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Speaker 1: And joining us on the line right now to talk

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Speaker 1: more about the health situation is well. Bill Yan, the

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Speaker 1: opposition spokesperson for Health with the COLP, Good morning to you, Bill.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to all the listeners there

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Speaker 2: in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Bill. This has been a real point of contention that

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Speaker 1: we've been discussing now for quite a few weeks. We

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Speaker 1: did just catch up with Caath Hatcher, the head of

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Speaker 1: the Nursing Union, just a little while ago, and she

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Speaker 1: made it pretty bluntly clear for us across two campuses

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Speaker 1: in Darwin, at Royal Darwin Hospital and also at the

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Speaker 1: Palmerston Regional Hospital, just over seventy staff down across those

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Speaker 1: two hospitals from earlier. That was the number from earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week. We need to get these stuff, We

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Speaker 1: need to get more stuff in there and try and

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Speaker 1: ease some of this burden, don't we. That's not even

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Speaker 1: taking into account Alice Springs, Catherine Nullen Boy and the

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Speaker 1: remote clinics.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right, Katie. Like the pressure now that all

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Speaker 2: the staff at Royald Island Ron, it's the nurse than

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Speaker 2: everybody else that are there that are picking up the

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Speaker 2: slack is getting to the breaking point and we've seen

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Speaker 2: that also across the territory. I'm hearing issues out in

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Speaker 2: communities where there's issues on communities now because the clinics

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Speaker 2: there have been closed down. Of course they're not able

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Speaker 2: to look after some of the oldest, stronger people who

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Speaker 2: are looking up for communities. They've had to move into

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Speaker 2: town and that's caused now social issues in the community.

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Speaker 2: So this this shortage has a really large flow and

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Speaker 2: effect to territories across the board.

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Speaker 1: Well, I spoke to the Health Minister Natasha Philes earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week and really questioned, you know, what they

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Speaker 1: are doing in an effort to try to recruit staff

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Speaker 1: to fill these positions. One hundred staff is what we'd

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Speaker 1: heard from cath last last week and looking at bringing

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Speaker 1: them from overseas and you know, whether they come from

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Speaker 1: overseas or into state, it seems that the message is

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Speaker 1: pretty clear it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what do you think do we need to

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Speaker 1: be offering some kind of recruitment campaign to bring people

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Speaker 1: across oh I have no doubt.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we need to be forefront in our recruiting because

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Speaker 2: the rest of Australia's also recruiting, so our health and

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Speaker 2: our government needs to sell the Northern Territory as.

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Speaker 3: The place to come and the place to come and work.

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Speaker 2: But I've been onto the Anti government's website for employment

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Speaker 2: and I think there's only fifty jobs advertised across nursing.

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Speaker 2: But what worries me is that most of those jobs

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Speaker 2: are for our fixed term contracts. They're not ongoing full time,

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Speaker 2: so it doesn't provide a lot of I suppose stability

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Speaker 2: for those people who are looking to come up. If

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Speaker 2: I've come up and get a job, am I still

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Speaker 2: going to have a job in six months, twelve months

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Speaker 2: or two years. People might be move here permanently, so

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Speaker 2: they need permanent.

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Speaker 1: Jobs, so you reckon, you know, rather than us offering

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Speaker 1: those contract positions, they need to be offering something more permanent.

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Speaker 1: If we want to get people to move here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, if we want to attract people to move and

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Speaker 2: live and be part of the territory, why would you

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Speaker 2: go or why would you come here if you're only

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Speaker 2: going to get a short term contract and you don't

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Speaker 2: know if that's going to be on it. Put these

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Speaker 2: things up. Put these jobs up as permanent, full time

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Speaker 2: employees and get some incentives to try and get people

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Speaker 2: to come up and work here. It's the only way

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Speaker 2: that we're going to address the shortfall. All the ideas

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Speaker 2: we've put forward about bringing overseas nurses, there's nurses from

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Speaker 2: overseas that have got equivalent quolls to what our nurses

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Speaker 2: here in the territory have. We've just done it with

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Speaker 2: age care workers. Sorry, the federal government has. There's bought

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Speaker 2: over people for age care, So why can't the nord

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Speaker 2: Territory do it for nurses and Bill?

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Speaker 1: This is something that the CLP has actually spoken to

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Speaker 1: the Health Minister, Greg Hunt about, haven't you.

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Speaker 2: We've been in contact with Greg Hunt and Greg Hunt's

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Speaker 2: office about this last week, with Greg this morning. Actually, yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's support from the federal government for this, so I said.

