Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Chief Minister Michael Gunner about the changes to home quarantine arrangements

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Katie spoke with Chief Minister Michael Gunner about the changes to home quarantine arrangements · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: The biggest thing that Territorians are talking about right now
0:03
Speaker 1: is the borders and those quarantine requirements, and a lot
0:07
Speaker 1: of people well wondering are they going to be able
0:09
Speaker 1: to head away for Christmas? Planning to travel away and
0:13
Speaker 1: if so, where are you going to be able to go.
0:15
Speaker 1: We know that Queensland made their announcement last week obviously
0:19
Speaker 1: about the seventy two hours and providing that negative COVID test.
0:24
Speaker 1: Then we saw we saw that Tasmania made a similar
0:27
Speaker 1: announcement that they'd be doing the same from December fifteen.
0:30
Speaker 1: You'll need a negative COVID test within seventy two hours
0:33
Speaker 1: of travel. So we are, by the sounds of it,
0:36
Speaker 1: taking a more cautious approach.
0:38
Speaker 2: Keen to know from you. What do you think.
0:40
Speaker 1: Are you happy with that staged approach or would you
0:42
Speaker 1: prefer to be open up by Christmas? Feel free to
0:45
Speaker 1: send us a message on the tech line if you'd
0:48
Speaker 1: like zero four, double nine seven double one three six zero.
0:52
Speaker 1: In just a little while, we'll get the latest in
0:54
Speaker 1: local news with Dannielle, and there is a lot to
0:56
Speaker 1: cover this morning. In local news, we know that the
0:58
Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police are instigating the alleged sexual assault of
1:02
Speaker 1: a child in Alice Springs. Detectives from the Alice Springs
1:05
Speaker 1: Criminal Investigation Branch received a report of a child under
1:08
Speaker 1: the age of sixteen sexually assaulted at a residential property
1:12
Speaker 1: in Alice. Meanwhile, police are investigating a fatal crash in
1:16
Speaker 1: which a woman died outside Man and Greta on the weekend.
1:19
Speaker 1: When police arrived at the scene they found a male
1:21
Speaker 1: occupant of as Dan with serious injuries and a female
1:25
Speaker 1: occupant trapped inside that vehicle.
1:27
Speaker 2: So we'll find out a little bit more about that.
1:30
Speaker 1: At nine p forty five we are going to be
1:32
Speaker 1: speaking to Sue Shier from the Council of the Aging
1:34
Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory, following the release of a
1:37
Speaker 1: scathing seventy seven page audit into an aged care home
1:41
Speaker 1: here in the territory. So there is certainly a lot
1:43
Speaker 1: to cover off on. Let's get straight into it because
1:46
Speaker 1: the Chief Minister, Michael Gunnett joins me in the studio
1:48
Speaker 1: right now.
1:49
Speaker 2: Good morning to your Chief Minister Kenny.
1:51
Speaker 1: Now you have this morning announced the government's going to
1:54
Speaker 1: introduce home quarantine for fully vaccinated domestic travelers in high
1:58
Speaker 1: vaccination zones. With a prox from approximately I should say
2:02
Speaker 1: the twenty third of November. It's all in preparation I
2:05
Speaker 1: guess for a home quarantine pilot program that's going to
2:08
Speaker 1: be kicking off from tomorrow.
2:10
Speaker 2: How's this going to work?
2:12
Speaker 3: So we're going to essentially do a safe staged exit
2:14
Speaker 3: from our current border position in our quarantine arrangements, which
2:17
Speaker 3: is basically sending everyone out to center of national resilience.
2:20
Speaker 3: That's obviously getting to be over the top now that
2:22
Speaker 3: people are basically double dose and Darwin is going to
2:26
Speaker 3: such a high vaccination rate, so there's a lot to this.
2:29
Speaker 3: The territory is currently at eighty six percent first dose
2:33
Speaker 3: seventy five percent second dose, so we're approaching eighty eighty
2:36
Speaker 3: eighty percent double dose as a territory. We want our pilot.
2:40
Speaker 3: How we'll do home quarantine so we can get all
2:42
Speaker 3: the essentially stressed testa system. So Darwin is ninety one
2:45
Speaker 3: percent first dose seventy eight percent second dose, So we'll
2:48
Speaker 3: do the start the pilot in Darwen from tomorrow now
2:51
Speaker 3: be fourteen days home quarantine with a very significant testing
2:55
Speaker 3: ranging of one, three, five, seven, twelve and seventeen. So
2:59
Speaker 3: to be eligible for home quarantine. You have to be
3:02
Speaker 3: double vaxed. I think we all get that. You have
3:04
Speaker 3: to test negative before coming in, soenting two hours before
3:07
Speaker 3: coming in, and you have to agree to use the
3:09
Speaker 3: good to go out. Now, we want it to be practical.
