Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was (08/10/21)

Transcript

The Week That Was (08/10/21) · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: It is time for the week that was, And you
0:02
Speaker 1: can hear them already in the background. They're proudly also
0:05
Speaker 1: broadcasting on eighth and we've got the opposition spokesperson for
0:11
Speaker 1: Business and various other things, Mary Claire booth Be good
0:14
Speaker 1: morning to you.
0:14
Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.
0:15
Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. We've also got
0:17
Speaker 1: the Independent member for Goid, Kezi Epuric. Good morning to you, Kezier.
0:21
Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Good morning to rural bush people.
0:24
Speaker 1: We've also got Natasha Philes, the Health Minister and the
0:27
Speaker 1: Minister for Tourism.
0:29
Speaker 4: Good morning to you morning.
0:30
Speaker 5: And that was Kezy and making all the noise in
0:32
Speaker 5: the background.
0:32
Speaker 1: She's always she's a naughty one. You've got to keep
0:34
Speaker 1: an eye on our Kezier Puric.
0:36
Speaker 3: Now I follow John Devold on Instagram because I think
0:38
Speaker 3: he's gorgeous. He's my favorite favoritist of actors. He's now
0:42
Speaker 3: following me.
0:43
Speaker 4: Oh no, I love. Just make sure he's not a
0:48
Speaker 4: spam page.
0:49
Speaker 1: Make sure it's the real one. All right, let's get
0:54
Speaker 1: into her. There is a lot to cover off on
0:56
Speaker 1: this morning, but I do want to well, I want
0:58
Speaker 1: to go firstly to the situation with the Palmerston Palmiston
1:03
Speaker 1: Regional Hospital. We know that there is now going to
1:06
Speaker 1: be a review into well, not only I think the
1:09
Speaker 1: Palmeston Regional Hospital, but also the Darwin Royal Darwin Hospital.
1:13
Speaker 1: We're being told by the Health Department that they are
1:15
Speaker 1: constantly evaluated to ensure the service models and management operations
1:19
Speaker 1: are current and sustainable. So this work across both of
1:23
Speaker 1: the hospitals is ongoing and comprises of three phases. The
1:27
Speaker 1: first phase is in draft with actions being implemented, including
1:31
Speaker 1: a decreased footprint ie beds while still maintaining the same
1:35
Speaker 1: level of specialist emergency medicine services. There is also an
1:40
Speaker 1: enhanced nursing recruitment strategy is in place, which will be
1:44
Speaker 1: complemented by a reinvigorated overarching recruitment campaign to attract staff
1:49
Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory. Phase two is going to consider
1:52
Speaker 1: clinical services and models of care at the Palmerston Regional Hospital,
1:57
Speaker 1: including during the COVID nineteen response. Three will assess ongoing
2:02
Speaker 1: operations and the strategic direction of Palmerston Regional Hospital. Now,
2:07
Speaker 1: obviously this can't come soon enough. We've been talking at
2:10
Speaker 1: length about this on this show. I think that it's
2:12
Speaker 1: probably the third week that health has been a big
2:15
Speaker 1: focus for us on the week that was.
2:17
Speaker 4: It's something that we are constantly receiving calls and messages.
2:20
Speaker 1: About and we know that there's a lot of work
2:23
Speaker 1: to happen in this space. Firstly, Natasha, I know that
2:26
Speaker 1: you have ruled out closing down the emergency department out
2:30
Speaker 1: at Palmerston Regional Hospital.
2:32
Speaker 4: But with this review, is that indeed on the cards.
2:35
Speaker 5: No, we're really proud that we built the Palmeston Regional Hospital.
2:38
Speaker 5: It's an important asset not only for the people of
2:40
Speaker 5: Palmeston in the rural area, but it adds overall bed
2:43
Speaker 5: capacity in the top end, Kadie. And when we look
2:45
Speaker 5: at the hospital emergency attendance figures, they've risen by thirty
2:48
Speaker 5: percent over the last five years and that's predominantly Palmerston
2:52
Speaker 5: and Royal dal In hospitals. So it is an important
2:54
Speaker 5: asset and we will not be closing the emergency department.
2:57
Speaker 5: What this is doing is this is looking at how
2:59
Speaker 5: we can best utilize those health resources. How the two
3:02
Speaker 5: hospitals can it's one hospital we treated as such, but
3:06
Speaker 5: two campuses, how they can interact and best deliver that care.
3:09
Speaker 1: So how many beds are currently operational? I know I
3:12
Speaker 1: asked you this earlier in the week, but how many
3:14
Speaker 1: beds are operational in the emergency department out at the
3:17
Speaker 1: Palmerston Regional Hospital right now?
3:19
Speaker 5: So, Katie, it's a twenty four bed emergency department in
3:23
Speaker 5: terms of the actual beds operational today, I don't have
3:26
Speaker 5: that figure, nor should I. It's an operational matter.
3:29
Speaker 1: I would think though that you'd be wanting to have
3:30
Speaker 1: a really close eye on it, given how much of
3:33
Speaker 1: a microscope is on this right now.
3:35
Speaker 5: But Katie, those beds operational would change each and every day.
3:39
Speaker 5: So it's a twenty four bed facility. We staff at
3:42
Speaker 5: differently for different times of the day, different days of
3:45
Speaker 5: the week, but we're absolutely committed to that emergency department.
3:50
Speaker 5: It is an important facility. It's saved lives. I've had
3:53
Speaker 5: people tell me stories where that facility has been critical
3:57
Speaker 5: in saving a loved one's life.
3:58
Speaker 3: Half an hour it's half an hour closer, hospital is
4:02
Speaker 3: half an hour away, so it is critical to have
4:04
Speaker 3: it located where it is. And I mean, I've always
4:07
Speaker 3: supported having the regional hospital there in Lichfield Council boundaries,
4:11
Speaker 3: but in this review, I would like to see if
4:14
Speaker 3: it's not already included. And I think this was raised
4:16
Speaker 3: on your show previously, the recruitment and the age, because
4:20
Speaker 3: I listened to the nurse who was on your show
4:22
Speaker 3: yesterday or what she said. I also had a lady
4:24
Speaker 3: staying at my place who's a nurse, and she'd come
4:26
Speaker 3: up here specifically for six months to work at the hospitals.
4:29
Speaker 3: And she worked on a rotational casual basis of some
4:32
Speaker 3: kind with Department of Health. They digged around so much
4:35
Speaker 3: with her shifts she packed up and went to Catherine.
4:37
Speaker 2: Well.
4:38
Speaker 3: She was a well qualified nurse, just a newbie, you know.
4:41
Speaker 3: She'd had all sorts of qualifications. She could work in emergency,
4:43
Speaker 3: she could work in ICU, and she's gone.
4:46
Speaker 4: We heard that yesterday as well on the phone lines.
4:48
Speaker 1: But I want to take you to what Hatcher had
4:50
Speaker 1: to say to her sharesterday on the show talking about
4:53
Speaker 1: the number of nurses that we are acquiring at this
4:56
Speaker 1: point in time. If you miss Kath Hatcher on the
4:58
Speaker 1: show yesterday, take a listen to watch told us Cass
5:01
Speaker 1: when you look across the board now at Palmerston Hospital
5:04
Speaker 1: and also the Royal Darwin Hospital, I know that last
5:07
Speaker 1: week when you and I spoke, you spoke of the
5:09
Speaker 1: need for realistically up to one hundred staff to come
5:12
Speaker 1: across from overseas. Has there been much of an update
5:16
Speaker 1: in this space, because Tuesday, when I'd interviewed the Health Minister,
5:19
Speaker 1: while she said that there is recruitment underway, couldn't tell
5:22
Speaker 1: us sort of how many staff are potentially coming across
5:25
Speaker 1: from overseas.
5:26
Speaker 6: I do know that I've heard a couple of days
5:29
Speaker 6: ago the whole two campuses are just a little over
5:33
Speaker 6: seventy full time equivalent staff down right across all of
5:37
Speaker 6: the unit, and that would be particularly in the emergency department,
5:41
Speaker 6: theater and the surgical areas and a few other wards.
