speaker 4: Territory Police Force. A lot of people have packed up
10:39
Speaker 4: and headed into state. Fortuitously, We've also had a significant
10:43
Speaker 4: amount of recruiting going on, and we would continue to
10:45
Speaker 4: recruit to high numbers to ensure that we're getting the
10:48
Speaker 4: best people from across the board. But I've had a
10:50
Speaker 4: heavy focus on trying to recruit people from within the
10:52
Speaker 4: Northern Territory. I've also been focused on the practices as
10:56
Speaker 4: we've allowed people to go and actually pack up, move
10:59
Speaker 4: their whole home, commenced duties with another police force or
11:02
Speaker 4: another federal agency for upwards of twelve eighteen months under
11:05
Speaker 4: a lieve without pay model, and then well it's been
11:09
Speaker 4: a condition that we've allowed for a period of time.
11:11
Speaker 4: I'm saying that's a false accounting methodology for us. They
11:13
Speaker 4: don't sit on our books as a deployable number, but
11:15
Speaker 4: they sit on our books and people think we've got
11:17
Speaker 4: more police than we truly do.
11:19
Speaker 2: So we've been refining all that.
11:20
Speaker 4: But I've got to say, just around the attrition, we've
11:23
Speaker 4: constantly sat over the last five years between low force
11:26
Speaker 4: to high flors, and last financial year it was four
11:28
Speaker 4: point ninety seven percent. It's jumped so dramatically. At the
11:33
Speaker 4: moment it's point three to three percent up. It's now
11:36
Speaker 4: up to five point two five percent. What I can
11:39
Speaker 4: tell you though, is they're currently more employed police in
11:42
Speaker 4: the Northern Territory than we've had before, and more deployable
11:45
Speaker 4: police because of the changes I've done to professionalize our agency.
11:48
Speaker 3: It does seem as though experience is being lost, though.
11:51
Speaker 3: It does seem as though some of those higher ranking
11:53
Speaker 3: officers are leaving. You know, you've pointed out the rate
11:56
Speaker 3: at which you know that's happening and have said that
11:58
Speaker 3: it's not a huge concern to you, But are you
12:00
Speaker 3: concerned that you are losing some of those more experienced officers.
12:04
Speaker 4: We're very used to this approach and this has gone
12:06
Speaker 4: back over many decades, but certainly in the last fifteen
12:09
Speaker 4: to twenty years. Other police forces have gone through various
12:12
Speaker 4: periods where they've spiked their recruitment for experienced police and
12:15
Speaker 4: NT police are a wonderful resource for other agencies to
12:19
Speaker 4: pick up. Queensland currently has twenty five hundred additional police
12:23
Speaker 4: committed to have by twenty twenty five. That's more than
12:26
Speaker 4: double my current actual police establishment for constables and above.
12:30
Speaker 4: So that's a huge increase to their police force. But
12:32
Speaker 4: given the whole pressures of COVID and the like and
12:35
Speaker 4: their youth crime issues, it's not surprising WA police an
12:38
Speaker 4: increase of nine hundred and fifty on top of their
12:40
Speaker 4: existing Victoria's recruiting over three thousand. The Australian Federal Police
12:44
Speaker 4: are recruiting investigators. Investigators are experienced police. They're all going
12:48
Speaker 4: for the five to fifteen to twenty year police officers
12:51
Speaker 4: because they know they can pretty well put them through
12:53
Speaker 4: a short training course and bolster their own numbers.
12:55
Speaker 3: So, Commissioner, are you telling me this morning that there
12:58
Speaker 3: is no issue to add all when it comes to
13:01
Speaker 3: the police force in terms of people leaving because some
13:03
Speaker 3: of the issues, some of those issues that we deal
13:06
Speaker 3: with in the territory around youth crime around some of
13:10
Speaker 3: you know, some may be unhappy with management, some may
13:13
Speaker 3: be unhappy with leadership.
13:15
Speaker 1: Are you saying that no one's leaving the force.
13:16
Speaker 3: Because of that, They're leaving because of those of the
13:19
Speaker 3: attractive recruitment in other states.
13:22
Speaker 4: Well, what I do know is that the packages that
13:24
Speaker 4: a number of them are going to aren't as actually
13:25
Speaker 4: good as the packages that the non territory police force
13:28
Speaker 4: offer as it relates to conditions and the housing provision
13:31
Speaker 4: is one of those key points of differentiation. But I
13:34
Speaker 4: will never say that police won't leave because of the
13:36
Speaker 4: challenges of the workplace, not only in the Northern Territory,
13:39
Speaker 4: but roles that you undertake as a police officer. What
13:42
Speaker 4: we also know, though, is that people are no longer
13:45
Speaker 4: joining a job to do it for the next thirty
13:47
Speaker 4: or forty years. People are chopping and changing their careers
13:49
Speaker 4: fairly frequently and getting further exposure.