3:12
Speaker 3: So what we've said is, say you're coming home, Caden,
3:15
Speaker 3: You've you've been into state into a red zone, so
3:18
Speaker 3: they be inwas Victoria's. You know, most Austli's actually green zone,
3:20
Speaker 3: so this doesn't apply to most people. You're coming home.
3:24
Speaker 3: We will allow your husband and kids to go about
3:27
Speaker 3: their lives as long as they also agree to be
3:31
Speaker 3: tested on days one, three, five, seven, twelve, and.
3:33
Speaker 1: Seventeen, so they won't have to quarantine as well. It
3:36
Speaker 1: will literally just be the person who's been into stage.
3:39
Speaker 1: But it is still fourteen days of home quarantine. So
3:41
Speaker 1: that's for this pilot program.
3:44
Speaker 3: For the pilot program and then for the first phase,
3:46
Speaker 3: which will be again for two application cycles, so four weeks,
3:50
Speaker 3: so we'll come out of that just before Christmas. This
3:53
Speaker 3: is about making sure that we can do this in
3:55
Speaker 3: the safe way, so that testing cadence, so basically every
3:58
Speaker 3: two days in the first week based on health device
4:01
Speaker 3: means we should know you're positive before you're infectious, so
4:04
Speaker 3: we can be really practical about how we do this.
4:08
Speaker 3: And the point is that testing regime stays in place
4:10
Speaker 3: all the way through our phases, and we slowly wind
4:13
Speaker 3: back the quarantine. So fourteen days before Christmas, after Christmas
4:17
Speaker 3: for four weeks seven days, and then by late January,
4:20
Speaker 3: so towards end of the school holidays, before the end
4:22
Speaker 3: of school holidays, we should be in a place where
4:24
Speaker 3: we can go to the testing regime only no quarantine.
4:27
Speaker 2: All right.
4:27
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say that a lot of
4:29
Speaker 1: Territorians have rushed out to have the vaccine, not only
4:32
Speaker 1: due to those health concerns, but also because they want
4:34
Speaker 1: to be able to travel freely.
4:35
Speaker 2: Again, is I mean lot? To me?
4:38
Speaker 1: It's one of the number one things that people are
4:40
Speaker 1: talking about right now in the community and around the workplace.
4:43
Speaker 1: They're asking those questions, will I be able to travel
4:46
Speaker 1: at Christmas? And how long will I have to quarantine?
4:48
Speaker 1: For Other states have given a date in December and
4:52
Speaker 1: said that they'd need that negative test seventy two hours
4:55
Speaker 1: prior to travel. For us, though, it sounds like it's
4:58
Speaker 1: going to be very different. Firstly, that trial, then we
5:01
Speaker 1: get to home quarantine, then we do the seven days
5:03
Speaker 1: home quarantine. Like, from what date are we going to
5:07
Speaker 1: see the seven days home quarantine first, Sue.
5:10
Speaker 3: But I think the best way to break this up
5:11
Speaker 3: is before Christmas fourteen days home quarantine just before Christmas,
5:15
Speaker 3: just after crisis, we'll move to seven days home quarantine,
5:18
Speaker 3: and then late January, before the end of the school holidays,
5:20
Speaker 3: we'll be going into a test negative on arrival and
5:23
Speaker 3: then agree to the testing regime, So no quarantine essentially
5:26
Speaker 3: by late January.
5:27
Speaker 1: So why are we going such a strict approach here comparatively.
5:31
Speaker 2: To other states.
5:32
Speaker 3: Well, in my opinion, we've got this right by in
5:35
Speaker 3: large through the last eighteen months. When it comes to
5:37
Speaker 3: how we manage our borders. This is the same approach
5:40
Speaker 3: we took last time when we managed our borders, which
5:42
Speaker 3: was having the essentially two replications cycle exit that allowed
5:47
Speaker 3: us to see the Victorian second wave coming and make
5:49
Speaker 3: those decisions around Victoria. So for us, it's about taking
5:52
Speaker 3: a careful stage APPROACHESS. You're going through the gears on
5:56
Speaker 3: our way out, I believe based off the health of
5:58
Speaker 3: us and the health advice obviously for very strong and
6:00
Speaker 3: there's two replication cycles gives you all the times to
6:02
Speaker 3: be able to make safe decisions because we are still
6:06
Speaker 3: having to do everything we can to reduce the risk
6:08
Speaker 3: of COVID coming to the territory and the impact on
6:10
Speaker 3: people and our hospital system and the health of territories.
