Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I asked just a little while ago, have you had
- 0:02Speaker 1: your COVID vaccine yet? Because since the roll out launched
- 0:05Speaker 1: in February, there have been one hundred and three thousand,
- 0:09Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy six doses recorded and more than
- 0:12Speaker 1: thirty one thousand Territorians are now fully vaccinated against COVID.
- 0:17Speaker 1: Nineteen now joining me on the line to talk more
- 0:19Speaker 1: about the vaccine rollout and the opening of the vaccine hub,
- 0:23Speaker 1: the Health Minister, Natasha Files.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Katie, Good morning.
- 0:27Speaker 1: Was it now?
- 0:28Speaker 3: Minister?
- 0:28Speaker 1: Firstly, how are we looking when it comes to those
- 0:31Speaker 1: COVID numbers? Was there anything new from overnight?
- 0:35Speaker 2: No, Katie, there hasn't been any COVID cases in the
- 0:38Speaker 2: Northern Territory in the last twenty four hours. I think
- 0:41Speaker 2: we're sitting at eleven cases in the territory with seventeen
- 0:44Speaker 2: from that pan of my cluster.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Well, that is good to hear, and I'm sure music
- 0:48Speaker 1: to the ears of a lot of Territorians who are
- 0:51Speaker 1: still wondering about these restrictions. I do want to ask, though,
- 0:54Speaker 1: when it comes to those test results, are they all
- 0:56Speaker 1: back now and are we looking as though we're pretty
- 0:58Speaker 1: safe in terms of moving forward to.
- 1:01Speaker 2: Katie, there's been over fourteen hundred tests conducted in the
- 1:04Speaker 2: last twenty four hours and a huge twenty two thousand,
- 1:07Speaker 2: eight hundred tests completed in the last week. All of
- 1:10Speaker 2: those tests of people outstanding to date have been negative.
- 1:15Speaker 2: For my understanding that all those results from the bus
- 1:17Speaker 2: club and the Stuart Park ida have returned negative tests.
- 1:21Speaker 1: So did you say twenty two thousand, eight hundred tests in.
- 1:25Speaker 2: The last week, Katie. And in the territory, you know,
- 1:29Speaker 2: since COVID began, there's been over two hundred and sixty
- 1:31Speaker 2: two thousand tests completed overall. But yes, that figure of
- 1:35Speaker 2: twenty two thousand, eight hundred in the last week. We
- 1:38Speaker 2: certainly saw territorians, you know, reach out to be tested
- 1:42Speaker 2: and we appreciate their patients, and you know, think that
- 1:46Speaker 2: people can see through those numbers and the negative test
- 1:48Speaker 2: result that you know, both the lockdown and the testing
- 1:51Speaker 2: is so important and getting on top of this virus.
- 1:53Speaker 1: What about the waste water with our wastewater, how are
- 1:56Speaker 1: those tests looking. Have we found any COVID or have
- 1:59Speaker 1: we had any COVID detected in any of that wastewater testing.
- 2:03Speaker 2: Katie, I haven't seen the wastewater testing for the last
- 2:05Speaker 2: twenty four hours. But when I was briefed yesterday, all
- 2:07Speaker 2: of the wastewater testing was negative where you would expect
- 2:10Speaker 2: it to be, except for our Stove Road in Howard Springs,
- 2:14Speaker 2: which is clearly the quarantine facility, and Royal darrel In Hospital.
- 2:17Speaker 2: I believe there were some traces there, but we've been
- 2:20Speaker 2: providing care for people with COVID in the hospitals that
- 2:23Speaker 2: you would expect that. Alice Springs wastewater testing has still
- 2:26Speaker 2: been negative as well.
- 2:27Speaker 3: So sorry, just repeat that.
- 2:28Speaker 1: So out at Howard Springs and also at Royal dal
- 2:30Speaker 1: And Hospital, around those areas there had been some COVID detected.
- 2:35Speaker 2: Correct. The two catchments that we know that those facilities
- 2:38Speaker 2: feed into had picked up some particles, but everywhere else
- 2:41Speaker 2: in the territory was clear.
