Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Health Minister Natasha Fyles says a select committee will not be created for a full inquiry into crime in Central Australia

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Health Minister Natasha Fyles says a select committee will not be created for a full inquiry into crime in Central Australia · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, as we know, Parliament resumes in the Northern Territory
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: today and it is set to be an interesting couple
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of weeks before we get to that, though, a significant
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and incredibly important announcement was made yesterday. The territory mental
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: health services sector is set to receive more than forty
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: three million dollars of combined funding from the federal and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: territory governments in a bid to improve.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: The gaps in the support services.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: This funding is going to be spent over five years
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and with the Commonwealth investing thirty point six five million
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: dollars and the Northern Territory government investing thirteen point twenty
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: five million. Joining me on the line to talk about
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: this and plenty more is the Minister for Health, Natasha Files.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Good morning to.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: You, Good morning Katie, good morning listening.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Now, Minister.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: This money it's going to include fifteen point four million
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: for two new head to Health adult mental health satellite clinics,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: nine point one million for a new Head to Health
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Kids Hub to improve access to multidisciplinary team care for children,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as well as five point seven million to enhance two
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: headspace centers and various other funding. Nine point three million
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to establish universal after care services. It is an incredibly
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: important announcement which is no doubt largely going to be
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: welcomed by territorians. How soon is some of this work
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and some of these services going to get under way, So, Katie, the.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Mental health needs in the territory are incredibly complex and
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: they're vastly different to other jurisdictions. We have already invested
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: significantly both the Commonwealth and territory governments across the territory
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: into mental health, but will continue to do so on
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: improved services. So this will roll out from next financial year.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: But what we have seen already is the first head
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: to help adult mental health clinic open at Casarina, and
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: this is a space where we're trying to support what
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: we call the missing middles, so people that are acutely
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: unwell end up in our hospital system, and we've recently
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: announced a significant investment in acute terre at Royals are
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: in hospital for mental health. But this is designed to
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: capture people and help them stay out of that hospital
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: level care and provide them with this support. So that
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: opened in January and I was really excited to be
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: at that location and hear how it's really gaining traction
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: to support vulnerable territori ins. So this announcement is significant
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: and it'll be right across the territory.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: We've been contacted over the last few weeks by parents
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: concerned that there really isn't enough supporting this space for
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: our youth, specifically teens who are struggling with mental health concerns.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Is the announcement from yesterday going to be enough to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: fill this space?
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: So within the announcement Katie, is five point seven million
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: to enhance two headspace centers to increase access to the
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: multidisciplinary use mental health services. So this is more staff,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: more resources, and it's designed to reduce that wake time
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: and support more young people. So we know that the
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: complexities and I just spoke about that. We're also putting
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: in place nine point one million dollars for a head
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: to help kids hub so really looking at those zero
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: to twelve year olds and try and provide the support
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: to those individuals and the children but also to their
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: families and care is before they get to that critical
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: phase during the teenage years. So this really is a
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: multifaceted approach and it will be going right across the territory, Katie,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: not just here in Darwin and are.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: There services right now though which can be accessed specifically?
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I guess for those, like you said, obviously incredibly important
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in those teenage yes, but also beforehand.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Are there services at the moment?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: So Katie, there are services, but it is of course,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: you know, always a challenge to find staff for those services.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: But we have got headspace that work in this space
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: as well as private providers, and of course that the
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: public mental health team that provides support to children. Your
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: question was specifically to them, But I think that this
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: is an area that's been an incredible focus for me
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: as Minister, and it's not just within those additional facilities
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: that are going into RDH, it's right across the territory
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: and it's certainly something that I'll continue to.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Work out now, Minister.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I know that there has been a lot of work
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: on way on the mental health facility at Royal Darwin
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Hospital where's it at, So Katie.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: We've been doing all the design work, so we're making
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: sure that we build a facility that really serves the
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: needs of the community. And we've spoken about this before.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: People that are having a mental illness episode, emergency is
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: not a great place for them and we see in
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: other institutions where they can enter the facility without going
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: through ED. So we've been doing a lot of work
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: with the clinicians around how the facility will be structured
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: and how patient flow will occur. And so it's in
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the design phase and I'm looking forward to sharing those
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: designs and plans with the community soon.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: And so it's obviously still quite a long way away
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: from being operational.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: So I'm asking the agencies, both department and infrastructure and
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: help to work as efficiently as possible so that design
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: phase should conclude soon and then we can go to
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: tender and get that construction underway, because I know how
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: critical this facility is to provide additional resources to take