6:13
Speaker 1: But ultimately COVID is going to end up in the
6:15
Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
6:16
Speaker 2: So are we prepared? Is our health system prepared?
6:19
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe we're prepared to deal with it if
6:21
Speaker 3: it comes, But I think every day we save on
6:25
Speaker 3: it coming is a good day. So that means another
6:28
Speaker 3: vaccine into an arm, that's just one more day gain.
6:31
Speaker 3: So in my opinion, we've got to keep taking a
6:33
Speaker 3: safe exit here. Now. Home quarantine is obviously a much
6:37
Speaker 3: better option. When dal one hits double dose ninety, someone's
6:40
Speaker 3: double dosed. This is a significantly better option than setting
6:42
Speaker 3: around a cent of national resilience. It's over the top.
6:44
Speaker 3: So we're taking a safe, staged exit here to be
6:47
Speaker 3: in a position where people can move. There'll be lots
6:49
Speaker 3: of movement over Christmas. Can be practical about that, when
6:51
Speaker 3: we practical about how our home quarantine works, so people
6:54
Speaker 3: choose that option and it works, and the testing regimes
6:57
Speaker 3: key to all of that. So this is how we
6:59
Speaker 3: make sure vaccine people get rewarded. Unvaccinated people have to
7:02
Speaker 3: ask permission to come back into the territory and quarantine
7:04
Speaker 3: at CNR, which won't always grant, and you have to
7:07
Speaker 3: pay the full wack of twenty five hundred. So there's
7:08
Speaker 3: no reward here for unvaccinated people.
7:10
Speaker 1: Okay, So can I just make it really clear from
7:13
Speaker 1: what you've said before Christmas people are still going to
7:16
Speaker 1: need to home quarantine for fourteen days after Christmas, it's
7:20
Speaker 1: seven days that they're going to be able to home
7:22
Speaker 1: quarantine for and then from late January no quarantine.
7:27
Speaker 2: Just testing.
7:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if we get this right, if everything works perfectly,
7:32
Speaker 3: we'll be able to go to seven days just prior
7:33
Speaker 3: to Christmas. But I think around the twenty third or
7:35
Speaker 3: twenty fourth, and we'll be able to go to the
7:37
Speaker 3: no quarantine arrangement late January, you know, and might say
7:40
Speaker 3: late round eighteen or nineteen January. So I know a
7:43
Speaker 3: lot of people out there want to do their plans.
7:45
Speaker 3: I can't give you promises. Those are the hard dates.
7:46
Speaker 3: But if you take the two replication cycles for twenty
7:49
Speaker 3: eight days, those are the dates that we're aiming to hit.
7:52
Speaker 1: Why can't you give us hard dates when everywhere else
7:54
Speaker 1: around Australia is.
7:56
Speaker 3: So it's more that those other hard dates. I don't
7:59
Speaker 3: want you to make a booking on it with me
8:02
Speaker 3: saying absolutely on twenty three January or sorry, twenty three
8:06
Speaker 3: December eighteen January is it. We've given ourselves deliberately two
8:09
Speaker 3: replication cycles to make sure we're doing this in a
8:11
Speaker 3: safe way, and so there is a chance there is
8:14
Speaker 3: a chance that something will go wrong, and I'll offront
8:15
Speaker 3: a camera, I'll say, this is what's gone wrong, this
8:17
Speaker 3: is why we're making the decision we're making, and for
8:18
Speaker 3: that reason, twenty three December eighteen January is not there.
8:21
Speaker 3: So this is me just putting what I think is
8:23
Speaker 3: a very common sense caveat on this that, like everything,
8:26
Speaker 3: we're doing this in a safe, staged exit. This is
8:29
Speaker 3: the plan that we're working towards. So you can see
8:30
Speaker 3: all my homework, you see exactly what we're trying to do.
8:32
Speaker 3: And while we're trying to do it, and we're being
8:35
Speaker 3: up front, we've got to be careful of COVID and
8:37
Speaker 3: we've put a caveat in place.
8:39
Speaker 1: So I know that there has already been a trial
8:41
Speaker 1: which was happening in Alice Springs already hasn't there.
8:44
Speaker 3: So we trialed the good to go app in Alice
8:46
Speaker 3: Springs when we had reached capacity of at the top
8:50
Speaker 3: facility down there. So obviously we wanted it to work.