- 2:42Speaker 1: And with that wastewater, that is what you would have expected,
- 2:46Speaker 1: given the fact that, as you said, obviously, out at
- 2:48Speaker 1: Howard Springs we know that there's cases out there, and
- 2:50Speaker 1: I'm assuming that at Royal dal And Hospital there's people
- 2:53Speaker 1: being cared for.
- 2:55Speaker 2: Correct, Katie. And so this is why we you know,
- 2:57Speaker 2: sort of all the way along there's been questions around
- 2:59Speaker 2: the world what is testing that it's a tool to
- 3:01Speaker 2: help us when we know that we've had the virus
- 3:03Speaker 2: potentially present in our community, and so it just reinforces
- 3:07Speaker 2: all these test results and again this waste. What are
- 3:10Speaker 2: testing reinforces that we don't have community transmission, but we
- 3:13Speaker 2: must still remain vigilant.
- 3:15Speaker 1: All right now, Minister, the vaccine rollout is forging ahead
- 3:17Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, more than one hundred thousand dos.
- 3:20Speaker 1: It's recorded sixteen point four percent of Territorians now fully vaccinated,
- 3:25Speaker 1: compared to the national average of eight point four percent.
- 3:28Speaker 1: Why do you reckon we're ahead of the rest of
- 3:30Speaker 1: the nation at this point, Helly, I haven't.
- 3:33Speaker 2: Stopped to think about that, you know, in terms of
- 3:35Speaker 2: comparing to other jurisdictions. We've just been focused on the
- 3:37Speaker 2: task at hand, which is a program in both urban
- 3:40Speaker 2: and remote areas. And it's important too for people to
- 3:42Speaker 2: understand that the remote program is progressing very well. Thirty
- 3:46Speaker 2: two percent of territories to have a remote address in
- 3:48Speaker 2: our health database have also been vaccinated, so we certainly
- 3:52Speaker 2: have seen territorians rolling up their sleeves and as a
- 3:55Speaker 2: government and the Aboriginal medical organizations, we're responding by providing
- 3:59Speaker 2: that strongnation program.
- 4:01Speaker 1: We know though there are still so many people who
- 4:03Speaker 1: are trying to book at this point in time. I've
- 4:06Speaker 1: had a lot of people get in contact with me
- 4:07Speaker 1: saying I want to get the vaccine, but every time
- 4:09Speaker 1: I jump online to book, there's no appointments available. Is
- 4:13Speaker 1: there going to be more appointments come online?
- 4:17Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie. In the next couple of weeks, We've got
- 4:19Speaker 2: seven additional GP locations who are going to come online
- 4:21Speaker 2: to administer the vaccine. In July. We are opening the
- 4:25Speaker 2: vaccination center at Morara tomorrow, so we'll be closing down
- 4:27Speaker 2: rozo On Hospital to the public and we'll be pivoting
- 4:31Speaker 2: to the new vaccination center at Marara, and as additional
- 4:34Speaker 2: vaccine becomes available, we'll put more appointments online. We did
- 4:38Speaker 2: put up nearly two thousand appointments last week and they
- 4:40Speaker 2: were snapped up fairly quickly. Additionally, we had those people
- 4:44Speaker 2: in the age fifty to fifty nine that were booked
- 4:46Speaker 2: for AstraZeneca, we rebooked them for five because they were
- 4:50Speaker 2: caught up in that at HAWG. The advice that changed,
- 4:52Speaker 2: So we do ask people to just be patient. There
- 4:55Speaker 2: is more vaccine coming and I'm working with the Department
- 4:57Speaker 2: of Health to make sure that there's more appointmentsarticularly for Darwin,
- 5:00Speaker 2: Urban and Catherine. Understand that there's availability in other areas
- 5:04Speaker 2: in the territory, but focusing on Darwin and Catherine.
- 5:07Speaker 1: Right, So we've got enough or it's not as if
- 5:09Speaker 1: we're not getting enough vaccine at this point from the
- 5:11Speaker 1: federal government. It's more that we're just trying to get
- 5:14Speaker 1: through all those vaccinations that have been booked in.