5:45
Speaker 6: Alice Springs has got about one to two full time
5:48
Speaker 6: equivalents down on each of those wards, and Go Catherine
5:53
Speaker 6: would have about a five percent vacancy rate with their
5:58
Speaker 6: hospitals too. If we did get one hundred staff from
6:02
Speaker 6: interstate or overseas, that would alleviate all the public hospitals
6:07
Speaker 6: in the territory. And then you would need to look
6:10
Speaker 6: at the rule and remote clinics because they're in trouble
6:14
Speaker 6: as well.
6:15
Speaker 1: So it is certainly an issue that we are facing
6:17
Speaker 1: right across the board. But I tell you what a
6:19
Speaker 1: little over seventy when you talk about the Royal Darwin
6:23
Speaker 1: Hospital and Palmerston Regional Hospital. I know that there is
6:27
Speaker 1: really a staffing shortage right around Australia right now. But seriously,
6:31
Speaker 1: you tell me that US taking over Howard Springs has
6:34
Speaker 1: not had an impact in some way.
6:35
Speaker 3: It must have had an impact, Katie, because there was
6:38
Speaker 3: different personnel used at that center from the Critical Care
6:41
Speaker 3: National Critic.
6:42
Speaker 4: Katie Unit Katie.
6:43
Speaker 2: We were told that no staff would be lost from
6:47
Speaker 2: the NT Health system for Howard Springs. The Nurses Union
6:50
Speaker 2: says that dozens of nurses have left the ANT health
6:53
Speaker 2: system to work at Howard Springs, and in fact, in
6:55
Speaker 2: the June estimates this health Men's Natasha actually said that
6:59
Speaker 2: three hundred seventy two staff employed at that time at
7:02
Speaker 2: Howard Springs facility, one hundred and forty six of them
7:04
Speaker 2: were nurses. She also said that none were five Fox workers.
7:08
Speaker 2: So I'd like to know, and Teratrends would like to know,
7:10
Speaker 2: is how many nurses are now currently employed at how.
7:12
Speaker 3: It Springs and taken out of the hospital system.
7:15
Speaker 4: That's right?
7:15
Speaker 2: And would you consider bringing in properly trained international nurses
7:19
Speaker 2: for staff at Howard Springs specifically, and transfer our nurses
7:22
Speaker 2: back to the nt Health system.
7:23
Speaker 5: We're certainly not going to change the gold standard model
7:27
Speaker 5: that is Howard Springs by using a five Foux model,
7:29
Speaker 5: by flying people in from the Philippines or India to
7:31
Speaker 5: run that facility is too critical, Katie, what I can
7:34
Speaker 5: say going away from the conversation we had earlier in
7:36
Speaker 5: the week, we acknowledged that there's about fifty to seventy
7:39
Speaker 5: nurses within Rhyod Dalen and Palmeston Hospital that we need
7:41
Speaker 5: to recruit to and I said that figure Nteehealth have
7:44
Speaker 5: informed me that they expect over forty nurses to be
7:47
Speaker 5: recruited in the next fortnight.
7:49
Speaker 4: Where are they coming from?
7:50
Speaker 5: So, Katie, we obviously are looking at extending our graduates program,
7:56
Speaker 5: so that is an important pathway offering anyone that is
7:58
Speaker 5: eligible and build those numbers. And we believe that there'll
8:01
Speaker 5: be two hundred graduates spread across the territory in twenty
8:04
Speaker 5: twenty two, and that's up by about thirty. We are
8:08
Speaker 5: working with the Commonwealth around those visas allowing getting that migration.
8:12
Speaker 5: I don't think any jurisdiction in Australia expected COVID to
8:15
Speaker 5: impact our health staffing so much so we're certainly pulling
8:19
Speaker 5: every lever that we can to get people into the CYST.
8:21
Speaker 4: Forty nurses over the next fortnight.
8:23
Speaker 1: We must have some idea whether they're being recruited locally, nationally, internationally,
8:28
Speaker 1: where are they coming from.
8:29
Speaker 3: I'm happy to turn New South Wales of Victoria because
8:31
Speaker 3: i'd have to go into quarantine for two weeks.
8:33
Speaker 5: So you asked me the question around the fifty to seventy.
8:35
Speaker 5: You wanted some specific numbers. I'm happy to go back
8:38
Speaker 5: and ask them where they're coming from.
8:39
Speaker 4: But help them.
8:40
Speaker 5: Said to me that they expect to recruit forty in
8:43
Speaker 5: the next fortnight.
8:43
Speaker 1: All right, so they're not graduate nurses. They're forty nurses
8:47
Speaker 1: that are coming from somewhere else or that are going
8:49
Speaker 1: to be recruited in the next fortnight.
8:52
Speaker 5: And then a specific question. I'm sure I'll chat to
8:55
Speaker 5: you next week. And you know, there's the two hundred
8:57
Speaker 5: graduates that you're.
8:58
Speaker 4: Also looking at.
8:59
Speaker 5: The graduate something that happens every year. But what we're
9:02
Speaker 5: doing is increasing and expanding the numbers. Of course, people
9:06
Speaker 5: have to be eligible and that was what I was
9:07
Speaker 5: saying to you earlier in the week. We can't simply
9:09
Speaker 5: just fill roles, and that is the problem that I'll
9:11
Speaker 5: pick with the CLPS proposal. We have to make sure
9:14
Speaker 5: that their quality and they've got that experience.
9:16
Speaker 1: Well, I guess what I'm also getting to is forty
9:19
Speaker 1: nurses over the next fortnight like that is that's fantastic.
9:22
Speaker 4: I know that a lot of.
9:23
Speaker 1: People will be really pleased to hear that. What I'm
9:26
Speaker 1: wondering though, is if they are coming from interstate or
9:28
Speaker 1: overseas where they're going to live, that's right where these.
9:32
Speaker 3: Forty I was just thinking the same thing, Katie. Are
9:34
Speaker 3: they going to be placed into that? What was the
9:36
Speaker 3: quest motel at Berima which the government took over, We're
9:38
Speaker 3: led to believe, but didn't get any other details. The
9:41
Speaker 3: other thing I think we've got to consider is it's
9:43
Speaker 3: good if we can get nurses and you know, get
9:45
Speaker 3: them in the seat. But surely the government could or
9:48
Speaker 3: the department could think of some kind of program where
9:51
Speaker 3: there's bound to be nurses who have recently retired or
9:53
Speaker 3: just quit nursing right now in the Northern Territory doing
9:56
Speaker 3: something else perhaps, or just doing nothing and having a
9:58
Speaker 3: lovely time. Surely will be a program would be some
10:02
Speaker 3: of them.
10:03
Speaker 1: But what I've heard from nurses who and doctors who
10:05
Speaker 1: actually work in emergency right now is that they need
10:08
Speaker 1: people who can hit the ground running.
10:10
Speaker 4: They actually see people who are experienced and ready to
10:12
Speaker 4: go right now.
10:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that are you know, they are obviously skilled
10:16
Speaker 1: and ready to go the lady.
10:20
Speaker 4: That she's trained.
10:21
Speaker 5: That was the point I was making to you earlier
10:23
Speaker 5: in the week, Katie, is that because we know the
10:25
Speaker 5: three major areas is psychiatry, mental health, ED and surgical
10:31
Speaker 5: nurses and so highly skilled. We have seen around Australia APRA,
10:35
Speaker 5: which is the body that make sure that we have
10:38
Speaker 5: qualifications and registration for our nurses, we have had a
10:41
Speaker 5: program of recently retired nurses who have to in some
10:45
Speaker 5: cases if they're very recently retired, we can put their
10:48
Speaker 5: qualifications back in place. For others they need to do
10:50
Speaker 5: some updating. So there has been innovative ideas such as
10:53
Speaker 5: that when we talk.
10:55
Speaker 1: About bringing nurses from overseas, I know.
10:58
Speaker 3: How are they going to be put on it? They're
10:59
Speaker 3: going to be put on the same pay as our
11:00
Speaker 3: nurses here or are they going to be put on
11:02
Speaker 3: a lower pay because you know, perhaps they're desperate for work.
11:05
Speaker 3: The other thing I'd want to know as part of
11:07
Speaker 3: this review, perhaps or the minister might know, is if
11:10
Speaker 3: a contract for a nurse comes up, are they offering
11:13
Speaker 3: that nurse the same contract, figures and everything else to
11:16
Speaker 3: do with the contract or are they going to go
11:18
Speaker 3: through the lower one. I want to note because it's
11:20
Speaker 3: no good saying all these nurses are coming in, which
11:22
Speaker 3: is great, but are they going to be afforded the
11:24
Speaker 3: same pay and conditions that are existing nurses or are
11:26
Speaker 3: they going to be some kind of sub nurse and
11:28
Speaker 3: get lower pays and conditions? Is that part of the review.