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: that pressure off our current mental health in patient beds,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: but also across our emergency department to provide better care
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: for individuals suffering mental illness episodes. But at the same time,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: you know other patients accessing the hospital now still.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: In this health space.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: An issue which you and I have spoken about, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: we've certainly spoken about at length in recent months is
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: visitation at the hospital for those who are unwell. Have
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: those visiting restrictions been lifted yet, so Katie, my.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Heart goes out to families. You know, COVID has impacted
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: so many parts of our lives, but then to have
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: family members critically unwell, in some cases palliative, and then
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: have restriction on the visitation. So I have worked incredibly
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: hard with the department to ensure that they fully understand
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: the need for visitation. We have got some visiting hours
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: back in our hospitals, Katie, and I've asked them to
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: provide a pathway so that those visiting hours and the
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: numbers of people that can visit can return to normal
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: as we sort of you know, COVID. There's not as
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: many cases this week as there was last week and
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: even a month ago. So to acknowledge that change in
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: the COVID situation and the importance of allowing family and
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: friends in to our hospitals to provide that support to patients.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, is there any real need realistically for
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the visitation to still be the way that it is
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: or there to still be any restrictions. I mean, from
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: what those numbers told us yesterday, there are sixteen patients
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: in hospital, three patients requiring oxygen, and there are no
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: patients in ICU. So realistically do we still need to
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: have these restrictions on visitation at the hospital.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: So the restrictions were put in place because there was
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: COVID in the broader community and we didn't want to
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: bring that into our hospital where people are particularly vulnerable.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: So it's trying to find that balance and our health
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: leadership that rozal and Palmerston Hospital, but right across the
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: territory is at Alasabringe Hospital on Friday, Kati, They've done
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: an amazing job. So I'm just asking them to work
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: through how we can get back to that normal visitation
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: as quickly as possible.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: All Right, We know that Parliament resumes today. We know
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the government is planning to focus on cutting red tape
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: for business through the Territory Economic Reconstruction Bill. But many Territorians,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: including the Independent for Our lun feel that one of
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the biggest issues right now when it comes to doing
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: business is the issue of crime. Yesterday, the Independent Member
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: for Our A Luhn said, well, she came on this
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: show and she spoke about moving a motion that a
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: select Committee of Parliament be created to undertake a full
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: inquiry into crime in Olice Springs. The motion is that
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Parliament former Select Committee to examine all the factors affecting
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: crime in Central Australia and form a three to five
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: year strategy for how to manage and deal with crime
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: going forward. Minister, is the government going to support this
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: or shut down any debate in this space, Katie.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: We of course will welcome the debate, but there's no
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: one solution that will address these issues. There's long term
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: generational issues and there's those short term measures that we
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: have been putting in place, more police, more CCTV and
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: consequences rap defenders. So this is an issue that every
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: jurisdiction across the world has challenges and we're certainly investing
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: heavily in this space, particularly around the youth crime and
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: identifying those root causes. So we won't be supporting the
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: motion that's been put forward.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: But with why not? Why not?
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: I mean there's been select but there's been Select Committees
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: on so many different things, you know, under the last
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: term of government.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Jeff Collins I.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Believe that his Select committee was something around around the cannabis,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: cannabis and the use of cannabis. I mean, why not
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: have a look into it?
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: So Katie, first and foremost, we're investing in those services
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: to stop crime before it starts, including program Stanley.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: But at the moment what's happening in Central Australia is
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: not working, Like what's happening right now is not working.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: You've you you know you yourself.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure when you were down there, you speak to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: tourism operators, you speak to people in the community. They're
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: really at their wits end. And I like, I don't
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: want to make this a political thing. I don't want
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to make it you and I having Argi Bardi on
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the radio about it. But it's really reached a point
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: where the people in Central Australia are saying, please. Robin
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Lanley said to me yesterday, Katie, I'm happy to beg
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the government on your show to please give us the
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: opportunity for this to happen.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'm outlining what we're doing. People want us
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: to ask. They don't want us to continue to talk.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: They don't want to see political.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: They want you to listen. They want you to listen.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we are listening and we're putting in place programs,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: resources and will continue to.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Do so so there will be even though at every
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: level of government, every parliament around Australia. There are select
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: committees here in the Northern Territory into one of the
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: biggest issues impacting territorians right now. The Labor Government is
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: refusing to allow a select committee to go ahead looking
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: into this space.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: So what we're doing, Katie, is we're investing heavily in
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: reducing particularly youth crime, identifying those root causes, working extremely
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: hard to address those issues that break that generational change,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: break that cycle. We've also given more police resources, giving
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: them more police on the CCTV, particularly in Central Australia.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: So we're focused on delivering and action.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I think people are going to be pretty upset to