8:53
Speaker 3: The testing that we're doing here is off the testing,
8:56
Speaker 3: so we're saying one, three, five, seven, twelve, and seventeen.
8:59
Speaker 3: That's a lot of tests that so that we've got
9:01
Speaker 3: confidence that well that you should test positive before you're infectious.
9:04
Speaker 3: That has allows other people in your home to go
9:06
Speaker 3: about their lives. What we're testing the pilot is the
9:09
Speaker 3: testing capacity and the testing regime.
9:11
Speaker 1: Okay, so ultimately people have to undergo five tests to
9:14
Speaker 1: be able to quarantine at.
9:15
Speaker 3: Times three, five, seven, twelve, seventeen six tests and test
9:19
Speaker 3: negative before you arrive. So seven tests in about eighteen
9:23
Speaker 3: nineteen days.
9:24
Speaker 1: That is extremely strict comparatively to other states.
9:28
Speaker 3: Why we're not stuffing around. COVID is still extremely serious.
9:32
Speaker 3: We still take it extremely seriously. It will have massive
9:35
Speaker 3: impacts whenever it comes in the lawn territory. I think
9:38
Speaker 3: everyone knows that. If I've ever got a position of
9:40
Speaker 3: doubt we So you're going to fall on I'm going
9:42
Speaker 3: to fall on the side of a territory life. So
9:43
Speaker 3: this allows for practical movement. In my opinion, it gives
9:46
Speaker 3: a reward to vaccinated Territorians. It means that we remain
9:49
Speaker 3: in control of of our exit and we've got the
9:51
Speaker 3: ability to make decisions if we need to. So this
9:53
Speaker 3: is how we safely exit while keeping territories safe. That's
9:56
Speaker 3: got it in my priority all the way through this.
9:58
Speaker 3: I'm not going to rush it. I'm not let it rip.
10:00
Speaker 3: We're going to make sure we have a safe exit.
10:01
Speaker 3: We're giving people clear, clear line of sight to everything
10:05
Speaker 3: that we're doing so they can make their Christmas plans.
10:07
Speaker 3: So I think it's really important people do want to reunite,
10:10
Speaker 3: families have a Christmas. You can see what's going on here.
10:12
Speaker 3: Home quarantines are massive difference to C and R to
10:14
Speaker 3: be able to go away and come back to your house.
10:16
Speaker 3: I get that, and that's what we're putting in place.
10:17
Speaker 1: Okay, so how about for those Territorians listening this morning
10:20
Speaker 1: who want to book flights for family to come and
10:23
Speaker 1: visit them here in the territory for Christmas. Ultimately, if
10:26
Speaker 1: they've still got a home quarantine for fourteen days. If
10:29
Speaker 1: they're coming from let's say Sydney or New South Wales
10:32
Speaker 1: or Victoria, it's pretty much going to be untenable, isn't it.
10:35
Speaker 3: So the massive difference here is if you're coming up
10:38
Speaker 3: from Sydney, you were going to spend fourteen days at
10:41
Speaker 3: Centternational Resilience. Now, if you come up from Sydney in December,
10:44
Speaker 3: you'll spend fourteen days at someone's house and the people
10:48
Speaker 3: who are in that house will still got to have
10:49
Speaker 3: their normal life. So you've be able to quarantine at
10:52
Speaker 3: that person's home and be able to mix with your
10:54
Speaker 3: family and friends over that fourteen days. That's a huge
10:56
Speaker 3: difference for being at CNR out of sight, tucked away.
11:00
Speaker 3: So there is a big difference. And obviously into January
11:02
Speaker 3: you're talking seven days, and I'm obviously hopeful that we'll
11:05
Speaker 3: land seven days prior.
11:06
Speaker 1: To Christmas, Okay, So I know that a lot of
11:08
Speaker 1: people are obviously still wondering how it's all going to
11:11
Speaker 1: work for them coming home if they do travel away
11:13
Speaker 1: at Christmas time, and why they're still going to need
11:16
Speaker 1: to quarantine for seven days if they come back from
11:19
Speaker 1: a hot spot. But by the sounds of it, you're
11:22
Speaker 1: not budging on this.