11:31
Speaker 2: This is so typical of a labor government that we've
11:33
Speaker 2: seen there it's like too little, too late. We're talking
11:36
Speaker 2: about this today, the Minister's come out in January. We've
11:39
Speaker 2: been talking about this for a very long time. COVID
11:41
Speaker 2: has been around for a very long time. Why are
11:43
Speaker 2: we only just now looking at measures to bring people in?
11:46
Speaker 5: This has been not that we're only just talking about
11:49
Speaker 5: measures now. We've been We have, as I've said previously,
11:52
Speaker 5: an active recruitment campaign that's always in place. But what
11:55
Speaker 5: we have said is the fact that people haven't been
11:57
Speaker 5: easily able to come into Australia over the last twelve
11:59
Speaker 5: to eighteen months has seen a flow on effect in
12:01
Speaker 5: terms of mental health nurses. The training models were changed
12:04
Speaker 5: years ago, we're now seeing that impact.
12:06
Speaker 1: So I will say though, you know, it was a
12:08
Speaker 1: couple of months ago that the Western Australian government announced
12:11
Speaker 1: that they needed to recruit. They knew exactly what number
12:14
Speaker 1: of nurses they needed to recruit from overseas, they had
12:17
Speaker 1: a campaign to recruit those nurses, they had initiatives to
12:20
Speaker 1: try and bring them across. I do think that we
12:22
Speaker 1: have you know, it seems as though to now have
12:25
Speaker 1: cath Hatcher come out and say we need seventy across
12:27
Speaker 1: the Palmeston Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital. To have this
12:31
Speaker 1: situation where you've literally got you know, we and I'll
12:34
Speaker 1: go to this in a moment, but where you've got
12:35
Speaker 1: people who are being pushed around waiting for their elective
12:38
Speaker 1: surgeries and being told that it is because there's not
12:41
Speaker 1: the staff there to be able to get those elective
12:43
Speaker 1: surgeries done. I do think that somewhere along the line
12:46
Speaker 1: here the ball has been dropped somewhere along the line
12:48
Speaker 1: here we didn't have the foresight to go a second. Yeah,
12:52
Speaker 1: that's right, someone didn't have the foresight to go hang
12:54
Speaker 1: on a second. We've got this shortage right across the board,
12:57
Speaker 1: right around Australia. We need to plan ahead to make
13:00
Speaker 1: sure that.
13:00
Speaker 3: We're strategic thinking. Katie five yellows. I believe there hasn't
13:04
Speaker 3: been any state with respect. I think that I've seen
13:08
Speaker 3: the figures.
13:08
Speaker 5: The emergency department increases have been thirty percent over the
13:11
Speaker 5: last five years, so it's been a steady increase. We
13:13
Speaker 5: have bought one hundred more beds online with the Palmerston
13:16
Speaker 5: Regional Hospital. Katie, there is continuous recruitment. There is, and
13:20
Speaker 5: we're talking about specific areas within the hospital that there
13:24
Speaker 5: are challenges around Australia in those departments, so we are
13:28
Speaker 5: looking at everything we can do. There has been a
13:30
Speaker 5: steady recruitment campaign and COVID has had an impact on
13:34
Speaker 5: the health system, even in those areas that haven't seen
13:36
Speaker 5: outbreaks of COVID nineteen.
13:38
Speaker 1: I was going to say, we are not even in
13:39
Speaker 1: a situation where we've got COVID, but I want to
13:41
Speaker 1: take you across Danny L My producer has just received
13:44
Speaker 1: a call from a Palmerston Hospital volunteer staffer who called
13:48
Speaker 1: in and said there are currently six beds available in
13:51
Speaker 1: the Palmerston Hospital in the emergency.
13:53
Speaker 4: Department, only six beds for emergencies apparently. So I don't
13:58
Speaker 4: know if the Minister's got any florification.
14:00
Speaker 5: Do we need to be careful like we have got
14:03
Speaker 5: eighty remote clinics in the Northern Territory, six hospitals. The
14:07
Speaker 5: staffing of those the beds that are operational, it varies
14:10
Speaker 5: each and every day, and so six beds that may
14:15
Speaker 5: be the figure right now. I don't know that's an
14:17
Speaker 5: operational matter, but it may be that staff come on
14:20
Speaker 5: at eleven for their shift, staff come on at three.
14:23
Speaker 5: We don't staff empty beds. We need to make sure
14:26
Speaker 5: that the precious resources we've got, and when I say
14:29
Speaker 5: precious resources, it's not only staffing, but it's funding into
14:32
Speaker 5: our health direct That.
14:34
Speaker 1: Goes back to that discussion though of us not having
14:37
Speaker 1: enough stuff, and I think.
14:38
Speaker 5: That that's what we're wearing saying right now Friday morning
14:41
Speaker 5: at nine o'clock.
14:41
Speaker 1: So it's hearing from Cathatcher saying that we don't actually
14:44
Speaker 1: have the stuff. So That's not something that I've made up.
14:46
Speaker 1: That's something that obviously they are saying that we need
14:49
Speaker 1: to make sure that we are bolstering those numbers so
14:53
Speaker 1: that we are able to service territories, because let's be
14:56
Speaker 1: pretty blunt about it. You know, like you touched on
14:58
Speaker 1: the number of people who are present, entering to ED
15:00
Speaker 1: and needing hospital services. It's not going down, and it's
15:04
Speaker 1: not going to go down in a hurry. And I
15:06
Speaker 1: think that we all very much understand that this is
15:08
Speaker 1: something that's happening right around the nation. But we also
15:12
Speaker 1: are very much of the understanding that we can't keep
15:14
Speaker 1: COVID out forever. And we want to make sure that
15:18
Speaker 1: you know that we have got everything that we require
15:21
Speaker 1: within those hospitals, and that the staff have got what
15:23
Speaker 1: they require in those hospitals and the staffing levels so
15:26
Speaker 1: that we're able to deal with it, because at some
15:28
Speaker 1: point we are going to have to.
15:31
Speaker 4: Put day to day.
15:32
Speaker 5: You just raised a point that someone's phoned in and
15:34
Speaker 5: said that six beds of stuff. What I'm saying is
15:36
Speaker 5: it's nine o'clock on a Friday morning. Why would you
15:38
Speaker 5: use your precious resources if they're not needed.
15:41
Speaker 2: We ate yellows in less than twelve months, two in
15:45
Speaker 2: three weeks. That is absolutely discretion.
15:47
Speaker 5: Sel P's got no credibility saying, but what I start
15:49
Speaker 5: taking responsibility for what is going on in our hospitals
15:52
Speaker 5: right now. So what I am saying is we need
15:54
Speaker 5: to make sure that our resources are matched to the
15:57
Speaker 5: demand of the hospital.
15:58
Speaker 2: Kdie, It's not to help to start show you need
16:00
Speaker 2: to make that happen.
16:01
Speaker 5: It's your responsibility and the COLP what they did for
16:04
Speaker 5: Palmeston was dug a hole of filmity.
16:05
Speaker 2: Sowing the CLP and everybody else if you want, But
16:08
Speaker 2: Territorians are suffering, Our hospitals are suffering, our remote communities
16:11
Speaker 2: are suffering, and you are not taking any responsibility for that.
16:14
Speaker 1: Do you feel like I guess the question is that
16:16
Speaker 1: I take on board what you're saying is that you
16:18
Speaker 1: know it is a Friday morning. You obviously don't need
16:20
Speaker 1: as many beds operational as what you would on a
16:22
Speaker 1: Friday night I would anticipate. But do you feel do
16:26
Speaker 1: you feel satisfied at the moment with the way in
16:28
Speaker 1: which the emergency You know, our emergency capacity at the
16:33
Speaker 1: Palmeston Hospital.
