Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie checked back in with President of the Isolated Children's Parents' Association Sarah Cook for a reaction to the news kids would be home quarantine free for Christmas

Transcript

Katie checked back in with President of the Isolated Children's Parents' Association Sarah Cook for a reaction to the news kids would be home quarantine free for Christmas · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And if you're listening to the show earlier in the week,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you would have heard. I think everybody was so concerned
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: that we're in a situation where territory kids who are
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: at boarding school and also at university were looking like
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: they weren't going to be able to get home for Christmas,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: despite the fact that their families in a lot of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: these cases live on stations or properties.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: That are very regional and remote.
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  Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to give us a
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  Speaker 1: bit of an update on how things are looking now
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  Speaker 1: that those rules changed, is Sarah Cook, the president of
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  Speaker 1: the Isolated Children's or Isolated Children's Parents Association. Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to you, Sarah, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 3: We call ourselves ICPA. Oh that's easy much of a mouthful.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say that sounds easier, Sarah.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Let's go with that, mate.
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  Speaker 1: How are things looking after the government came out just
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  Speaker 1: a couple of days ago and said that they were
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  Speaker 1: going to change those rules?
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  Speaker 3: Well bloody great. Well I can't swear on radio, but
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  Speaker 3: it is. It is bloody great. And tell you what,
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  Speaker 3: the mood and the feeling around for that five days
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  Speaker 3: was just ANXS. Yeah. I tried to find a better
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: word to describe it, but I really can't because we're
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: all wringing our hands. And this big wave of relief
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  Speaker 3: and celebration came over us when Minister Madison announced the
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  Speaker 3: changes and yet Bloody Grave.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it must have been such a relief for all
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  Speaker 1: of you.
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  Speaker 2: What was it like.
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  Speaker 1: What's the reaction been from the kids as well, who
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  Speaker 1: are worried about whether they're going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: get home.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, Katie, we have been on their seat, Our families
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  Speaker 3: and children have been on their seesaw for the last
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  Speaker 3: you know, twenty one months, and their children really don't
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  Speaker 3: know whether they're coming or going, or Arthur or Martha
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: with respect to going back to school and coming back
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  Speaker 3: home again, whether they can get home without having to quarantine,
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  Speaker 3: whether they have to go through a range of tests.
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  Speaker 3: I think I recounted the story of a family who've
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  Speaker 3: had three children sleeping on the floor of a house
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  Speaker 3: that was a quarantine house. They were they had taken
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  Speaker 3: six COVID tests in a very short number of days,
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  Speaker 3: and the children just wanted to go home. And of
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  Speaker 3: course that property was geographically isolated, so the parents had
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  Speaker 3: every ability to make sure that those children were not
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  Speaker 3: in contact with the broader community. Anyway, it was a
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  Speaker 3: big celebration. They announcement was made. Everybody harah, the children
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  Speaker 3: went home and we're all ready now to enjoy our
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  Speaker 3: nice hot summer.
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  Speaker 2: All good stuff. I mean, are all the kids sort
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  Speaker 2: of booked to come back? When do they all do
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  Speaker 2: to get back?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know we'd that five days when there was
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  Speaker 3: so much uncertainty. Everybody just made alternate plans. So it
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  Speaker 3: really has I think, stuff to the broader community around
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: in the territory, you know, regional on remote towns. It
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  Speaker 3: wasn't just cattle station people who were affected. It was
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  Speaker 3: you know, Jabaru or Elliott, Tenant Creek, some pretty major centers, Yolara.
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  Speaker 3: So everybody scrambled to make new plans, and now we're
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: scrambling to reverse the new plans back to the old plan.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, the best thing is is that the
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  Speaker 3: changes are really sensible. I think they've been well considered,
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  Speaker 3: despite the fact that the first announcement was not very
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  Speaker 3: well considered. The second announcement, the modified changes are pretty
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  Speaker 3: good actually, and they make a lot of sense to us.