- 5:17Speaker 2: So Katie, we're working closely with the Commonwealth. There's only
- 5:20Speaker 2: a certain amount of vaccine coming into the country. The
- 5:22Speaker 2: common moth are providing that to the states and territories.
- 5:25Speaker 2: Once we have our allocation confirmed, we're able to put
- 5:28Speaker 2: bookings into the system. And by opening up this new
- 5:30Speaker 2: hub at Marra, we're expecting from the Commonwealth increased supplies,
- 5:35Speaker 2: particularly through July, August and October, so we'll be able
- 5:38Speaker 2: to match the increased supply with availability of appointments.
- 5:41Speaker 1: All right, Minister, We've got quite a few listener questions
- 5:44Speaker 1: that are coming through. There's one here that this one
- 5:46Speaker 1: actually came through yesterday. Masks on construction sites.
- 5:50Speaker 3: Are they needed?
- 5:52Speaker 2: So, Katie, the same rule applies in terms of mass.
- 5:55Speaker 2: If you cannot physical distance of that one and a
- 5:57Speaker 2: half meters, you need to wear a mask. So it
- 6:00Speaker 2: might just depend on the construction site in terms of
- 6:04Speaker 2: you know, if they're in close proximity doing some tiling
- 6:06Speaker 2: or some indoor work, that they will need to wear
- 6:09Speaker 2: that mark. But if they're outside perhaps and there's the
- 6:12Speaker 2: physical distance between them, then the same rule applies that
- 6:16Speaker 2: if you can maintain that one and a half meters,
- 6:18Speaker 2: you don't need to wear a mask. So it's the
- 6:20Speaker 2: same rule as in the community as it is on
- 6:22Speaker 2: a construction site.
- 6:23Speaker 3: All right. Another one here at Crack a Knight. When's
- 6:25Speaker 3: it happening?
- 6:27Speaker 2: The Chief Ministry, I know territory and is a key
- 6:29Speaker 2: to know when they're going to be able to have
- 6:31Speaker 2: crack a Nite and he's working on making announcement around that.
- 6:34Speaker 3: All right.
- 6:35Speaker 1: One here on the NT website it says businesses can
- 6:39Speaker 1: still still do manual signing.
- 6:42Speaker 3: Is that still applicable?
- 6:44Speaker 2: So Katie, with the QR check in code the app
- 6:47Speaker 2: it is obviously faster and more convenient for people, But yes,
- 6:50Speaker 2: businesses can still have a manual lob. There's some people
- 6:53Speaker 2: that might not have a phone on them for various reasons.
- 6:57Speaker 2: They might want to use a manual check in, so
- 6:58Speaker 2: they can do that.
- 7:00Speaker 1: Okay, Jim's definitely closed because the listener has alluded us
- 7:03Speaker 1: to one being opened at this point in time.
- 7:07Speaker 2: So Katie, my understanding is that Jim's fell into that
- 7:10Speaker 2: category where they couldn't be opened. So someone does believe
- 7:12Speaker 2: that something's not quite right, they should reach out to
- 7:15Speaker 2: one three one TRIPUL four, which is a non emergency
- 7:18Speaker 2: police number. Police are doing that enforcement, or they can
- 7:21Speaker 2: reach out to the COVID Lotlink COVID hotline sorry and
- 7:24Speaker 2: provide that information.
- 7:25Speaker 1: Now, are we on track to lift these restrictions on Friday?
- 7:30Speaker 2: So things are certainly looking very promising, but we mustn't
- 7:34Speaker 2: become complacent over the next few days. So we need
- 7:36Speaker 2: people to make sure they're wearing those masks. If you're
- 7:39Speaker 2: not feeling well at all, reach out to get tested.
- 7:42Speaker 2: There's plenty of testing capability available this week. So things
- 7:46Speaker 2: are looking good and the Chief Minister and myself will
- 7:48Speaker 2: talk to our health officials over the coming days ahead
- 7:52Speaker 2: of that expected list down a lotning us their restrictions.