16:34
Speaker 5: So what we're doing three years after it's been operational
16:37
Speaker 5: Palmeston Emergency and how it interfaces with Royal Darwen because
16:40
Speaker 5: the two work together. What we're doing is reviewing those
16:43
Speaker 5: services to make sure we are delivering the best for Territorians,
16:46
Speaker 5: because we have delivered an enormous amount in the health space,
16:49
Speaker 5: but the challenges keep rising and we see the challenges change, Katie,
16:52
Speaker 5: and so we're making sure that we're delivering those services
16:55
Speaker 5: in the best way to get that care to Territorians
16:58
Speaker 5: when they need it at their most vulnerable.
17:00
Speaker 1: We're going to take a very short break, but we
17:01
Speaker 1: are going to come back and talk a little bit
17:03
Speaker 1: more on this topic. I want to take you to
17:05
Speaker 1: some of the comments that were made by doctor Robert
17:07
Speaker 1: Parker a little bit earlier in the week, but we'll
17:09
Speaker 1: take a very short break. You are listening to Mix
17:11
Speaker 1: one oh four point nine's three sixty. It is the
17:13
Speaker 1: week that was You are listening to Mix one oh
17:16
Speaker 1: four point nine. It is the week that was also
17:18
Speaker 1: broadcasting on aid AJ. Now we are continuing this discussion
17:22
Speaker 1: this morning about the situation within our health system, and
17:25
Speaker 1: we also caught up with doctor Robert Parker a little
17:27
Speaker 1: bit earlier in the week, who spoke about some of
17:29
Speaker 1: the on flow. I think you'd say when you talk
17:32
Speaker 1: about the staff shortages that we are experiencing. If you
17:35
Speaker 1: missed doctor Parker on the show earlier in the week,
17:37
Speaker 1: take a listen to what he had to say. And
17:40
Speaker 1: so at this point in time, there is obviously a
17:43
Speaker 1: shortage or we are seeing a shortage of nursing staff.
17:46
Speaker 1: From what cath Hatcher had said, she realistically said between
17:48
Speaker 1: fifty two one hundred is what would be required. I mean,
17:52
Speaker 1: how quickly do you think that we need to try
17:54
Speaker 1: to get some of these staff across and operational within
17:57
Speaker 1: NT Health with.
17:59
Speaker 7: At him now? We need them, you know, That's why
18:01
Speaker 7: I so we probably need to if we can get
18:03
Speaker 7: mango pickers over here to pick mangoes, which is excellent
18:05
Speaker 7: of course for the farmers, we need a similar bubble
18:08
Speaker 7: to get nursing staff from trained nursing staff, you know,
18:12
Speaker 7: who are properly qualified and credentials here as soon as possible.
18:16
Speaker 1: How critical is it, if you know, if this doesn't
18:19
Speaker 1: happen quickly, are we going to continue to see code
18:22
Speaker 1: yellows called? Are we going to continue to see you know,
18:25
Speaker 1: people aren't able to get into to see medical professionals.
18:28
Speaker 1: What will be the ramifications if we don't make this happen.
18:32
Speaker 7: It's almost inevitable, Katie, unfortunately. Just you know, there's only
18:35
Speaker 7: a certain reserve within the system. But if we can't
18:38
Speaker 7: keep supporting the staff and supporting stuff vacancies, it'll just
18:44
Speaker 7: add a significant pressure of the system. Electrosurgery includes coloscopes
18:48
Speaker 7: gaseouscopes which check for early cancers or pre cancer's conditions,
18:52
Speaker 7: and if you're not done, it can develop into cancer.
18:55
Speaker 7: So you know, a scope isn't done and three months
18:57
Speaker 7: later the person presents with cancer, which is incredible unfortunate
19:00
Speaker 7: for that person, but actually much more complex for the
19:03
Speaker 7: system that treated someone with advanced cancer rather than just
19:06
Speaker 7: to get the early treatment of the pre cancerous condition.
19:09
Speaker 1: As you've pointed out there, the surgeons are actually available,
19:12
Speaker 1: but we just don't have enough theater nurses by the
19:15
Speaker 1: sounds of it, that's my understanding. Yeah, well, no doubt
19:18
Speaker 1: that's something that we'll get onto and that hopefully we
19:22
Speaker 1: are able to see some change there if we're able
19:24
Speaker 1: to bring some of these nurses across from overseas. So
19:27
Speaker 1: we obviously spoke to Dr Parker about those staffing shortages,
19:31
Speaker 1: but he also spoke about the on flow. Then when
19:34
Speaker 1: you talk about things like elective surgery wait times, now
19:37
Speaker 1: that's something that we'd heard on the phone lines as well.
19:39
Speaker 1: We caught up with one of our listeners earlier in
19:41
Speaker 1: the week who'd been waiting for a hip replacement and
19:43
Speaker 1: has been for quite an incredible period of time, and
19:47
Speaker 1: he's been waiting three weeks now for them to again
19:50
Speaker 1: reschedule that elective surgery that he was due to have.
19:54
Speaker 1: These are just some of the types of scenarios and
19:57
Speaker 1: situations that people are in at the moment. I know
19:59
Speaker 1: that a lot of the time when we talk about
20:01
Speaker 1: elective surgery go all right, well, it's elective surgery, but
20:04
Speaker 1: like you've heard them from doctor Parker, it is also
20:07
Speaker 1: surgery that can potentially, you know, save someone's life and
20:10
Speaker 1: stop them from being chronically well or incredibly unwell.
20:13
Speaker 5: So, Katie, I think it's really important that people understand
20:16
Speaker 5: the term elective. It's the way in which our time
20:20
Speaker 5: frame is given to someone's medical needs and that can change.
20:24
Speaker 5: So if someone is feeling worse themselves, they can go
20:26
Speaker 5: back to their GP and get their referral up, or
20:29
Speaker 5: they can touch base with the specialists that might have
20:33
Speaker 5: been treating them in the hospital. So it's a categorization
20:35
Speaker 5: to help the hospital system. One of the things that
20:37
Speaker 5: we have been facing as well as staff, Katie, is
20:39
Speaker 5: the beds, and we've got about fifty people in a
20:42
Speaker 5: hospital that age care and disability, and so that will
20:45
Speaker 5: We've worked with the Commonwealth Government Greg Hunt and we're
20:48
Speaker 5: seeing twenty one beds become available immediately. So we've started
20:52
Speaker 5: shifting patients and we have to make.
20:54
Speaker 4: Sure that that's into regiousness.
20:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, into regions, and we've provided some staff to help
20:59
Speaker 5: make sure they get the bet quality care. But when
21:01
Speaker 5: you talk about the surgery, bringing it back to what
21:03
Speaker 5: we were talking about, you have to you can't take
21:06
Speaker 5: someone into surgery, even if it might be a day
21:09
Speaker 5: procedure or you think they only need a bed for
21:10
Speaker 5: one night, because you have to think, well, if something
21:13
Speaker 5: goes wrong here, have we got the capacity to provide
21:15
Speaker 5: them with the appropriate care. So those beds becoming available
21:19
Speaker 5: will help because when you look at the code Yellows,
21:21
Speaker 5: you're talking about twenty five people in emergency awaiting a bed.
21:25
Speaker 5: When you look in at fifty age care beds and
21:27
Speaker 5: disability patients within hospital beds, so those twenty beds will
21:31
Speaker 5: also have an enormous impact.
21:33
Speaker 2: So, Natasha, you wouldn't answer us in Parliament when we
21:35
Speaker 2: asked how many elective surgeries were canceled during the Code Yellow?
21:38
Speaker 2: Will you answer that for us today?
21:39
Speaker 5: So when we talk about it, and I think it's
21:41
Speaker 5: important to use the they called elective surgeries, but they're
21:45
Speaker 5: surgeries that have been triarged into different categories. They don't
21:48
Speaker 5: cancel them, they defer them. And I understand with the
21:50
Speaker 5: most recent Code Yellow there was about six surgeries that
21:54
Speaker 5: were deferred. So you know that is six territories that
21:58
Speaker 5: need that medical treatment and it has been impacted. So
22:01
Speaker 5: we certainly acknowledge that is not good enough, but these
22:04
Speaker 5: are the measures we're putting in place to get the
22:06
Speaker 5: staff and also get the beds available.
22:08
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well one of those must have been our listener
22:10
Speaker 1: and he yeah, he's been waiting for this hip replacement
22:14
Speaker 1: now for some time. It would be an incredibly difficult situation,
22:17
Speaker 1: but also the ramifications of that, you're talking about someone
22:20
Speaker 1: who can no longer work because they're waiting for an operation.