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: hear this this morning. I know that, particularly those people
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs. You know, I would have thought, if anything,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: maybe what we need to look at is not just
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: doing it in Alice Springs, but doing it across the
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: board around the territory.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I will keep talking about the actions that
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: we're putting in place, the programs that we're putting in place,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: and the investment, and that's what we'll continue to do.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So do you acknowledge though that some of those actions
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: really aren't working quickly enough at the moment and they
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: are having an impact on things like business, on things
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: like tourism. You know, even yesterday we spoke to one
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: of the police commanders about the terrible rates of domestic violence.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: It's across the board at the moment.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, there's not one single solution, there's not one thing,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: but we know what we need to do. We're continuing
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: to put in place those actions. We're continuing to focus
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: on the short term measures as well as those longer
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: term measures. So we'll keep putting measures in place, we'll
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: keep listening to the community, and we'll keep acting on
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: this issue.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Well, no doubt it is going to be one which
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: is at the fort today in Parliament, and I'm sure
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks now there is also
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: no doubt that the Chief Minister's comments about consequences flowing
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: are going to be raised when Parliament sits. There are
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: still questions which remain unanswered about why the Chief Minister
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: traveled to You and Demou in the days after the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: fatal shooting of Kumen Jai Walker. He last week said
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: on this show that he'd traveled to You and Demou
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: three days after the shooting to address concerns that health
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: staff had been evacuated from the community on the day
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Walker was shot dead by Constable Zachary Rolf during a
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: failed arrest attempt. Now, a report in the Northern Territory
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: News today by Matt Cunningham, Well, it's reported that you
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: held no formal meetings with the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: in the four days after kumen Jai Walker was shot
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: by the police at ew and Demou. Now, if the
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: concerns around the health staff were top of the agenda
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: for the Chief Minister, why did you not meet with him?
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'm in constant contact with the Chief Minister,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: and we were in those days as we are continuing
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: to do so. In terms of diary meetings. We weren't
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: busy getting PA's and putting meetings in the diary. We
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: were dealing with an issue that was evolving. The Chief
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Minister was invited to you and Demu by that community
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: to address a community that was in mourning, and he
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: did so as a leader of the territory.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: So were there informal meetings held between you and the
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister about this? I guess what I'm trying to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: nut out is had you actually outlined to him those
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: concerns that health staff for raising.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: The Chief Minister and I constantly speak Katie over the
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: last five years. I think there would be the hard
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: pressed to find a day where we haven't had some
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: type of communications because it's absolutely vital as the Minister
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: for Health and the other portfolios that I keep in
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: regular contacts, particularly around some of these critical issues, so
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: I can assure the community we were in constant contact
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: and he was getting the full advice not just as
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: the Leader and the Chief Minister, but from the other
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: ministers and from me as the Health Minister.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: And so you had raised those concerns that obviously your
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: health staff had been raising about their safety.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, it's something that we've seen. We see from
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: time to time across the territory where are health starts
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: to do an incredible job. And I don't need to
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: tell you that you know better than most and they
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: work in some pretty tiring circumstances. And so one of
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: the things that we have changed, you know, in recent times,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: is that when we do have communities and they have
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: this you know, unrest that occurs from time to time,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: how we can provide relief to the staff that are
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: on the ground acknowledging the hard work they do and
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: it's often twenty four to seven when they're in a
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: remote community. They don't clock in and clock off. But
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: how we can either change over a staff, how we
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: can give them additional resources, and how we can get
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: governed agencies across the board. And they work incredibly well
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: at a local level. You see police and health and
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: education and territory families. But how can we have some
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: procedural changes that support communities. And that's where you get
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: the Chief Minister's comments around surging resources into a community
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: rather than reducing them and walking away.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, so I'm trying to get my head around this.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So is what he is saying that even though nurses
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and health staff in you and Demu felt unsafe enough
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: to be evacuated from the community down the track or
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: in future if there was a similar situation, what he
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: would do is surge more health staff in.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Correct, And Katie, I do need to head off. I've
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: got another I do just.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Want to ask, so why would we be surging more
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: staff in when there are people feeling unsafe?
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: So, Katie, I've just outlined to you it's about addressing
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: the situation on the ground and acknowledging the hard work
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: of those frontline workers, but how can we support them
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: and support.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Our community health Minister Natasha Files, We understand you are
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: very much pressed for time this morning. We appreciate you
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: speaking to us and we'll see you hopefully on Friday.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: For the week that was.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie. I'm sorry to cut that short.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Thank you. It is well.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine
• 14:55
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• 14:57
  Speaker 1: eight nine four one one O four nine