11:23
Speaker 3: Well, COVID is still a real threat. I think we
11:26
Speaker 3: have to recognize that we're moving to a position where
11:29
Speaker 3: we can have safer movement of people. We're going to
11:32
Speaker 3: do that in the staged way. I get that some
11:34
Speaker 3: stage COVID will be endemic, but every day that we
11:37
Speaker 3: can keep COVID at bay is a good day for
11:40
Speaker 3: the territory. It's another vaccine in someone else's arm. We've
11:43
Speaker 3: just got to do everything we can to make sure
11:44
Speaker 3: we handle this safely. We're going to getting into boosters soon.
11:47
Speaker 3: Obviously the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Australia flag that
11:51
Speaker 3: we're going to get to get to boosters soon. So
11:53
Speaker 3: COVID is not going awigh anytime soon. We've got to
11:55
Speaker 3: do everything we can to be practical and safe in
11:58
Speaker 3: the non territory.
11:58
Speaker 2: What about for you? Are you going to travel away
12:00
Speaker 2: at Christmas time?
12:01
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about it. I've got no idea if we
12:03
Speaker 3: are or aren't like everyone else. This will go into
12:06
Speaker 3: my decision making with the family about what we do
12:08
Speaker 3: or don't do. And obviously I've got to talk to
12:10
Speaker 3: manow as Deputy chief when she wants to go away.
12:13
Speaker 3: So I don't have a neat answer on that one yet, Katie,
12:16
Speaker 3: but I'll obviously try and take some leave out of Christmas.
12:18
Speaker 1: There's a lot of There is a lot of messages
12:20
Speaker 1: coming through this morning, so many of them are wondering,
12:24
Speaker 1: you know what about families who are stuck into state,
12:27
Speaker 1: double dosed and need to travel by road to get
12:30
Speaker 1: back into the northern territory.
12:31
Speaker 3: So same rules if you come in by by road,
12:34
Speaker 3: just have a negative test when you cross the border,
12:37
Speaker 3: and then head on up to wherever you want to quarantine,
12:39
Speaker 3: whichever house that is. If you if you're fully fully VAXXI,
12:42
Speaker 3: you still fill out that border arrival for him as
12:44
Speaker 3: we have and that will guide you all the way
12:46
Speaker 3: through the process that we're more than happy for people
12:47
Speaker 3: to come across the borders on road borders.
12:49
Speaker 1: For a lot of those a lot of those territories
12:52
Speaker 1: that may be work in construction, transport, different jobs that
12:55
Speaker 1: you can't do from home. Ultimately, that seven days is
12:59
Speaker 1: going to mean that they're chewing up their annual leave.
13:02
Speaker 1: And for a lot in the private sect, do you
13:03
Speaker 1: only get four weeks annual leave. It's a big hit
13:06
Speaker 1: for those people.
13:06
Speaker 3: Previously they're doing it at Howard Springs and twenty five hundred,
13:09
Speaker 3: so now you get to do it at home essentially
13:12
Speaker 3: for free. Fourteen days first, then seven, then none and
13:14
Speaker 3: obviously if you time your holidays towards the end of January,
13:17
Speaker 3: we're moving into the nun phase. So one reason why
13:19
Speaker 3: providing this information is people can make an informed decision
13:21
Speaker 3: about what they do over December January.
13:23
Speaker 1: What impact, though, do you think this is going to
13:26
Speaker 1: have on tourism, because we are still talking about tourism
13:30
Speaker 1: and hospitality. Realistically not going to be able to see
13:34
Speaker 1: the full benefits of people traveling to the Northern Territory
13:37
Speaker 1: with this regime that you've announced this morning.
13:39
Speaker 3: Well, this is our low season. Obviously we're moving into
13:42
Speaker 3: our high season if you look at the Darwin London flights.
13:46
Speaker 3: This puts us into a position around late January early
13:49
Speaker 3: February where international quarantine will with the same rules as
13:53
Speaker 3: domestic test negative on or I will maintain the testing
13:57
Speaker 3: regime free movement. So we're moving into position by early
14:00
Speaker 3: New Year, around February, and that which I think is
14:02
Speaker 3: very practical. If you look at our dates, we're only
14:04
Speaker 3: about four weeks out from Brisbane. From Queensland or Tazzy
14:07
Speaker 3: and what they're doing, we're doing a much safer way,
14:10
Speaker 3: so it's a bit different.
14:11
Speaker 1: So like the six tests comparatively to one and seventy two.