22:23
Speaker 1: Now he's actually been waiting for an extended period of time.
22:26
Speaker 2: There are several cases like that, Yeah, right throughout our territory.
22:29
Speaker 1: And again we all understand, you know that there is
22:32
Speaker 1: some enormous pressure right now.
22:33
Speaker 4: I think we all get it.
22:35
Speaker 1: But what we really don't want to see is people
22:37
Speaker 1: thinking that they're actually not able to be looked after
22:40
Speaker 1: if they go to the hospital, and you know, thinking
22:43
Speaker 1: that they if they become unwell, that there's not going
22:46
Speaker 1: to be the service here that they need, or that they're.
22:48
Speaker 4: Going to wind up on a waiting list, you know,
22:50
Speaker 4: for for a year. Oh Katie.
22:52
Speaker 5: And you know, as I said, and I don't know
22:54
Speaker 5: that gentleman's individual circumstances, but if you think your condition
22:58
Speaker 5: has deteriorated, you you can there is mechanisms within the
23:01
Speaker 5: system to make sure that that is looked at. But
23:04
Speaker 5: it's about making sure we have the staff, making sure
23:06
Speaker 5: we have the beds, and we will keep working at this.
23:08
Speaker 5: We've seen the increase in pressures on health systems right
23:11
Speaker 5: around Australia over the last eighteen months.
23:14
Speaker 1: Look, I will move away from the health system in
23:16
Speaker 1: just a moment, but I also just want to take
23:18
Speaker 1: us across to this story, the other one that ran
23:20
Speaker 1: throughout the week and the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation
23:24
Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory. They have now welcomed yesterday they
23:27
Speaker 1: welcomed this apology between Well, it was a letter that
23:33
Speaker 1: came out by doctor Feakree a bit earlier in the week,
23:37
Speaker 1: and I think that everybody was sort of quite surprised
23:40
Speaker 1: when they saw the uture. I think shocks the word yeah, it, well,
23:43
Speaker 1: quite shocked when they'd seen the detail of this letter. Now,
23:46
Speaker 1: obviously we know that the Australian Salaried Medical Officers have
23:49
Speaker 1: come out and they've said that they're happy to hear
23:51
Speaker 1: that he's apologized for his letter from the third of
23:54
Speaker 1: October and retracted in full. And you know, I really
23:58
Speaker 1: think that we've got to sit suation where obviously there
24:01
Speaker 1: are some people who are working within the emergency departments
24:04
Speaker 1: or working within the system who you know, if it
24:07
Speaker 1: is having a big impact on them and they decide
24:09
Speaker 1: to leave, do we really want to be saying, well, sorry,
24:11
Speaker 1: but you're not allowed to come back.
24:12
Speaker 3: I look, it's been put to bed, so to speak.
24:16
Speaker 3: The doctor or the person who signed the letters, I think, well,
24:19
Speaker 3: well apologized and withdrawn it. Clearly his supervision wasn't sufficient
24:24
Speaker 3: enough to ensure that this didn't happen and probably won't
24:27
Speaker 3: ever happen again in the future, because I'm sure he
24:29
Speaker 3: will have been spoken to by his superiors medically or
24:31
Speaker 3: ad ministratively. But I think we just have to encourage
24:35
Speaker 3: all the medical staff, doesn't matter who it is, to
24:37
Speaker 3: have a good working environment, whether it's you know, it
24:39
Speaker 3: takes good morale or teamwork, or good salary and conditions.
24:43
Speaker 3: So I think we just need to everyone needs to
24:45
Speaker 3: do their best to make sure we keep all the stuff.
24:46
Speaker 2: Who's speaking with salary and conditions, you know, Can we
24:49
Speaker 2: have permanent healthcare positions instead of these fixed contracts that
24:53
Speaker 2: we have.
24:53
Speaker 3: That's what I'm talking about. The nurses.
24:54
Speaker 2: They need certainty, they to be back at the same level.
24:57
Speaker 2: They need to know that they can locate here and
24:59
Speaker 2: they have certain tea.
25:00
Speaker 4: With their positions.
25:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, We've done an enormous body of work around that,
25:02
Speaker 5: transitioning people from contracts and also from using agencies and
25:07
Speaker 5: getting them permanently into the system and being more flexible
25:10
Speaker 5: within the system, having more part time positions. And that's
25:14
Speaker 5: something that I've spoken with the nursing and midwif Free
25:16
Speaker 5: Federation about is how can we if we are asking
25:20
Speaker 5: our own nurses to do a little bit extra, how
25:22
Speaker 5: can we make sure that's acknowledged it. It is complex,
25:25
Speaker 5: but certainly agency nurses have a role to play, but
25:28
Speaker 5: we've certainly shifted trying.
25:30
Speaker 2: To our shifts are definitely not acceptable, definitely not acceptable.
25:35
Speaker 2: Are you going to take responsibility for the fact that
25:36
Speaker 2: they are absolutely burnt out and that's why they are leaving.
25:40
Speaker 5: So in terms of our nurses, they do an amazing job.
25:42
Speaker 5: It's a high pressure environment and all of our medical
25:44
Speaker 5: stuff and actually, Katie, it's the people that work with them,
25:47
Speaker 5: the cleaners, the PCAs that gets bed prepared. So there's
25:50
Speaker 5: not one measure, there's not one solution that is going
25:52
Speaker 5: to suddenly fix a lot of.
25:53
Speaker 1: These Yeah, And I mean they are the ones that
25:56
Speaker 1: are contacting us here at the station to be really
25:58
Speaker 1: fair about this, you know, they're the people who are
26:00
Speaker 1: actually raising these concerns, and I think that that's really
26:02
Speaker 1: important for people to realize. I do want to though,
26:05
Speaker 1: also ask, you know, should we be including our nurses
26:09
Speaker 1: on this pay freeze that you know that's that the
26:11
Speaker 1: government obviously announced with the public service pay frees well,
26:14
Speaker 1: I mean should they Realistically, we're talking about nurses who
26:17
Speaker 1: are pulling double shifts and.
26:18
Speaker 3: Anyone who's in anyone who's in the public sector includes nurses,
26:22
Speaker 3: it includes five police, teachers, clinicians, that's right.
26:25
Speaker 1: So is it having an impact then when you're trying
26:27
Speaker 1: to recruit them and other states are potentially offering better,
26:30
Speaker 1: you know, better packages.
26:31
Speaker 3: I don't know. That's That's where I think Michael Gunner
26:34
Speaker 3: sort of missed the point and dropped the ball, so
26:36
Speaker 3: to speak, because you know, it's all very well to say,
26:38
Speaker 3: you know, have a free pay freeze for three or
26:41
Speaker 3: four years, was it? Well, who's he going to apply
26:43
Speaker 3: it to. It's like when they said, oh, executive contracts
26:44
Speaker 3: should should be on a pay freeze as well, and hello,
26:48
Speaker 3: that includes all your school principles, so you want them
26:50
Speaker 3: at the front. Just having to suck it up because
26:54
Speaker 3: you haven't been able to manage the economy and manage
26:55
Speaker 3: the Northern Terretory government's budget. I just think it's wrong.
26:58
Speaker 1: Well, look, we might take a very short break and
27:00
Speaker 1: when we come back, I'm keen to get a bit
27:01
Speaker 1: of an update on these VAX numbers and also talk
27:04
Speaker 1: more about international travel. And what is going to be
27:06
Speaker 1: happening when it comes to those borders. And we'll also
27:10
Speaker 1: we are also going to be talking a bit further
27:12
Speaker 1: about our school based constables as well. You are listening
27:15
Speaker 1: to MIX one oh four point nine is three point sixty.
27:17
Speaker 4: It is the week that was, well, you are listening
27:20
Speaker 4: to the week that was.
27:21
Speaker 1: It is just twenty minutes away from ten o'clock and
27:24
Speaker 1: so much to discuss this morning. We know that there
27:26
Speaker 1: is certainly the vaccination rollout continues on around the Northern territory.