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  Speaker 3: We're used to following rules. Nobody wants to be the
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  Speaker 3: first person to take COVID into the bush or into
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: the region. So we're going to follow the rules to
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  Speaker 3: the latter, but gosh, they're much easier this time.
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  Speaker 2: I reckon, Sarah, do you have you got kids that
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  Speaker 2: are away?
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  Speaker 3: I have a boarding school son actually, and he's on
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  Speaker 3: his way home the on well actually was going to
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  Speaker 3: be you know before now, but anyway, so we've changed
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  Speaker 3: it around and he's managed to get some time with
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  Speaker 3: his mates in the lead up to Christmas. So he'll
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  Speaker 3: be on his way home in the next week or sorry,
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  Speaker 3: but he's got a bit of extra time over there now.
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  Speaker 2: All good stuff. I mean, you must be happy that
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  Speaker 2: he's coming home.
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  Speaker 3: Though, Katie. You know what I'm most happy about that
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  Speaker 3: he's coming home, but that, for the first time in
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  Speaker 3: six years, will be able to have a family Christmas.
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  Speaker 3: Because I'll tell you what's happening in the bush. We've
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  Speaker 3: had rain. Our cattle prices are strong at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Our biggest dilemma, of course, is staff. But we've all
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: worked really hard to try and get some stuff in place.
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  Speaker 3: We've got anybody relying on surface water has got service water.
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  Speaker 3: I shouldn't say anybody, because there's still people that miss out.
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  Speaker 3: But I think above all we're not in the horrid
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  Speaker 3: situation we were a couple of years ago, and people
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  Speaker 3: like my husband and myself are just really puffed out.
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  Speaker 3: We want to break. So yeah, so that's the best
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  Speaker 3: bit is we can have a break and we can
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: have a break together.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, you must be so relieved. And I
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  Speaker 1: tell you what it is like. Absolutely, it's absolute resilience.
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  Speaker 1: You know that people who live on the land and
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  Speaker 1: work on the land really demonstrate each and every day
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  Speaker 1: and what you've just said there, you know what the
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  Speaker 1: ups and downs that you go through, it would be
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  Speaker 1: really tough, and a lot of stuff that many of
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  Speaker 1: us don't even rea lies so we take for granted.
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  Speaker 1: And then when you were looking like you weren't going
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  Speaker 1: to be able to have family home, would have just
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  Speaker 1: been a real kick in the guts.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm so glad that it's turned around.
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  Speaker 3: It was a big kick in the guts. But you know, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: the regions and the Bush we're all united. I tell
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  Speaker 3: you what. There was a strong feeling of unity. I
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  Speaker 3: was speaking to some high level stakeholders and MLAs out
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  Speaker 3: in the Bush. We all just banded together and we
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: came respectfully, hat in hand to the government and said
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  Speaker 3: this just cannot work for us. We had some really
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  Speaker 3: great senior executives in governments that worked with our stakeholders.
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  Speaker 3: The people got right behind her and sent letters to
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  Speaker 3: the Chief and other ministers and we just were able
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  Speaker 3: to get that message through. And it was a really
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  Speaker 3: fresh feeling working together on a united front to help
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  Speaker 3: change these directions. So now look, people in Tennant Creek
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  Speaker 3: are happy, people in Jabru and go even all around.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we're all happy. So it's not just us
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  Speaker 3: on cattle stations. We're all big group out here.
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  Speaker 2: Good on you. I bloody love Regional Australia. I just
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  Speaker 2: love it than Olivia. Good on you.
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  Speaker 1: I just think you know, it's I'm really glad that
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  Speaker 1: this common sense has prevailed. And I'm so glad that
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  Speaker 1: all of you parents who've got kids that are at
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  Speaker 1: boarding school or at university that you're going to get
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  Speaker 1: to see them for Christmas.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, big from here. Good on you.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Sarah, Thanks so much for your time throughout
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  Speaker 1: the week as well.
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  Speaker 2: Have a lovely Christmas with your family.
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  Speaker 3: Cheer.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you you too.