14:15
Speaker 3: Hours, I think for the sake of four weeks, this
14:18
Speaker 3: is a much more sensible, safer way through it. Obviously
14:22
Speaker 3: I can't comment on what Queensland and Tazzy have done
14:24
Speaker 3: and what health device they've received, but for us, we're
14:28
Speaker 3: still obviously recognized the seriousness of COVID well everything we
14:31
Speaker 3: can to minimize the chances of COVID wricking up. This
14:34
Speaker 3: is all about reducing risk. So I see this is
14:36
Speaker 3: a massive difference for the vaccinated versus what we're having
14:39
Speaker 3: to do right now, which is fourteen days, twenty five
14:41
Speaker 3: hundred cent for national resilience. This is a huge change.
14:44
Speaker 3: It's a safe change. I understand it's not going as
14:46
Speaker 3: far as Queensland and Tassy. I'm not saying they're letting
14:49
Speaker 3: it rip because obviously their COVID zero states can be
14:52
Speaker 3: very cautious through this too, but we're not going down
14:55
Speaker 3: that same path. We think the risk there is riskier
14:59
Speaker 3: than what we're doing where territory is different to a
15:02
Speaker 3: lot of places. We're making sure we've got a low
15:05
Speaker 3: risk scenario, not no risk, no thing's no risk, but
15:07
Speaker 3: a lowriess scenario.
15:08
Speaker 1: So, has your announcement today been completely guided by health
15:11
Speaker 1: advice or is there an element of needing to give
15:13
Speaker 1: territories the freedoms that are being offered in other jurisdictions.
15:18
Speaker 3: To every decision we've made is based on the health advice.
15:21
Speaker 3: And then obviously we have a sense of to talk
15:22
Speaker 3: about how do we practically put this in place and
15:24
Speaker 3: implement it, about how we manage risk? So the testing cadence,
15:28
Speaker 3: So the question back to health and the many respects
15:32
Speaker 3: is how can we get our way through from CNR
15:35
Speaker 3: to home quarantine to no quarantine. What's the testing regime
15:37
Speaker 3: we have in place that allows us to safely do that?
15:39
Speaker 3: So they're the ones that's said one, three, five, seven, twelve, seventeen.
15:42
Speaker 3: Managers deliver that. Now, as we go through this process
15:46
Speaker 3: the pilot, you know, phase one to fourteen days, phase two,
15:49
Speaker 3: et cetera. If by doing all that workload we find
15:52
Speaker 3: that it's more tests than we need, that we can
15:54
Speaker 3: always dial back. But yeah, I'd rather dial back than
15:57
Speaker 3: dial up. Yeah, let's do this in a same stage way.
16:01
Speaker 3: So that's the plans.
16:02
Speaker 1: Now, Obviously all of this is based on us being
16:05
Speaker 1: at that eighty percent vaccination rate as well. You're confident
16:08
Speaker 1: that we're going to be there soon.
16:09
Speaker 3: You can only home quarantine in a high vax area.
16:12
Speaker 3: So Darlin, for example, is ninety one seventy eight. So
16:16
Speaker 3: in three to four weeks we're looking to exit from
16:19
Speaker 3: the pilot into home quarantine and Darne will probably be
16:21
Speaker 3: close double dose ninety. So Darlin's Flying Alice Springs is
16:24
Speaker 3: eighty nine percent first dose, seventy seven percent second dose,
16:27
Speaker 3: so similar areas, they'll be close double dose ninety by
16:29
Speaker 3: the time we get into the home quarantine period. Parmeston's
16:33
Speaker 3: a bit further behind. Parmeston's seventy six percent first dose
16:36
Speaker 3: sixty three percent second dose, So Parmestan's going to be
16:39
Speaker 3: a little while before and to qualify, but you go
16:41
Speaker 3: to get to double dose eighty to qualify as an
16:43
Speaker 3: area for home quarantining.
16:44
Speaker 1: So ultimately, if you're living in a remote community, you're
16:47
Speaker 1: not going to be able to do this in.
16:48
Speaker 3: A remote community to have the high vax rate, and
16:50
Speaker 3: some have exceptionally high vaccination rates, so they meet that.
16:53
Speaker 3: But we're still waiting on the dolity modeling about what
16:54
Speaker 3: our remote community's VACX rate should be, and we would
16:58
Speaker 3: have to have land council consents. I wouldn't just whack
17:01
Speaker 3: a home quarantine out in a remote community without talking
17:03
Speaker 3: to traditional owners and Lanye council about what they want.
17:06
Speaker 3: But said that, we've still got the dolly modeling about
17:09
Speaker 3: what our remote community vaccination rate should be.
17:10
Speaker 2: Now, a couple of other things I do want to
17:12
Speaker 2: ask you about quickly.