27:31
Speaker 1: Just taking a look at some of the numbers around
27:33
Speaker 1: the territory this morning and the Health Minister, I'm sure
27:35
Speaker 1: we'll have a bit further information, but by the look
27:38
Speaker 1: of things at the moment, in some of our remote communities,
27:41
Speaker 1: things are going really quite well. You know, you've got
27:44
Speaker 1: some there at seventy one percent vaccination ray. You've got
27:48
Speaker 1: others that are sort of sitting quite low unfortunately, at
27:51
Speaker 1: fifteen percent, nine percent in some locations, five percent in
27:56
Speaker 1: the likes of Willaura, only one hundred and sixty nine
27:59
Speaker 1: residents there. Twenty one people have received their first dose,
28:03
Speaker 1: which is twelve percent, only nine then getting their second dose.
28:06
Speaker 1: Minister how big an impact is this going to have
28:09
Speaker 1: on us opening the territory up. When you've got some communities,
28:14
Speaker 1: some of our remote communities, and also some territorians living
28:17
Speaker 1: in urban centers who just do not want to get
28:19
Speaker 1: this vaccine.
28:20
Speaker 3: Their world's going to shrink. Their world is going to shrink.
28:23
Speaker 3: And I've spoken lots of people comment about us, you know,
28:25
Speaker 3: and some people it's just reluctant. They're not anti vaxxers.
28:27
Speaker 3: They might have concerns. They might be a woman looking
28:29
Speaker 3: to become pregnant with a baby and all that. But
28:32
Speaker 3: I think personally, I think the world's going to shrink.
28:34
Speaker 3: It is a term of employment, or it will become
28:36
Speaker 3: more so. These days, they will be limited in where
28:40
Speaker 3: they can go. Quantus will say you have to be vaccinated,
28:43
Speaker 3: so they won't be able to fly quantas. So I
28:44
Speaker 3: think common sense is going to have to prevail at
28:46
Speaker 3: the end of the day with people. I'm not talking
28:48
Speaker 3: about remote Aboriginal people. I'm talking about urban people, because
28:52
Speaker 3: common sense is going to have to prevail, and this
28:54
Speaker 3: is the way it's going to be into the future.
28:56
Speaker 3: And I mean, I don't sympathize with them. I accept
29:00
Speaker 3: that they've got this issue with vaccinations, but it's going
29:03
Speaker 3: to change their world, and not necessarily for the better.
29:05
Speaker 3: So I think we just have the government's obviously playing
29:07
Speaker 3: a huge role, and I've seen that there's been mobile
29:09
Speaker 3: teams around Darwen scooping up blonde grasses and people living
29:13
Speaker 3: at rough and I think they've just got to keep
29:15
Speaker 3: putting all the resources into those ears where there's a drag.
29:18
Speaker 6: Yeah.
29:18
Speaker 5: Well, in estimates in June, Minister, you said you would
29:22
Speaker 5: have given our vaccine away.
29:23
Speaker 2: Oh ooh, seriously, it's just just strapped from the real issues.
29:29
Speaker 2: Every single time you don't answer any questions. We know
29:31
Speaker 2: that that's how it works. It's out of territorians. So
29:33
Speaker 2: you said there were five hundred thousand dollars in communication
29:36
Speaker 2: and marketing for the vaccination rollout, and at that time
29:39
Speaker 2: it only spent two hundred and thirty thousand. How much
29:41
Speaker 2: have you now spent.
29:42
Speaker 5: Oh, I'd have to get that figure for you, but
29:44
Speaker 5: I got briefed the other day we're heading into phase
29:46
Speaker 5: three of the campaign around communications and Katie. Overall, two
29:49
Speaker 5: hundred and seventy thousand vaccines have been administered in the
29:52
Speaker 5: territory and seventy eight percent of territories have had a
29:54
Speaker 5: first dose. Most people are rolling up their sleeves to
29:57
Speaker 5: get vaccinated. That's fantastic. We're seeing a really strong update
30:00
Speaker 5: in the twelve and overs program. But in terms of
30:04
Speaker 5: the communications, we're really trying to understand or for people
30:07
Speaker 5: to understand how terrible COVID is and as an illness.
30:11
Speaker 5: We're also using the campaigns to go community by a
30:14
Speaker 5: community because our problem won't be Katie looking at those
30:16
Speaker 5: figures is we'll overall have high rates of vaccination in
30:19
Speaker 5: the territory. Thousands upon thousands of people will be vaccinated.
30:22
Speaker 5: What we will have is situations where we've been to
30:24
Speaker 5: a community six times. It's the vaccine has been that
30:27
Speaker 5: fridge at the community clinic and they're choosing not to
30:29
Speaker 5: get vaccinated, and that community has no coverage.
30:31
Speaker 4: It might only be a couple of hundred people, but
30:33
Speaker 4: that will be devastating.
30:34
Speaker 5: And the virus. Everyone has done an amazing job keeping
30:37
Speaker 5: it out for the last eighteen months.
30:39
Speaker 4: We can't keep it out for ever.
30:40
Speaker 1: So what's going to happen Because if we have got
30:43
Speaker 1: a community who, like you've said, you've then got vaccines
30:46
Speaker 1: sitting in the fridge, You've been out there. The Health
30:48
Speaker 1: Department's been out there six times to try and help
30:50
Speaker 1: them get vaccinated. Here you know, the chow's been out
30:54
Speaker 1: there himself to go and try to encourage them to
30:57
Speaker 1: get vaccinated, and they still don't want to.
30:59
Speaker 4: What is going to happen?
31:00
Speaker 1: I mean, is the rest of the Northern Territory going
31:02
Speaker 1: to open up and they're going to have to stay
31:04
Speaker 1: shut down.
31:05
Speaker 3: That might be a consequence. As I've said, common sense
31:07
Speaker 3: has to prevail on don't tell me these people at
31:09
Speaker 3: Bush doesn't have any common sense. They do have common sense,
31:12
Speaker 3: and I think.
31:13
Speaker 2: Going back to those numbers, are they territorians jabs or
31:15
Speaker 2: are they they include tourism, tourists and fifhose.
31:18
Speaker 5: So the vaccination those percentages are based on the peak
31:21
Speaker 5: of data, so people in terms of their addresses within
31:25
Speaker 5: the primary care information system. But Katie, coming back to
31:27
Speaker 5: the question you asked around, what will happen is certainly
31:30
Speaker 5: something that we're looking at. There'll have to be some
31:32
Speaker 5: type of public health measure, but what it is. You know,
31:34
Speaker 5: we did see biosecurity and the lockdown of communities and
31:37
Speaker 5: people were very obliging at that time. But I think
31:39
Speaker 5: that it's moved on since then, you know, mask wearing.
31:43
Speaker 5: There will be some type of public health measure, but
31:45
Speaker 5: there's one tool right now that people can access and
31:47
Speaker 5: that's the vaccine. So we're working closely with out Aboriginal
31:50
Speaker 5: medical organizations the Commonwealth. This week I spoke to Greg Hunt.
31:53
Speaker 5: They've added Central Australia. So they had East Darnham, Darwin
31:56
Speaker 5: Barkley as areas of priority. They've added Central Australia. Seen
32:00
Speaker 5: some work out of Tenant Creek with and in Guinning
32:03
Speaker 5: the Aboriginal Community Health Organization there and we're starting to
32:06
Speaker 5: see some of their numbers lift. We're not talking about
32:09
Speaker 5: huge numbers, We're talking about a.
32:10
Speaker 1: Community and so I mean you're actually talking about like
32:14
Speaker 1: fifty four people, you know, quite small communities but really
32:18
Speaker 1: low take up. So what like are there you know,
32:22
Speaker 1: are there leaders that we can send out there who
32:24
Speaker 1: are actually going to you know, who those communities will
32:28
Speaker 1: really listen to.
32:29
Speaker 3: Maybe there's a role for the people of the elected
32:32
Speaker 3: members on the shires in the outside of urban areas
32:35
Speaker 3: at Bush because we.
32:36
Speaker 5: Have seen the land councils and the local community government
32:38
Speaker 5: step up Katie and really make sure that they drive
32:42
Speaker 5: the importance of the vaccine home. So it is it
32:44
Speaker 5: is certainly concerning to us because we want every territory
32:48
Speaker 5: and to understand that importance, and we'll keep working at it.
32:50
Speaker 1: Now. Obviously it's a real health concern, but it is
32:53
Speaker 1: and we've spoken about that in terms of our health
32:56
Speaker 1: system and making sure that people are vaccinated so that
32:58
Speaker 1: there is you know, that they don't get as sick
33:01
Speaker 1: and that there is less strain on the health system.