13:52
Speaker 2: But hark back to.
13:53
Speaker 4: The fact, twenty twenty was a year that shook people
13:56
Speaker 4: apart because they can't get back home to see their
13:58
Speaker 4: loved ones, they couldn't go to their few rules, they
14:00
Speaker 4: couldn't do all of these things that they've now had
14:03
Speaker 4: to reassess what's more important for them in their lives,
14:06
Speaker 4: and if people make that choice to go, I'm fully
14:08
Speaker 4: supportive of it because I know that we'll always keep
14:10
Speaker 4: the door open for the good ones to come back.
14:12
Speaker 3: So, by the sounds of things, you are quite okay
14:15
Speaker 3: with the situation that we're in at the moment.
14:18
Speaker 1: When it comes to that attrition.
14:19
Speaker 4: I'm certainly not known for catastrophization, and that's clearly what's
14:23
Speaker 4: been going on in the broader domain, and that's been
14:25
Speaker 4: driven by a whole raft of other things. But I
14:27
Speaker 4: can tee you categorically, and I've met with every senior sergeant,
14:30
Speaker 4: superintendent and above in my agency so have the conversation
14:33
Speaker 4: about the direction and understand where their morale compass had
14:37
Speaker 4: gone off over the last few years. They're all back
14:39
Speaker 4: on board and they've all spoken to me. They're engaged.
14:42
Speaker 4: We're pointing in the right direction. I've just been walking
14:45
Speaker 4: around the streets of Darwin. I've been down in Ola
14:47
Speaker 4: Springs recently. The high of activity that's going on is
14:50
Speaker 4: attributable to the deep and heavy work that Northern Territory
14:54
Speaker 4: Police Foreign EMANCI Services have been doing since March last
14:56
Speaker 4: year related to COVID I know that community is deeply
15:00
Speaker 4: each of what we're doing, and I know that they
15:02
Speaker 4: get that I've set a high standard for this police
15:04
Speaker 4: force because it's what the Northern Territories of community deserves.
15:07
Speaker 3: Speaking of COVID, there's been much said about the Howard
15:09
Speaker 3: Springs quarantine facility and management of that facility. How are
15:13
Speaker 3: things going since the transition from ALLSMAT to INTE.
15:16
Speaker 4: Health seamless as it's always been the case that INNTEA
15:19
Speaker 4: Health have been based out there since March last year,
15:22
Speaker 4: have continued to monitor not only the domestics but the
15:25
Speaker 4: other humanitarian international arrivals will dealt with outside the international repats.
15:30
Speaker 4: Through the approach from the Comnwealth Government facilitated the OZMAT
15:33
Speaker 4: return in October to deal exclusively with the international repats.
15:36
Speaker 4: When we've had five hundred built up over to eight
15:38
Speaker 4: fifty through the wet season and now as we come
15:40
Speaker 4: into the dry season we can move to two thousand.
15:43
Speaker 4: This is a consolidation that this model because we can
15:46
Speaker 4: now have it as a single place that we can
15:47
Speaker 4: manage within those resources. Because we've had the funding of
15:50
Speaker 4: prided to be able to build up the recruitment OZMAD
15:53
Speaker 4: and an incredible team. My Foreign and Rescue team are
15:55
Speaker 4: key personnel within the OSMAT team. I provide exposure to
15:59
Speaker 4: them free quently to do the logistics role in OZMATT.
16:02
Speaker 4: OSMATT play an important role in international deployments and the
16:05
Speaker 4: places that they need to go are only racking up.
16:07
Speaker 1: Some have been wondering why we're in a situation.
16:10
Speaker 3: I know the opposition leader Leofinocchiaro raised this earlier in
16:12
Speaker 3: the week where we've seen some of the some of
16:15
Speaker 3: those changes when it comes to testing out there at
16:18
Speaker 3: the Howard Springs facility.
16:20
Speaker 1: Why has that testing regime changed.
16:23
Speaker 4: The rapid eagen testing was only a trial and the
16:25
Speaker 4: Chief Health Office has spoken about this. What they've now
16:28
Speaker 4: done under his assessment with his relevant medical expert panel
16:33
Speaker 4: is determined that the PCR testing and our ability now
16:36
Speaker 4: to turn around the PCR testing has increased markedly, so
16:38
Speaker 4: he can actually have a PCR test, which is the
16:40
Speaker 4: gold standard in testing back within an hour when the
16:43
Speaker 4: rapid testing was occurring.
16:45
Speaker 2: That wasn't the case. It was probably a day or
16:47
Speaker 2: so later.