17:13
Speaker 1: It was reported on the weekend that the government's vaccine
17:15
Speaker 1: mandate is set to expand to anybody wanting to apply
17:19
Speaker 1: for a government grant or contract. Those businesses will have
17:22
Speaker 1: to have their entire workforce double vaccinated under strict new
17:26
Speaker 1: rules expected to be announced.
17:28
Speaker 2: By you, Chief Minister. How is this going to work?
17:32
Speaker 3: So we're obviously a pro vax government will simply make
17:34
Speaker 3: it a condition of any contract that people win that
17:37
Speaker 3: they have to have a fully vaccinated workforce. So we're
17:39
Speaker 3: doing the legal work now, so we'll alsosly have a
17:41
Speaker 3: proper announcement and release this all all soon. But essentially
17:44
Speaker 3: We're saying, if you want a tender for government work,
17:46
Speaker 3: you want to do work for government where a provax government,
17:49
Speaker 3: you have to have a fully dosed workforce.
17:50
Speaker 2: So one hundred percent vaccination rate.
17:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you want to government dollar vavaccinated.
17:55
Speaker 1: What's going to happen with the businesses who've already got contracts?
17:58
Speaker 1: Is it retrospective company has already been a water to tender,
18:02
Speaker 1: Let's say a construction company, if their workforce hasn't been
18:06
Speaker 1: one hundred percent vaccinated, will they be penalized or have
18:10
Speaker 1: their contract canceled if they don't comply.
18:12
Speaker 3: This applies to all future contracts. Anyone who's already got
18:14
Speaker 3: a contract, We're riding to all of them reminding them
18:17
Speaker 3: of their need to meet the current Chow direction that
18:21
Speaker 3: we released about manatory vaccinations for workers in vulnerable settings.
18:24
Speaker 3: So that's happening. So anyone who's already got a contract,
18:27
Speaker 3: the Chow Direction obviously applies to you. But for any
18:29
Speaker 3: future contract, we're simply saying b double dose.
18:32
Speaker 1: We know over the weekend again more than a thousand
18:35
Speaker 1: Territorians hit the streets in Darwin to protest against that
18:38
Speaker 1: vaccine mandate.
18:39
Speaker 2: Are you concerned?
18:40
Speaker 1: By the large number of Territorians who are still refusing
18:43
Speaker 1: to get that vaccine.
18:44
Speaker 3: Well, we're ninety one percent first dose in Darwin. I
18:48
Speaker 3: don't see it as a large number. I see as
18:49
Speaker 3: a very vocal minority. Absolutely, but we're ninety one percent
18:52
Speaker 3: first dose in Darwin. So I get it that there's
18:55
Speaker 3: some people out there who want a campaign against a free,
18:58
Speaker 3: safe vaccine that will help save their life and they
19:01
Speaker 3: don't want that vaccine. I get it. I hear what
19:04
Speaker 3: they're saying. Obviously don't agree with what they're saying, and
19:07
Speaker 3: we obviously are moving forward.
19:08
Speaker 1: We did hear last week from various industry groups who
19:11
Speaker 1: are a bit concerned about the implementation of the vaccine.
19:14
Speaker 1: So we know that workers are obviously going to be
19:16
Speaker 1: required to have received at least one dose by November twelve,
19:19
Speaker 1: I believe it is, and the second by December twenty four.
19:22
Speaker 2: How is it going to be?
19:24
Speaker 1: Police like our employers going to be expected to dab
19:29
Speaker 1: in their employees.
19:30
Speaker 3: So we will have obviously a register, so asking every
19:33
Speaker 3: business to just keep a list of who's there. Absolutely,
19:37
Speaker 3: I expect an employee judy of care. So our device
19:39
Speaker 3: is this is probably captured under the work of and
19:41
Speaker 3: safety legislation as judy of care. So we're saying if
19:43
Speaker 3: we didn't do the choe directions, high likelihood you as
19:45
Speaker 3: an employerer, we'll probably required to do this anyway. But
19:48
Speaker 3: to make it really clear, really straightforward, have one spot
19:50
Speaker 3: where it was all captured, we did a choe direction.
19:53
Speaker 3: So absolutely you have a duty of care as an
19:54
Speaker 3: employer to make sure that choe direction is enforced. And
19:58
Speaker 3: there was a twenty five grand five for you as
20:00
Speaker 3: a business. Don't enforce this, is it going to be.
20:02
Speaker 1: Tough for them to try and actually, you know, enforce
20:05
Speaker 1: this or are we going to see police out there
20:07
Speaker 1: in the workforce or in the workplaces performing compliance checks.