33:03
Speaker 4: But I also want to talk about this when.
33:05
Speaker 1: You look at our borders, the situation and the impact
33:08
Speaker 1: that it is having on our tourism businesses.
33:11
Speaker 4: And I heard nationally this morning well one hundred percent.
33:14
Speaker 1: But I just want to focus on this on you know,
33:17
Speaker 1: the tourism and travel for a moment, because we heard
33:19
Speaker 1: this morning the National Tourism Body saying this we've got
33:23
Speaker 1: like one third of Australian tourism businesses on the verge
33:27
Speaker 1: of shutting shop because they no longer have that travel
33:30
Speaker 1: from international and also interstate.
33:33
Speaker 4: Now, in addition to that, this week quantus Alan.
33:36
Speaker 1: Joyce actually came out and said that he really hopes
33:39
Speaker 1: home quarantine would be a short lived solution to opening
33:43
Speaker 1: Australia's international border, and the country should lift all isolation
33:47
Speaker 1: requirements as soon as possible to restart tourism and business travel.
33:51
Speaker 4: So we sort of got a bit of a better understanding.
33:54
Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say that there's going to
33:56
Speaker 1: need to be several tests before you can get onto
33:59
Speaker 1: a plane internationally to then travel, let's say into the
34:02
Speaker 1: Northern Territory. If that London Darwin flight does indeed go ahead,
34:07
Speaker 1: you'd have to have four tests as I understand it,
34:10
Speaker 1: before you can even get on a plane, and then
34:12
Speaker 1: in other parts of Australia it would be seven days
34:15
Speaker 1: of home quarantine. I mean, is that what we're looking
34:18
Speaker 1: at here in the territory.
34:20
Speaker 5: So we'll get the advice from our health professionals. But
34:22
Speaker 5: as we see that vaccination rate rise, as we see
34:25
Speaker 5: the rapid antigen testing has improved, Katie. It it's certainly
34:28
Speaker 5: not as good as the tests that are sent off
34:30
Speaker 5: to the laboratories, but it's certainly improved and it will
34:32
Speaker 5: have a role as we all open up as a country.
34:35
Speaker 5: We of course have kept the virus out, but we
34:37
Speaker 5: acknowledge that we can't keep as Keysy was saying, blocking
34:41
Speaker 5: people from their family and friends. The impact on tourism
34:43
Speaker 5: and hospitality businesses is huge, and so we do need
34:46
Speaker 5: life to return to normal. So we will balance the
34:49
Speaker 5: health measures with getting us back to normal. But there's
34:52
Speaker 5: one thing, and I keep harping on about it, it's
34:54
Speaker 5: getting vaccinated.
34:55
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of focus on that number, that
34:57
Speaker 2: vaccination rate number. And I still want to go back
35:00
Speaker 2: to which data do territorians look out, you know, is
35:03
Speaker 2: it the NT data or is it the federal data?
35:05
Speaker 2: Because they don't match. And even in our briefing that
35:07
Speaker 2: we had last week, even the department in the chowse
35:10
Speaker 2: said that they use federal data. But you're not using
35:12
Speaker 2: that data. Is that right?
35:14
Speaker 5: So I've spoken to the federal health minister this week.
35:16
Speaker 5: Both of us agree on one thing. There are certain
35:18
Speaker 5: remote communities where the vaccination rates are far too low.
35:20
Speaker 5: It doesn't matter what data you want to look at.
35:22
Speaker 5: In terms of the figures, we've delivered over two hundred
35:24
Speaker 5: and seventy thousand doses in the churchy. We know we've
35:26
Speaker 5: delivered those doses here in the territory. We know who
35:29
Speaker 5: is in our primar key information system, so we certainly
35:32
Speaker 5: have seen a strong uptake of the vaccination. But what
35:34
Speaker 5: we're seeing is in a number of small communities, so
35:36
Speaker 5: the overall number won't be huge, but it'll be devastating
35:39
Speaker 5: in a community be our community situation.
35:41
Speaker 2: Did you drop the ball though, because in the remote
35:43
Speaker 2: communities it's started in February or March and we're now
35:45
Speaker 2: in October. What is taking so long?
35:48
Speaker 6: Oh?
35:49
Speaker 5: I don't think anyone has dropped the ball in terms
35:51
Speaker 5: of vaccination roll out. The vaccination started in March April.
35:54
Speaker 5: We were the first jurisdiction in a number of areas well,
35:57
Speaker 5: the first jurisdiction to collapse. The Tranchers were the first
36:00
Speaker 5: to jurisdiction to provide the same vaccine outside of Darwen.
36:04
Speaker 5: We then did that in dul and we're the first
36:05
Speaker 5: jurisdiction to provide vaccine for twelve and overs. We have
36:09
Speaker 5: led at every single step and there is plenty of
36:11
Speaker 5: vaccine available for people.
36:13
Speaker 4: We are going to have to go to a short break.
36:14
Speaker 1: But I do want to just ask very quickly, Natasha,
36:17
Speaker 1: when are we expecting to know if this quantus flight
36:20
Speaker 1: between Darwin and London is going.
36:22
Speaker 4: To go ahead?
36:23
Speaker 1: And if it does, is it just a short term
36:25
Speaker 1: thing or are we looking at this happening long term?
36:28
Speaker 5: So, Katie, we've worked so closely with Conscious and it
36:30
Speaker 5: started with a flight from Japan and a flight from Wuhan.
36:32
Speaker 5: We've had regular appatriation flights. This week we saw the
36:36
Speaker 5: plane land from South America via Antarctica. We've had a
36:38
Speaker 5: plane land at Darwin International Airport and a shout out
36:41
Speaker 5: to the team out there from every continent this year,
36:44
Speaker 5: and that is amazing for an airport. Only six airports
36:46
Speaker 5: have achieved that. We will keep working with Quantius and
36:49
Speaker 5: we understand that they'll be announcing soon what their final plans.
36:52
Speaker 1: Are, but we'd realistically we'd have to be making some
36:55
Speaker 1: kind of changes here for it to go ahead, because
36:57
Speaker 1: if he sort of said that, you know, what's happening
36:59
Speaker 1: in other states is seven days quarantine and those four tests,
37:03
Speaker 1: seven days home quarantine and those tests, then presumably if.
37:06
Speaker 4: We're even in with the chance, we'd have to be
37:08
Speaker 4: doing the same.
37:09
Speaker 5: So, Katie, we've worked very closely with industry. We've listened
37:12
Speaker 5: to the health advice all the way along and we
37:14
Speaker 5: will keep doing that. We have worked very hard with
37:17
Speaker 5: Quantus and we have taken every little opportunity and turned
37:21
Speaker 5: it into something and we'll keep doing that.
37:22
Speaker 1: Well, let's see what happens. Hopefully we'll find out soon.
37:24
Speaker 1: We will take a very short break and then I
37:26
Speaker 1: want to talk about these school based constables in just
37:28
Speaker 1: a couple of moments. You are listening to Mix one
37:31
Speaker 1: oh four point nine three sixty also broadcasting on Akha
37:35
Speaker 1: and Alice here. Well, you are listening to the week
37:37
Speaker 1: that was and in the studio with us this morning
37:39
Speaker 1: Murray Clare Booth, b Kesier, Puriic and Natasha Files now Kezier.
37:44
Speaker 1: Yesterday you and I spoke once again about the school
37:47
Speaker 1: based constable program here in the Northern Territory and some
37:49
Speaker 1: of the concerns that you have raised and the worries
37:53
Speaker 1: that you've got for our schools. I know that plenty
37:56
Speaker 1: of the schools have been in contact with you over
37:58
Speaker 1: recent days as well to raise those concerns if they have.