16:48
Speaker 4: So this has now mitigated a further step of it
16:50
Speaker 4: potentially exposure between one human and another where the rapid
16:53
Speaker 4: andtitgen testing is not required because the quickness of which
16:57
Speaker 4: the PCR can be turned around as an hour.
16:59
Speaker 3: So sorry, explain that to us again. The PCR, So
17:01
Speaker 3: what's going on that can be turned around.
17:03
Speaker 2: In an hour?
17:05
Speaker 4: More highly accurate test the PCR, and because the testing
17:08
Speaker 4: processing now has been refined and improved, we can turn
17:11
Speaker 4: it around far quicker. Whereas at the period when the
17:13
Speaker 4: trial was kicked off for rapid adigen testing, that was
17:16
Speaker 4: an indicator. So I suppose in Layman's terms, it's very
17:20
Speaker 4: much similar to our breath test analysis process.
17:22
Speaker 2: We'll do a roadside breath.
17:23
Speaker 4: Test on a handheld radar that gives us an indicator
17:26
Speaker 4: whether there's alcohol present or not. If we find that
17:28
Speaker 4: there's alcohol present, will take somebody then back to use
17:31
Speaker 4: a breath analysis machine which has got higher accuracy rate,
17:34
Speaker 4: So that's where we take them back to a police
17:36
Speaker 4: station and that will actually tell us the accurate percentage.
17:39
Speaker 2: So that's the point of difference. Rapid edge testing is
17:42
Speaker 2: an indicator.
17:43
Speaker 4: PCR is more definitive in its positive or negative outcome.
17:47
Speaker 3: That's so sorry, So are you saying that that PCR
17:49
Speaker 3: testing then as well can be turned around? Really quickly
17:52
Speaker 3: correct essentially, So essentially you do it, you know, like
17:55
Speaker 3: you said, like it's a roadside breath test, but not
17:57
Speaker 3: at a roadside breath testing, and then you find out
18:01
Speaker 3: pretty much immediately whether there are what remnants of COVID.
18:05
Speaker 2: My understanding is that within and how they.
18:06
Speaker 1: Can have a test back, right, And so is this.
18:09
Speaker 4: Change from what the practice was prior to the trial
18:12
Speaker 4: going in for the rapid and egen.
18:13
Speaker 1: Well, so it sounds like it's faster, is it.
18:16
Speaker 4: The testing for the PCA is now faster, which gives
18:19
Speaker 4: us the more accurate reading far far quicker than we
18:22
Speaker 4: previously had, which is now why it's not much point
18:25
Speaker 4: having an intermediary step, because an intermediary step is only
18:28
Speaker 4: a further point of exposure.
18:30
Speaker 3: And so you're saying that it's not only faster, but
18:31
Speaker 3: it's going to be more accurate. And is it more expensive, Well.
18:36
Speaker 4: We were doing both anyway, so there's no change to that.
18:38
Speaker 4: It's probably going to be a cheaper cost, but not
18:40
Speaker 4: that that was a determinant in the fact that the
18:42
Speaker 4: factor was it diminishes a further interaction with a human
18:45
Speaker 4: that you don't need to undertake.
18:46
Speaker 3: And so really from your perspective, you actually think that
18:49
Speaker 3: this is a better safer option based on that health advice.
18:53
Speaker 2: Absolutely, based on the health advice.
18:55
Speaker 4: And you know, I've got great confidence in the Chief
18:57
Speaker 4: Health Officer and his medical expert board, and of course
19:01
Speaker 4: the Professor Lennataris was part of that panel as well
19:04
Speaker 4: as I understand it, and he's endorsed that practice.
19:06
Speaker 1: Now.
19:07
Speaker 3: I know some of us have been a bit confused
19:09
Speaker 3: about the management with the police Commissioner overseeing what he's
19:12
Speaker 3: seen as a health facility. Has this been the case
19:17
Speaker 3: out there already?
19:19
Speaker 4: Also as the territory Controller, I've had oversight of the
19:21
Speaker 4: whole COVID nineteen emergency response. The Howard Springs facility has
19:25
Speaker 4: been part of that response, and I met with Jane
19:27
Speaker 4: Holton when she came up and made the suggestion that
19:30
Speaker 4: there should be a Center for National Resilience. At that meeting,
19:32
Speaker 4: said everything's in place, we just need the appropriate resourcing
19:35
Speaker 4: and a pathway to create a humanitarian return of international repats,
19:39
Speaker 4: and ultimately her recommendation came to fruition based on those conversations.
19:44
Speaker 4: I've had the responsibility of COVID nineteen response since March
19:48
Speaker 4: last year. I was there when we set up into
19:51
Speaker 4: health from the beginning. I was there when we reintroduced OSMATT.