- 7:54Speaker 1: So what about Alice Springs, When are they two to
- 7:56Speaker 1: come out of those restrictions.
- 8:00Speaker 2: Is Katie that the same on Friday one pm will
- 8:04Speaker 2: assess both the top end in Central Australia.
- 8:06Speaker 1: Okay, so we will do both on Friday. It'll be
- 8:09Speaker 1: Allie Springs and also Darwin. If all goes well, it's
- 8:12Speaker 1: looking like one pm Friday those restrictions could be lifted.
- 8:17Speaker 2: Yes, Katie. We just need it to make sure with
- 8:19Speaker 2: our health officials that it is safe to do so
- 8:21Speaker 2: that we're not putting ourselves in unnecessary risk. That we
- 8:25Speaker 2: make sure that you know, we did the hard yards
- 8:27Speaker 2: last week with that complete lockdown people, have you know
- 8:30Speaker 2: those measures in place this week of mass and gatherings
- 8:33Speaker 2: that private residents is being limited, et cetera. We just
- 8:36Speaker 2: need to make sure it's safe to list those restrictions, all.
- 8:39Speaker 3: Right, Minister.
- 8:39Speaker 1: I do want to ask you a couple of questions
- 8:41Speaker 1: about the IICAC report. We know the IKAK reporting to
- 8:44Speaker 1: the twelve fillion dollar grant for the grand Stand continues
- 8:47Speaker 1: to raise concerns. Bret Dixon's legal team wrote to the
- 8:51Speaker 1: Chief Minister Michael Gunner last week saying that his former
- 8:54Speaker 1: chief of staff actively encouraged the application for the twelve
- 8:57Speaker 1: billion dollar NT government grant for the construction of that
- 9:01Speaker 1: grand stand because it was enthusiastically supported by mister Gunner personally.
- 9:07Speaker 1: Did the Chief Minister push for this to happen amongst
- 9:10Speaker 1: the cabinet because he wanted a good news story for
- 9:12Speaker 1: his electorate.
- 9:14Speaker 2: Okay, that would be a question for the Chief Minister,
- 9:16Speaker 2: but that's not my understanding. That the capitol grant was
- 9:19Speaker 2: awarded to the Dulin Turf Club as an infrastructure project.
- 9:22Speaker 2: It was considered by cabinet as a results of under
- 9:24Speaker 2: allocation in the twenty eighteen nineteen Capital Works program. It's
- 9:28Speaker 2: important to note the ARCAC made no findings against the
- 9:31Speaker 2: government and we acknowledged at the time nearly two years
- 9:35Speaker 2: ago that the process did not meet the expectations that
- 9:37Speaker 2: the public had of us. So I think that, you know,
- 9:40Speaker 2: this was a project that did add you know, it
- 9:42Speaker 2: was an infrastructure project for the community, and the rcacs
- 9:46Speaker 2: made their findings around the processes. You know that that
- 9:49Speaker 2: happened under you.
- 9:50Speaker 1: Are the Minister for Racing. I mean, was there a
- 9:52Speaker 1: push from the Chief Minister or his staff, the staff
- 9:55Speaker 1: in his office for this project to go ahead?
- 10:00Speaker 2: My point of view, it was a capitol grant awarded
- 10:02Speaker 2: to the Turf Club for an infrastructure projects. I believe,
- 10:04Speaker 2: as the Minister for Racing added value to the Turf
- 10:08Speaker 2: Club and to the Darwin community, and we need to
- 10:11Speaker 2: look at the economic return that racing does bring and
- 10:14Speaker 2: in terms of visitation etc. The processes around that. The
- 10:17Speaker 2: IKAC has made recommendations and Cabinet has provided in principal
- 10:21Speaker 2: support for all eighteen of those recommendations. Some are already
- 10:25Speaker 2: being implemented. So the government has also said that we
- 10:29Speaker 2: don't believe that the processes that the Turf Club put
- 10:32Speaker 2: in place were acceptable and we will recover the twelve
- 10:34Speaker 2: million dollars from the Darwin Turf Club.