38:00
Speaker 3: Kadie. In the last settings of the Parliament in September,
38:03
Speaker 3: I raised a matter of public importance in regards to
38:05
Speaker 3: the school based constable program. It was supported by members
38:08
Speaker 3: of the opposition and also by the other independents and
38:11
Speaker 3: government members spoke at that time and they government members
38:14
Speaker 3: did acknowledge the importance of a school based constable program
38:17
Speaker 3: like these programs are not unique to our country. They're
38:20
Speaker 3: heavy into the Americas and also in parts of Europe,
38:22
Speaker 3: but probably Australia and New Zealand have got some of
38:24
Speaker 3: the best programs around the world. Literally. Now, I sent
38:28
Speaker 3: the copy of Handsar to all the high schools and
38:31
Speaker 3: middle schools and colleges in the top end and I've
38:34
Speaker 3: had very good feedback from the schools saying thank you,
38:37
Speaker 3: particularly Sanderson and of course to Mimmin, but also from
38:40
Speaker 3: the other schools out in that Northern Suburbs area. Now,
38:43
Speaker 3: I'm really surprised that the member for Sanderson, the member
38:45
Speaker 3: for Wanuri, the member for Casuarina, possibly the member for Nightclick,
38:50
Speaker 3: but I know that's a pretty good school member for
38:52
Speaker 3: Nightcliff still out there nightco Fin.
38:54
Speaker 5: It's just fabulous.
38:56
Speaker 3: But what have those members been doing. They didn't even
38:58
Speaker 3: speak in the debate, and yet they desperately needs school
39:01
Speaker 3: based constables in their schools. You know, Sanderson, I've had
39:04
Speaker 3: good chats with the chairman there and also not so
39:07
Speaker 3: much the principle, but I know who the principle is.
39:09
Speaker 3: They need two school based constables. What is going to happen, Katie,
39:12
Speaker 3: is the police Commissioner is going to take the school
39:15
Speaker 3: based constables out of all the top end schools in
39:17
Speaker 3: the urban areas and put the exiluaris in. Now, Exiliaris
39:20
Speaker 3: are fine, but they're not trained necessary to be a
39:22
Speaker 3: school based constable kind of person. Now, the other ridiculous
39:27
Speaker 3: thing that's starting to happen is where there is a
39:28
Speaker 3: school based constable at a school and there's an incident
39:31
Speaker 3: that requires police intervention. That school based constable can't address
39:35
Speaker 3: the incident on the ground. He or she has to
39:36
Speaker 3: wring the police, call the police in so he then
39:39
Speaker 3: can go and deal with the matter.
39:39
Speaker 4: Now that's just ridiculous.
39:40
Speaker 3: That's a waste of resources. So the government, the Labor government,
39:44
Speaker 3: before the last August election, promised to expand and improve
39:49
Speaker 3: the school based constable scheme. How is that doing that
39:52
Speaker 3: when they're just putting auxiliaris in. I don't no disrespect
39:55
Speaker 3: to exilaris. I know a few of them in the
39:56
Speaker 3: rural area. They do, but they do, but they are
39:59
Speaker 3: not school based constables. And don't tell me that you know,
40:03
Speaker 3: this government doesn't appreciate that. They do. They say they do,
40:05
Speaker 3: and I'm quite sure they do appreciate it. I mean,
40:07
Speaker 3: ministers are healthy and Natasha said that they do a
40:09
Speaker 3: good job. They even went through the school system themselves
40:12
Speaker 3: when they went to high school. So why is the
40:14
Speaker 3: police commissioner not listening to the minister Nicole Madison? As
40:18
Speaker 3: I said yesterday, the Minister should be directing the Police
40:20
Speaker 3: Commissioner and his team to ensure that relevant constables are
40:25
Speaker 3: recruited for our high schools at a time when we've
40:28
Speaker 3: got problems with youth and juvenile justice, youth crime running
40:32
Speaker 3: rampant across our city here in the day, and and
40:33
Speaker 3: also our springs. You've got to get at the basis
40:37
Speaker 3: of the foundations of a kid's growth. That's in the
40:39
Speaker 3: upper primary, the middle school and the auxiliaries I don't
40:42
Speaker 3: believe will be equipped with this ability to really relate
40:46
Speaker 3: because that's not what they've been chosen for. They've gone
40:49
Speaker 3: to become an auxiliary for whatever reason, whereas the school
40:52
Speaker 3: based constables I know specifically choose and want to work
40:56
Speaker 3: with youth.
40:56
Speaker 6: YEA.
40:57
Speaker 3: Now this government has a labor government and Nicole Madison,
41:00
Speaker 3: the Police Minister, really needs to get her act together
41:03
Speaker 3: and sit down with the Police Commissioner and the others
41:05
Speaker 3: to be and also Department of Education. I have to
41:07
Speaker 3: admit when they dropped the ball here the Minister for Casuarina,
41:10
Speaker 3: I don't think spoken the MPI I stand corrected.
41:13
Speaker 4: I think she did.
41:14
Speaker 3: She did that. Yeah, I wasn't sure she's got one
41:17
Speaker 3: big bloody high school in her elector what she doing
41:19
Speaker 3: to go into bat for them? You know, like this
41:21
Speaker 3: is a serious issue for our young people in our
41:23
Speaker 3: school system. And I've seen the puff piece that came
41:25
Speaker 3: out of the Department of Education. They've said that, oh, well,
41:28
Speaker 3: you know, you'll have a school based constable until the
41:31
Speaker 3: zilaries are deployed into your skill bat for my schools
41:38
Speaker 3: and the schools now that have come to me and
41:40
Speaker 3: the parents and COGSO is involved with this. They know
41:43
Speaker 3: about it and they're pushing it. Why is this labor
41:45
Speaker 3: government not listening? Like seriously, it's not even a big
41:48
Speaker 3: amount of money in the great scheme of things, my clare.
41:50
Speaker 4: Is it something that's been raised with you guys past. Absolutely.
41:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had the Palms and College talking to us
41:54
Speaker 2: about it as well, and we've heard the Minister for
41:57
Speaker 2: Police talk about how she's expanding the school based police
42:00
Speaker 2: model and how wonderful it is. And I'm just not sure,
42:02
Speaker 2: you know, is it for safety or is it for
42:04
Speaker 2: positive engagement of young people or is it both? And
42:07
Speaker 2: she seems to talk a lot a lot about this,
42:09
Speaker 2: but of course, like Kesey has said, auxiliaries don't have
42:13
Speaker 2: the same powers as constables. We've seen all sorts of
42:15
Speaker 2: problems arising out of these high schools across the top end.
42:19
Speaker 3: I think the Police Minister, Nicole Madison needs to go
42:22
Speaker 3: out to Timmy min and Samson in particular and talk
42:24
Speaker 3: with the principal, the teachers, maybe some of the parents
42:27
Speaker 3: who've perhaps had a bit of an issue with their
42:29
Speaker 3: child for whatever reason, or children, and then they'll know,
42:32
Speaker 3: they'll know how valuable this act is of a school
42:35
Speaker 3: based constable in our school system. And the last time
42:38
Speaker 3: meet with it.
42:38
Speaker 2: The last I've heard the Minister for Police has not
42:41
Speaker 2: responded to those schools.
42:43
Speaker 1: Well, look, it'll be worserected if that's the true.
42:47
Speaker 5: Right.
42:48
Speaker 3: I know, timim did get a letter from Minister Moss
42:50
Speaker 3: as Education Minister, but you're quite correct they led us
42:53
Speaker 3: to the Police Commissioner have not.
42:54
Speaker 2: Done that's unacceptable. I mean with teachers and principles and
42:58
Speaker 2: school counsels are writing to minister and they are not responding. Unacceptable.
43:02
Speaker 5: This was a program that was scrapped under the CLP, Katie.
43:04
Speaker 5: But I know the Education Minister and the Police Minister
43:06
Speaker 5: are both very passionate about it coming back into schools.
43:08
Speaker 5: There's certainly a lot of detailed questions here Minister for Education.
43:13
Speaker 3: I don't think the Police Commissioner is enthusiastic about anyway.
43:16
Speaker 5: It sounds like that Kati's giving me the wind up look,
43:20
Speaker 5: so I have to keep my.
43:21
Speaker 4: Five cents worth for another time.
43:22
Speaker 1: We will, We will certainly talk further about this, no
43:25
Speaker 1: doubt about it over the coming days. Mary Clare booth
43:27
Speaker 1: Be thank you so very much for your time this morning.
43:30
Speaker 1: Thank you, Katie Perick, thank you so much for your
43:32
Speaker 1: time this morning. And Natasha Fhiles, thank you for your
43:35
Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks Katie.
43:37
Speaker 4: That was the week that was plenty more coming your
43:39
Speaker 4: way on the show after ten o'clock