19:55
Speaker 4: We supported OZMAT for the wu Han and the Diamond
19:57
Speaker 4: Princess Repats, then went back to the normal duties. We
20:01
Speaker 4: brought them back in October that then focus specifically on
20:04
Speaker 4: the International Repats, and we've continued duties throughout that time
20:08
Speaker 4: at both sides. We've had in excess of sixteen thousand
20:11
Speaker 4: people come through combined. It's been an enormous number, and
20:15
Speaker 4: we've managed to keep the place safe with no community transfer.
20:18
Speaker 4: It should be a story of great pride across the
20:21
Speaker 4: Northern Territory, but unfortunately there's some commentators who want to
20:23
Speaker 4: derail it with a lack of true understanding of the
20:26
Speaker 4: emergy management situation that's been in place.
20:28
Speaker 3: Well look, I'm not sure if you're referring to me
20:30
Speaker 3: or others or everybody, but I guess the concern has
20:33
Speaker 3: always been from the community is that we have felt
20:35
Speaker 3: that the OSMAT team is an incredibly good team. Incredibly oh,
20:41
Speaker 3: I can't think of the right word there. You know,
20:43
Speaker 3: they are the first on the scene when you go
20:45
Speaker 3: to things, when you look at the controlling of this virush,
20:49
Speaker 3: right from the get god.
20:50
Speaker 2: In that regard, they are an exceptional team.
20:52
Speaker 4: But the point being made here is equally the nt
20:55
Speaker 4: Health has continued to run operations out there concurrently and
20:59
Speaker 4: they've managed to deal with it international arrivals as well
21:01
Speaker 4: that have not been part of the international repac cohort,
21:04
Speaker 4: as well as all the domestic arrivals. And they've had
21:06
Speaker 4: at periods of time well over twelve hundred people in
21:09
Speaker 4: their facility under their responsibility, and they've been truly effective
21:12
Speaker 4: in ensuring there's been no community transferred.
21:14
Speaker 2: This is not about one being better than the other.
21:16
Speaker 4: It's about consolidating our resources, the comonwealth of now invested in.
21:20
Speaker 4: Is they specifically requested it remain under the emergency management
21:23
Speaker 4: principles because they know that provides the utmost safety of
21:26
Speaker 4: governance and accountability to ensure the territory stay safe.
21:29
Speaker 3: Is it a lot of weight on your shoulders that
21:31
Speaker 3: the buck stops with you out there at Howard Springs.
21:34
Speaker 4: It stops with me for the whole of the Northern Territory.
21:36
Speaker 4: I had police officers as you well know, plus Australian
21:39
Speaker 4: Defense Force personnel and Australian Federal Police standing on highways
21:43
Speaker 4: that one hundred and thirty clime and our speed zones,
21:46
Speaker 4: and I had them there twenty four hours a day,
21:48
Speaker 4: and we had to set up infrastructure for them, and
21:50
Speaker 4: many of them just went up there with temporary camps
21:51
Speaker 4: and started to do the job. That kept me up
21:54
Speaker 4: awake because I have to make sure that all of
21:56
Speaker 4: them got home safely from the duties they were doing.
21:58
Speaker 4: I've managed the whole of the Northern Territory using relevant
22:02
Speaker 4: CEOs who are still the functional group leads under our
22:04
Speaker 4: margy management structure. I have great confidence in the teams
22:07
Speaker 4: that we've got around is got great confidence in the
22:09
Speaker 4: team that's now heading up the Howard Springs facility. The
22:12
Speaker 4: key leaders there are OSMA tears. There have been missured
22:15
Speaker 4: leads in the past. This is the cross pollination that's
22:18
Speaker 4: occurred for a long time within Teahealth and OSMAT. The
22:20
Speaker 4: Northern Territory can be very very comfortable that we've got
22:23
Speaker 4: the gold standard that's continuing to improve, and you should
22:26
Speaker 4: be very very proud of.
22:27
Speaker 2: All that have been involved in the COVID nineteen response.
22:30
Speaker 3: Commissioner, we are fast running out of time, but I've
22:32
Speaker 3: had a question from a listener, are you able to clarify.
22:34
Speaker 3: I do staff stay on site until their results come
22:38
Speaker 3: back with that testing.
22:39
Speaker 2: That's my understanding.
22:40
Speaker 4: If there's an area of concern, they'll ensure that people
22:43
Speaker 4: are kept in an appropriate quarantine area to enable that
22:46
Speaker 4: to occur.
22:47
Speaker 3: Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, we better leave it there. Thanks
22:49
Speaker 3: so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
22:51
Speaker 2: Thanks, Gatie