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Speaker 2: The federal government have been able to achieve it in agecare,

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Speaker 2: so it's certainly we have the ability to achieve that

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Speaker 2: for nursing. So let's get on with it. Let's crack

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Speaker 2: on our startup and our hospitals and our healthcare system.

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Speaker 2: Across the board said they're a breaking point and that's

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Speaker 2: seen by these four code yellows now and the closure

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Speaker 2: a number of our remote clinics or in fact reduced

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Speaker 2: services or those services at all. We can't continue down

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Speaker 2: this road. It's affecting the very fabric and fiber of

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Speaker 2: our community.

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Speaker 3: Bill.

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Speaker 1: In that meeting that you'd had or in that discussion

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Speaker 1: that you'd had with the Health Minister Greg Hunt this morning,

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Speaker 1: the federal health minister, what did you say to him

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Speaker 1: about our current health situation.

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Speaker 2: Well, the federal minister is certainly aware of the issues

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Speaker 2: that we face and there's other jurisdictions of facing similar

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Speaker 2: issues that the funding is being given to the territory

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Speaker 2: government from the federal government to now utilize that appropriately.

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Speaker 2: So it's pretty straightforward. The territory governmentor funded for staff

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Speaker 2: and for nurses and funded extra now to run the

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Speaker 2: Howard Springs facility, and that's not working out particularly well

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Speaker 2: for our health system. It's get on with the job Bill.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that the federal government needs to take

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Speaker 1: back over the Howard Springs facility.

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Speaker 2: It's something that we're calling for, Katie from the SALP,

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Speaker 2: because we're given assurances that we wouldn't lose.

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Speaker 3: Staff across to Howard Springs. This was back in estimates

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Speaker 3: there was no staff from our health sector working at

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Speaker 3: Howard Springs and now, based on the information from Cathacha

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Speaker 3: his best place to know what's actually going on. There's

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Speaker 3: forty plus people there, which has now put a burden

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Speaker 3: on our health system.

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Speaker 2: Looks, let's get our staff back into our hospitals. Let's

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Speaker 2: work with the federal government to get them to go

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Speaker 2: back and look after those international repatriations coming into how

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Speaker 2: It Springs so we can look after our territory. In

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Speaker 2: People First.

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Speaker 1: Bill, what about these discussions that are being had about

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Speaker 1: the Palmerston Hospital's emergency clinic. I mean, is it time

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Speaker 1: for it to be closed? Cath Thatcher said no, we

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Speaker 1: need to keep it operational. But people just need to

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Speaker 1: be aware that you know that they may then be

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Speaker 1: transferred across to Royal Darwin Hospital. What do we need

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Speaker 1: to do if you were in charge, what would you

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Speaker 1: be doing with the Palmerston Hospital, particularly the emergency department. O.

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Speaker 2: Look, we've got to keep the emergency department at Palmerston

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Speaker 2: Hospital open. That service is a huge region of Darwin,

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Speaker 2: Palmerston and all of rural Era. And I've said this

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Speaker 2: on numerous occasions that in emergency situation, minutes matter. If

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Speaker 2: people have got to If we close down our emergency

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Speaker 2: capability at Palmston Hospital and people in those rural and

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Speaker 2: Partner's got to go all the way to Darl creates

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Speaker 2: an unnecessary risk for those people when we've got a

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Speaker 2: perfectly fully functioning emergency department sitting there at Parmson. So no,

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Speaker 2: can't close Palmerston emergency department, but we're called for let's

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Speaker 2: look at ideas to maybe repurpose some of what Palmson

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Speaker 2: Hospital is as far as age care and mental health goes.

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Speaker 2: There may be some capability. The healthcare professionals are talking

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Speaker 2: to us about it, so we're listening to them and

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Speaker 2: we're putting the ideas forward to government.

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Speaker 1: So make it more of an age care and mental

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Speaker 1: health facility.

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Speaker 2: Well, if the beds are there and they're not utilized,

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Speaker 2: and ARDIH is being taken up with people with those

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Speaker 2: aged care and those mental health requirements, certainly why not

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Speaker 2: do something with Parmesan repurpose part of that and whilst

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Speaker 2: they get the age care beds actually built that they've

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Speaker 2: been talking about now for quite some time.

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Speaker 1: Well, Bill, it's certainly a discussion which is going to

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Speaker 1: be continued to be had. I know that you know,

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Speaker 1: our health system is one that everybody wants to ensure

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Speaker 1: is up to where it needs to be, so that

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Speaker 1: if we are crook, we've got somewhere to go. I

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Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thanks so much for having a

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Speaker 1: chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie. I'll talk to you again soon.

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Speaker 1: It sounds good.