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Speaker 1: Well throughout the morning. We have certainly heard from a

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Speaker 1: lot of Territorians and a lot of different industries about

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Speaker 1: these concerns when it comes to December twenty and the

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Speaker 1: changes that we're going to see when it comes to

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Speaker 1: our borders. Now joining me on the line is Kath Hatcher,

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Speaker 1: the Branch Secretary for the Australian Nursing and Midwiffree Federation

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Cath, Oh, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Kath. What is the sentiment amongst our nurses that work

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Speaker 1: in our remote communities, in some of our more regional areas,

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Speaker 1: following on from that announcement that was made by the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister Thursday last week.

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Speaker 2: They're feeling frustrated and they feel like that it's kind

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Speaker 2: of to the last resorts. So they haven't had a Christmas.

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Speaker 2: Most of them that have been coming to the office

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Speaker 2: haven't had a Christmas where they've gone away back home

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Speaker 2: to the state to see their family and friends. They're

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Speaker 2: able to do that now the borders are opened up

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Speaker 2: on all of the states and they're able to go home.

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Speaker 2: Now they're realizing they're having to cut their leaves short

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Speaker 2: or extend their leave so they can stay at home

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Speaker 2: for at least fourteen days before they can go back

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Speaker 2: to work.

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Speaker 1: They've been yeah, sorry, do we have any idea. You know,

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Speaker 1: the number of nurses that we've got that actually live

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Speaker 1: in remote communities and work in remote and more regional communities,

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Speaker 1: I would imagine it's quite a few.

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Speaker 2: It is quite a few, but not all of them

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Speaker 2: obviously will be taking leave over the Christmas eatbreak, but

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Speaker 2: in fact think we'll go through out the whole of

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Speaker 2: the Northern territory. So I've been in contact with some

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Speaker 2: of the executive and of the Department of Health trying

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Speaker 2: to ascertain whether this fourteen days is set in concrete

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Speaker 2: or whether that's up from the negotiation. So we've had

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Speaker 2: a chat the last few days, and there is some

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Speaker 2: new research out to show that eight days is kind

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Speaker 2: of the threshold. So if you contract the delta strain,

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Speaker 2: the omnic strain, or the alpha strain, you should have

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Speaker 2: contracted it in the first eight days. So if they

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Speaker 2: come back from into state, they do the usual PDR

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Speaker 2: testing three of them over that first six days, whether

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Speaker 2: they have another one on day eight, and if they're

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Speaker 2: all negative, they should be able to return to the

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Speaker 2: community or return to wherever they're working in the healthcare sect.

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Speaker 1: So, Kath, you reckon it is more about changing the

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Speaker 1: way that you know, changing the number of days that

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Speaker 1: they need to stay in say one of the major

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Speaker 1: town centers, and the way in which that testing happens.

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Speaker 2: Well, fourteen days is a long time, and your health

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Speaker 2: staff are already going away and then they've got to

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Speaker 2: do an extra fourteen days on top of that. You're

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Speaker 2: going to have so many areas within the NT that

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Speaker 2: are going to have more staff away or the same

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Speaker 2: amount of staff but for longer periods of time. Unless

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Speaker 2: they're cutting their time back and return to the territory

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Speaker 2: earlier than they were going to, you know, exetrimental for them.

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Speaker 2: They need to have that time away with their family

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Speaker 2: and friends. Now they're either going to have to see

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Speaker 2: if they can get more holidays on top of what

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Speaker 2: they've already got, but if that's not sustainable within the

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Speaker 2: work area, then they need to cut their time short.

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Speaker 2: So eight days seems a little bit more realistic for

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Speaker 2: them as well as for the workplaces than fourteen days,

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Speaker 2: and it comes in line with the latest research Kathy.

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Speaker 1: In its current form. If we go ahead with things

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Speaker 1: the way that they are, with what the government announced

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Speaker 1: on Thursday, come December twenty, do you think that we're

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Speaker 1: going to see an impact on service delivery in some

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Speaker 1: of our remote communities.

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Speaker 2: I think you're going to see service delivery in all

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Speaker 2: of the areas, not just remote, but within the rural

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Speaker 2: and urban settings as well. You're going to see impact

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Speaker 2: on all the services.

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Speaker 1: Kathy, it does seem as though there needs to be

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Speaker 1: a real relook at this and it's having you know,

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Speaker 1: it's got so many people so concerned. What is your

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Speaker 1: message for the government today. I mean, everybody is anticipating

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Speaker 1: that they're going to be out and making some further

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Speaker 1: changes to this, But what is your message to the

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Speaker 1: government this morning?

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Speaker 2: Well, I've heard there is whispers that things may change

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Speaker 2: in a different direction by the weekend, so I hope

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Speaker 2: that's the case. I completely understand that everyone is worried

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Speaker 2: about going into state and returning and going back to

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Speaker 2: either the hospitals or to remote clinics and being into

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Speaker 2: state more at risk of picking up some variant of

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Speaker 2: the COVID. Now, if they can do that in the

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Speaker 2: eight days and do that in an area within their

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Speaker 2: own home before they return, or within a high vaccinated

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Speaker 2: area prior to going back to the community. Eight days

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Speaker 2: is a little bit better than fourteen. It's it would

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Speaker 2: help everyone that you know that they're making sure that

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Speaker 2: everyone is not just the double vaccinated, which we're pretty

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Speaker 2: good on that now, but having that eight days making

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Speaker 2: sure that everyone is negative on returning to work or

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Speaker 2: returning to communities.

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Speaker 1: Well, Kath Hatcher. As always, I really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: We may, well hopefully we might speak to you before Christmas.

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Speaker 1: We'll have to wait and see. But if we don't

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Speaker 1: speak to you before Christmas, thank you so very much

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Speaker 1: for you know, for all the input and and all

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Speaker 1: you know, the interviews that you've done with us throughout

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Speaker 1: the year and the information that you've provided.

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Speaker 2: A very welcome Katie and I hope you and your

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Speaker 2: listeners have an awesome Christmas too.

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Speaker 1: Thank you too. Thank you, Kath,