20:11
Speaker 3: So there's probably two things at first. Like everything, we'll
20:13
Speaker 3: go to education first, so we've we've always done that.
20:15
Speaker 3: We haven't led with enforcement with lead of education as
20:18
Speaker 3: probably environmental health officers are more likely the ones to
20:21
Speaker 3: be enforcing this, or you know, it'spot checking businesses. If
20:25
Speaker 3: you have any concerns, we're happy to work it through
20:27
Speaker 3: with you. My understanding is that this is a very straightforward,
20:31
Speaker 3: fair work process to implement. It only is a problem
20:35
Speaker 3: with someone's refusing to be vaccinated and as we know
20:38
Speaker 3: night Dale and ninety percent first dough So it's going
20:40
Speaker 3: to be a small only a small number of people affected.
20:42
Speaker 2: So what about with government jobs?
20:43
Speaker 1: If there are people within the public service who refuse
20:46
Speaker 1: to get vaccinated, they will be stood down.
20:48
Speaker 3: Yep. So we've also got a process we've got to
20:49
Speaker 3: work through. We've a legislated process and other condition we've
20:52
Speaker 3: got to work through. So the advice I've got this is,
20:55
Speaker 3: you know, always see a lawyer for specific advice, But
20:57
Speaker 3: the advice I have in general is essentially, there has
20:59
Speaker 3: to be a process. You can't just dismiss someone. You've
21:01
Speaker 3: got to actually go through a process. And then at
21:03
Speaker 3: the end of that process, there's really only two options
21:05
Speaker 3: in this scenario. Can that person be a reassigned Is
21:08
Speaker 3: there another task they can physically do within your business
21:10
Speaker 3: or the public service that is legitimate, That is a
21:14
Speaker 3: genuine thing that they can actually do. You can't make work.
21:16
Speaker 3: It's got to be genuine. If there isn't, then really
21:18
Speaker 3: dismissiles the only option.
21:19
Speaker 1: And there are so many questions coming through. I might
21:21
Speaker 1: just ask you one quick one about hot spots. I
21:24
Speaker 1: know that's you know currently right now, I believe Victoria,
21:27
Speaker 1: parts of Victoria and also New South Wales are declared
21:30
Speaker 1: hot spots. Is there going to be a winding back
21:32
Speaker 1: of any of those at this point?
21:33
Speaker 3: So we have flag that we will move to what
21:35
Speaker 3: we're calling orange zones, where we see the COVID risk
21:38
Speaker 3: as lower. If you're coming from an orange zone, you
21:41
Speaker 3: only test negative on arrival. So we haven't obviously declared
21:44
Speaker 3: orange zones yet. That's a new thing as we've announced,
21:47
Speaker 3: we talked about it. We haven't declared any yet, but
21:49
Speaker 3: we're going to move to a position where if we
21:51
Speaker 3: feel an area like regional Vick or something like that
21:53
Speaker 3: is an orange zone not a red and all we
21:55
Speaker 3: will require from you when you arrive is a negative
21:57
Speaker 3: test on arrival.
21:58
Speaker 2: What's going to differentiate between a red zone and an
22:00
Speaker 2: orange zigone.
22:00
Speaker 3: So it will be the work the chow does around
22:02
Speaker 3: risk where the case is is it a household only
22:06
Speaker 3: all the cases linked, what's the wastewater saying, So similar
22:09
Speaker 3: to how we've done in the past, if we feel
22:11
Speaker 3: that's an area of load medium risk, will declare it
22:13
Speaker 3: an orange zone. Then all the double dose persons doing
22:16
Speaker 3: a arrivals test negative.
22:17
Speaker 1: Okay, So for those orange signs, but for the red zones.
22:21
Speaker 1: Presumably the likes of Victoria and New South Wales would
22:23
Speaker 1: stay as they are right now as red zone.
22:25
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean, and obviously more likely the capital cities.
22:27
Speaker 3: If you look over the last eighty months, what's been
22:29
Speaker 3: the hot spots? More likely capitals. We'll obviously keep at
22:32
Speaker 3: the moment Victorians have Wales. But if you're going to
22:34
Speaker 3: look in an area that will become orange, is more
22:36
Speaker 3: likely be regional areas that will go orange, and not
22:40
Speaker 3: capitals have been more likely to be hot.
22:42
Speaker 1: Chief Minister Michael Gunner, we are going to have to
22:44
Speaker 1: leave it there. Appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very
22:46
Speaker 1: much for chatting with us.
22:47
Speaker 3: Thank you,