Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Small Business Paul Kirby on the QR Code being down for 40 minutes

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Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Small Business Paul Kirby on the QR Code being down for 40 minutes · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just a little while ago that there's been an outage
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the QR code system and that QR scanning obviously
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: when you go into different establishments around the territory. For
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: some reason or another. Earlier this morning it stopped working.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We found out about this because we were contacted by
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: one of our listeners, Joe. Joe got in contact and said,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: good morning Katie. The QR scan code system is down.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Apparently the government are aware of it. She since let
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: us know that it is back up and running, but
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  Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now to tell us
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  Speaker 1: exactly what's going on. It is Paul Kirby, the Minister
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for Small Business. Good morning to your minister.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 3: How are you not too bad?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Now?
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  Speaker 1: We got that message a bit earlier from Joe who said,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: good morning Katie, QR scan code system is down.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Is it back up and running now?
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly back up and running, Katie. It was down here.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I realized that daycare this morning that it wasn't working there.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I thought it was just limited to that premise at
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: the time, but it turned out it was a broader outage.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it was right across the board.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I know there was trouble with some businesses and quite
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of businesses, so whether it was right across
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: the board, but yeah, it was down for about forty minutes.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: It is back up and running now. We do know.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: That's the first service interruption that that system has had
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  Speaker 2: since it went live in November, and we just would
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: really encourage people to continue using it. We've got technicians
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that have got it back up and running, and I've
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: got full faith in them that they'll be doing the
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  Speaker 2: best job that they can making sure that it continues
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: to work seamlessly into the future.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Well pleased to hear that it was back up and running.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So it was back up and running within forty minutes.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Do we know what happened?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I'm not aware of the complete technicality, so I will
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: follow that up during the day because I don't want
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: to misquote anything, because when you get into to the
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: IT side of things, it certainly is very technical and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: very important that we have the right info. So I
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  Speaker 2: haven't got that in front of me at the moment
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  Speaker 2: to know. But what I will try and chase up
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  Speaker 2: is exactly what the technical failure was and what we've
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: done to make sure that it won't happen again into
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  Speaker 2: the future. I have got a one eight hundred number
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  Speaker 2: and the business help line for people if it ever
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: does happen again, or if people have got those non
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: medical type of COVID questions that we did have a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: lot of obviously last week, then those helplines have proved
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to be a big help for people wanting information.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I will get that number in just a moment.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I am keen to ask, though. I mean, obviously it's
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: not an ideal situation, following on from just getting out
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of a lockdown a couple of days in to have
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  Speaker 1: that system stop working, I would assume that you think
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  Speaker 1: it's pretty unacceptable situation to be in. Like I said,
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  Speaker 1: I know it was only forty minutes.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, certainly. As I said, we've been up and running
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  Speaker 2: since November. The chief gave a few quotes yesterday about
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: how many millions of times that it's been used over
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  Speaker 2: those six or eight months. So it has proven to
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  Speaker 2: be really, really reliable. It is fantastic because if you
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  Speaker 2: go to a lot of other states. I haven't traveled
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  Speaker 2: a great deal myself since COVID, but listening to other people,
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  Speaker 2: if they go to Brisbane and other places, and a
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  Speaker 2: lot of individual businesses have got their own check in
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  Speaker 2: codes and their own systems that don't link together, and
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  Speaker 2: then obviously when you get into times like last week,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: it's hard to trace exactly where people are. I know
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  Speaker 2: that that was one of the things that got us
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: through last week as quickly and as seamlessly as it did,
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  Speaker 2: because our system is generic and across the board. So
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  Speaker 2: that is the first interruption that we've had that I'm
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: very confident that we won't have more into the future,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm certainly more than happy to try and chase
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  Speaker 2: up some more technical info about exactly what it was. Now.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: We did just get a message from Terry and it says,
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  Speaker 1: if the Chief Minister and the Health Minister are truly
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: committed to keeping this COVID at bay, the implementation of
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the Territory check in app should be mandatory for all businesses.
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  Speaker 1: The scare we've just had has highlighted the importance of
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  Speaker 1: maximizing the ability to contact trace seamlessly. Now, I know,
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  Speaker 1: like you said, some businesses do have their own systems
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  Speaker 1: in terms of that contact tracing, But do we need
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  Speaker 1: to make this mandatory? Do we need to actually make
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  Speaker 1: you know the territory government checking app mandatory, so it's
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  Speaker 1: easier to be able to access all of those people
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  Speaker 1: when required.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the commitments around improvements to the checking
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  Speaker 2: app to make sure that you know, there were venues,
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  Speaker 2: there were places there, establishments that if people were breathing
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: in and out of that there wasn't an expectation that
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: they needed to check in. I think those requirements are
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: going to change. I think you will see a much
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  Speaker 2: heavier focus on the check in app to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that we can check in and can track people down.