- 10:36Speaker 1: I mean at this point in time though a lot
- 10:38Speaker 1: of people don't really know whether the processes that were
- 10:40Speaker 1: in place from the cabinets perspective were correct or were
- 10:44Speaker 1: appropriate ones. So either because those Cabinet documents and the
- 10:47Speaker 1: IKAK didn't have the ability to look into that.
- 10:50Speaker 2: So kdie A capitol grant was awarded to the Turf Club,
- 10:53Speaker 2: you know as one of a number of infrastructure projects.
- 10:56Speaker 2: But in terms of the undeclared conflicts of interest when
- 10:59Speaker 2: they are exposed, the government has thought to recover those
- 11:01Speaker 2: public funds. I mean we were lied to as a government.
- 11:04Speaker 2: We initially did when the tender went out have concerns.
- 11:08Speaker 2: The Department of Business went in and asked questions and
- 11:12Speaker 2: we have since seen the ikak you have far more
- 11:14Speaker 2: invested in its power go in look into this matter
- 11:17Speaker 2: and find that there was underclared conflicts of interests exposed
- 11:21Speaker 2: and so that's why the government is seeking to get
- 11:23Speaker 2: those public funds up.
- 11:25Speaker 1: Yeah, but I guess the thing is here, you know,
- 11:27Speaker 1: I asked the Deputy Chief Minister this yesterday as well.
- 11:29Speaker 1: I mean, the report states that al f Leonardi was
- 11:33Speaker 1: discussing this proposal with the turf Club chair over a.
- 11:35Speaker 3: Number of years.
- 11:37Speaker 1: And there is still I think a cloud over the
- 11:40Speaker 1: fact that, you know, the Chief Minister saying that there's
- 11:42Speaker 1: things that he didn't know that his chief of staff
- 11:45Speaker 1: was doing. But taking into account how you run your office,
- 11:49Speaker 1: do you really think that people believe that the Chief
- 11:52Speaker 1: Minister had no knowledge whatsoever of what was going on
- 11:54Speaker 1: behind the scenes.
- 11:56Speaker 2: So, Katie, the Ikas made no findings against the government
- 11:59Speaker 2: or any minute and so I think that people need
- 12:01Speaker 2: to understand that there has been a thorough investigation by
- 12:04Speaker 2: the IKAK, something that was established by this labor government
- 12:07Speaker 2: to have the powers to go in. As I just
- 12:10Speaker 2: pointed to, we asked questions, the Department of Business asked
- 12:13Speaker 2: questions a couple of years ago and were lied to.
- 12:15Speaker 2: The IKAK has the powers to go further than that,
- 12:19Speaker 2: and that was proved in this case. Yeah.
- 12:20Speaker 1: But again the point here is that you know, the
- 12:23Speaker 1: ikak's not able to go into that decision making process
- 12:26Speaker 1: by the cabinet. Now the CLP says that the Chief
- 12:28Speaker 1: Minister needs to clear the air and release all the
- 12:31Speaker 1: cabinet documents upon which the ministers decided to grant that
- 12:34Speaker 1: twelve million dollars to the Darwin Turf Club. Why don't
- 12:38Speaker 1: the government just do this and clear the air, So, Katie, the.
- 12:42Speaker 2: IKAK has had a thorough investigation. They made no findings
- 12:45Speaker 2: against the government or any minister. It was a capital
- 12:48Speaker 2: grant awarded to the Turf Club for an infrastructure project,
- 12:51Speaker 2: which is not unusual towards the end of financial year
- 12:54Speaker 2: to see capital grants the infrastructure projects. And we've seen
- 12:57Speaker 2: a thorough investigation from the IKAK, something that a labor
- 12:59Speaker 2: government established. So that unfortunately, when we do have situations
- 13:04Speaker 2: like these. Territorians can know the truth, but there was
- 13:06Speaker 2: no findings against any government minister.
- 13:10Speaker 1: You are the Minister for Racing. Are you going to
- 13:12Speaker 1: be attending the Cup Carnival?
- 13:15Speaker 2: So, Kennie, it's a difficult period right now. The Darlin
- 13:17Speaker 2: Turf Club board needs to resign and I see that
- 13:20Speaker 2: a number of those members have done. Though. We need
- 13:23Speaker 2: to make sure that all of this is you know,
- 13:26Speaker 2: that the public funds are repaid, that we have structures
- 13:30Speaker 2: within the associations that to know that we can have
- 13:32Speaker 2: confidence in the Darlin Turf Club in the ways of
- 13:35Speaker 2: these findings. So A'll await to see those actions before
- 13:38Speaker 2: I make a decision on what Cup events I attend.
- 13:40Speaker 1: Obviously, you know, like you've said, they are going to
- 13:43Speaker 1: be having to pay that money back if they have
- 13:47Speaker 1: to pay that money back, which which I think a
- 13:49Speaker 1: lot of Territorians believe that they should have to do.
- 13:52Speaker 1: But they are going to have to pay that money back. Understandably,
- 13:54Speaker 1: that's going to have a big impact on their operational
- 13:57Speaker 1: costs over the next few years. Do you think that
- 14:00Speaker 1: it's going to cause some difficulties in terms of delivering
- 14:03Speaker 1: a Cup carnival that's to the same standard as what
- 14:05Speaker 1: we've seen.
- 14:07Speaker 2: So what we needed we need the Doe and Turf
- 14:09Speaker 2: Club board to resign. That's the first step in showing
- 14:11Speaker 2: that they genuinely want to you know, racing. I know
- 14:15Speaker 2: that there's many people involved in racing that are good people,
- 14:17Speaker 2: horse owners, jockeys, people that attend the Cup Carnival regularly.
- 14:22Speaker 2: We need to have confidence that that whole system that
- 14:24Speaker 2: is lied to government and that has you know, covered
- 14:27Speaker 2: things up from government, that there is changes there. So
- 14:30Speaker 2: that's the first step that we're looking towards is the
- 14:32Speaker 2: resignation of the Turf Club board. We've said that they
- 14:35Speaker 2: need to repay that twelve million dollars. We haven't ruled
- 14:37Speaker 2: out commencing civil action to get that, but it will
- 14:40Speaker 2: be a difficult space. But the first step is for
- 14:42Speaker 2: the Turf Club board to resign.
- 14:44Speaker 1: Well, my understanding now is that the members did do
- 14:46Speaker 1: that vote, so yesterday would obviously report it on the
- 14:49Speaker 1: fact that that the members have decided. So over the weekend,
- 14:52Speaker 1: the Dough and Turf Club have said that they're set
- 14:54Speaker 1: to find a new board after the members called for
- 14:57Speaker 1: the opportunity to select new represent its following that release
- 15:01Speaker 1: of the report. So as my understanding is that that
- 15:05Speaker 1: is going to be happening that obviously that process is
- 15:08Speaker 1: now underway.
- 15:10Speaker 2: So Katie, we need to see for the full resignation
- 15:13Speaker 2: of the board of the Darlin Turf Club as the
- 15:15Speaker 2: first step in the right direction.
- 15:17Speaker 1: And so if the board, if all of that board
- 15:19Speaker 1: resigns and they're on the path to a new way forward,
- 15:24Speaker 1: you will attend the Cup Carnival.
- 15:27Speaker 2: Oh Katie, I think that you know right now we
- 15:29Speaker 2: haven't seen the full resignation. So I'd like to see
- 15:31Speaker 2: the full resignation and I'd like to see a genuine
- 15:34Speaker 2: approach from a turf club to rectify what has happened
- 15:37Speaker 2: before I commit to attending any turf club event.
- 15:40Speaker 1: All right, Health Minister Natasha Files, also Minister for Racing
- 15:43Speaker 1: and also Minister for Tourism, we are going to have
- 15:45Speaker 1: to leave it there.
- 15:46Speaker 3: Thank you for your time today.
- 15:47Speaker 2: Thanks Katie.
- 15:48Speaker 3: That is the Health Minister there, Natasha Philes