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  Speaker 2: We've seen to be able to trap the virus last
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  Speaker 2: week was such a great result and certainly has helped
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  Speaker 2: a lot. So it will be doing all that we
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  Speaker 2: can to make sure that businesses have got that available
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  Speaker 2: that people do checking in, even if they're only there
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  Speaker 2: for a short period of time.
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  Speaker 1: So it sounds like there could be some changes afoot
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to that check in to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that we are more stringent with it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll certainly be looking for people to and actually
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: over the weekend you could see already you could see
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  Speaker 2: that people were very very conscious about having their masks on.
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  Speaker 2: They were completely aware that they were able to do
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: it once they sat down. But people were really really
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: conscious about the new requirements and really really conscious about
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  Speaker 2: checking in. I called into a couple of establishments Friday afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: They actually had somebody doing a front of house type
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  Speaker 2: of role to make sure that people didn't even come
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  Speaker 2: in through the front door without checking in. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think there is a much better awareness of how
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  Speaker 2: good it has been to be able to to trace
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: people's movements when we do get into those worse the situations.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, Minister Kirby, I do want to just ask you quickly,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm not going to identify this business, but I
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  Speaker 1: think we've all probably seen now on social media this
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: post that went up over the weekend. Are business saying
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: no masks, we don't ask to our valued customers. The
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory government has mandated the use of masks to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: be worn for all activities, to be worn outside of
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: your home, but please be aware if you're not wearing one,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we'll assume you are exempt, no questions asked.
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  Speaker 3: We don't do judgment shaming.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Or discrimination here, so please know you will be warmly
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: welcomed and respected however you show up.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Is this appropriate in your eyes.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I'm aware of the post that went up, Katie was
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a little strange to see it go up. Yeah, certainly,
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  Speaker 2: we're encouraging people to wear masks, and I really think
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  Speaker 2: people have been in that, like if there's people right around,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: if they're jogging on their own, if they're writing push
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: bights and things like that, like to the letter of
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: the law, you know, either a meter and away a
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: half a meter and a half away from people. But
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  Speaker 2: I've seen people making a really conscious effort to make
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: sure that they are wearing masks. And my preference would
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  Speaker 2: be as a business to really proactively encourage people to
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  Speaker 2: continue to do that, because there'll only be for a
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  Speaker 2: short time. If everybody gets on board and we do
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  Speaker 2: the things that we need to do, it will only
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  Speaker 2: be for a short period of time. And my preference
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  Speaker 2: would certainly be for businesses to get on board and
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  Speaker 2: be proactive. And I've certainly seen that ride around town
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  Speaker 2: over the weekend, people being really really enthusiastic, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: even making a joke about you can't stand up without
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  Speaker 2: your mask. We've got to put it on that.
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  Speaker 1: It is the law at the moment, though, Isn't it
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  Speaker 1: like it is a direction of the chief Health officers.
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  Speaker 1: So if they're not doing it, unless they do have
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: an exemption, they're going to face a five thousand dollar fine.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and I think you've heard Jamie chalk wud be
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: really proactive and talk his way through that about any
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  Speaker 2: comply issues that they have had that they've tried to
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  Speaker 2: really really proactively educate people before they get into those
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: situations of needing to find people or head down that path.
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  Speaker 2: I've certainly wanted as the first option to help educate people,
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  Speaker 2: and thankfully people right across the top end, and I'm
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: sure they're doing it in our springs as well, are
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  Speaker 2: really doing their best to it adhere to the stipulation
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  Speaker 2: so that we can get out of this as quickly
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  Speaker 2: as we can.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Kirby, are you able to just let us know
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  Speaker 1: that number quickly for any of those listeners out there
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: who maybe are in a business if they have a
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: situation again where the QR code system isn't working, or
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: where they need some of that advice or assistance that's
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: not actually medically related.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Certainly, Kadie, it's the hotline is one eight hundred fort
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  Speaker 2: nine zero four eight four, or if they want to
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  Speaker 2: go on to COVID nineteen dot business dot help at
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  Speaker 2: nt GALV dot au, but Pratts will text them through
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  Speaker 2: to Iroonica's been writing as well.
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  Speaker 3: That would be great. Thank you very much.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Paul Kirby there, the Minister for Small Business, and I
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  Speaker 1: tell you what, it's been a busy morning. But as
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you heard there around forty minutes the QR code that
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: app wasn't working, but it has all been rectified now,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: which is good to hear.