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Speaker 1: We do know the situation in South Australia has meant

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Speaker 1: that South Australia has been.

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Speaker 2: Declared a hot spot.

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Speaker 1: So overnight it's been reported that there was just one

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Speaker 1: new case of the coronavirus and it's been linked to

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Speaker 1: the outbreak in South Australia, says the Premier, Stephen Marshall.

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Speaker 1: Authorities ask scrambling to contact, trace and contain this COVID

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Speaker 1: nineteen cluster in Adelaide's northern suburbs, which prompted sweeping new

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Speaker 1: restrictions across the state yesterday. So as I mentioned, this

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Speaker 1: new diagnosis brings the number of confirmed and suspected infections

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Speaker 1: associated with the Parafield cluster to twenty and it has

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Speaker 1: meant that the Northern Territory is no longer letting people

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Speaker 1: from South Australia in. Now joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: right now to talk a little bit more about the

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Speaker 1: situation is the Australian Medical Association's Northern Territory President, Doctor

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Speaker 1: Robert Parker.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Dr Parker, morning COVID, Thanks so much for

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Speaker 2: your time.

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Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory government certainly acted swiftly

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Speaker 1: yesterday morning.

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Speaker 2: Was it the right move?

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Speaker 3: Definitely. Yeah. I mean again we're reminded again how danger

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Speaker 3: is this virus is, particularly with the quick spread and

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Speaker 3: again the potential the super spreaders who have got the

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Speaker 3: bug but don't know they've got it. And again the

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Speaker 3: information coming in from overseas, particularly France at the moment

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Speaker 3: where there's been a further wave and spread just shows

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Speaker 3: you how dangerous but can be and how it can

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Speaker 3: put a very significant Autralian health resources.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

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Speaker 1: And I tell you what you know, I no sooner

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Speaker 1: do you think that we're on top of things in

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Speaker 1: Australia before something like this happens.

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Speaker 3: That's correct. I mean this bug is, as I've said,

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Speaker 3: probably the biggest thing to affect the planets in the

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Speaker 3: Second World War. It's from one of one potentially upset

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Speaker 3: that in the wet food market at Wuharn to the

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Speaker 3: rest of the planet. It's been a major major challenge.

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Speaker 1: And Dr Parker we know that of Obviously, the Chief

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Speaker 1: Health Officer and the Government acted very swiftly yesterday with

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Speaker 1: shutting down South Australia or declaring South Australia a hot

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Speaker 1: spot the same morning, though they did announce that by

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Speaker 1: November thirty, we are going to be opening up to

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Speaker 1: Victoria or to Melbournians again, how do you feel about that?

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Speaker 3: Well, again, the measure is put in place by Premier

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Speaker 3: Andrews to beIN Erry very severe, appearal worked and the

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Speaker 3: fear to have contained the bug. But again you know

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Speaker 3: we always, as is proved by outlayer, at the moment,

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Speaker 3: it can suddenly emerge from anywhere, you know. Again, and

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Speaker 3: so it's around and I suppose, but I think I'm

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Speaker 3: not that opposed to opening up waters to Victoria as planned.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Now we've spoken before about contact tracing, and I

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Speaker 1: know that the Northern Territory government is going to implement

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Speaker 1: that contact tracing in QR codes as you and I

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Speaker 1: had spoken about and you'd advocated for not too long ago.

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Speaker 2: How important are these.

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Speaker 1: Different measures going to be as as the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: does open up more broadly to the rest of Australia.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've got we've got to be constantly on our

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Speaker 3: guard with this buck. And so this pointed out recently

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Speaker 3: with Outh Australia. It can just emerge. And so if

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Speaker 3: we've already got measures in place of contact tracing and

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Speaker 3: we do get a further emergence somewhere. We're actually much

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Speaker 3: better prepared. If we know where people have been and

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Speaker 3: potentially it does do ano in the territory, we can

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Speaker 3: then it's much easier to trace people as compared to

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Speaker 3: before where we didn't have a clue who'd been in

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Speaker 3: contact with her.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so true, Dr Parker, how are you feel Are

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Speaker 1: you feeling quite confident at the moment, you know about

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Speaker 1: how the Northern Territory is tracking in terms of once

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Speaker 1: we you know, once we do sort of have travelers

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Speaker 1: from from Melbourne and other locations back in the territory.

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Speaker 3: I'm never totally confident coating just because of the nature

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Speaker 3: of this bug. It obviously gets around and can emerge again,

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Speaker 3: So I think, I think to be complacent with this

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Speaker 3: bug is very dangerous, So never confident, to be frank,

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Speaker 3: always on the alert, always supporting systems for tracing and

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Speaker 3: for potentially quarantine the people who have been in contact

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Speaker 3: just because of this bug is so effective.

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Speaker 1: And I know there was a reminder yesterday from the

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Speaker 1: Chief Health Officer, Doctor Hugh Hegy saying, you know we've

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Speaker 1: got a we can't become complacent. We do need to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we're practicing our social distancing. We've got

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Speaker 1: to be washing our hands and really doing all those

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Speaker 1: things that some of us were quite vigilant about in

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Speaker 1: the early days.

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Speaker 2: But I guess they've kind of fallen off the radar

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Speaker 2: a bit.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's right. I mean, it is very difficult to

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Speaker 3: be constantly on alert the whole time and it does

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Speaker 3: get boring, and particularly when their bug is evident, you know,

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Speaker 3: people tend to lose interest in it, which is probably

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Speaker 3: just the nature of human existence. And yeah, so it's

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Speaker 3: good to have reminders and to be aware. It's very

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Speaker 3: unfortunate what's happened in how Australia, but it is a

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Speaker 3: very poignant reminder of how dangerous this bug is, and

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Speaker 3: I mean other parts of the world are currently We

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Speaker 3: are just so lucky in Australia with the measures that

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Speaker 3: the Australian governments are done, and I suppose there isolation protectors,

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Speaker 3: but as you actually look at elsewhere in the world,

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Speaker 3: which is the US and France at the moment, where

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Speaker 3: you know, there's much more uncontrolled spread of the bug.

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Speaker 3: Just usual ie, what the future might be if we

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Speaker 3: hadn't had those health measures in place.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I do want to ask you as well,

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Speaker 1: Dr Parker, about the situation where I know that here

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Speaker 1: in the territory we actually travel or we actually have

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Speaker 1: quite a few people travel to Adelaide for medical treatments,

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Speaker 1: various different sort of medical treatments. How is that going

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Speaker 1: to be impacted as a result of these changes with

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Speaker 1: the ESA hot spot.

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Speaker 3: Well, I have been seeking information about that. I presume

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Speaker 3: people can go down. The potential that they have to

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Speaker 3: quarantine when they come back. It probably won't interfere with

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Speaker 3: people getting down to Adelaide. They have whatever treatments they need,

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Speaker 3: but obviously they'll have to go into quarantine on the

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Speaker 3: way back, which could be again, could actually influence whether

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Speaker 3: people have the treatment on all. I suppose they may

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Speaker 3: decide they don't want the quarantine and therefore may not

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Speaker 3: go for the treatment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess the hard thing would be I

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Speaker 1: I automatically think if you're going, you know, for a

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Speaker 1: certain type of cancer treatment or something, it may be

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Speaker 1: a situation where you think, all right, well I'm just

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Speaker 1: going to stay here.

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Speaker 3: Well that's right, and you may not get the treatment

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Speaker 3: you need. But unfortunately the quarantines quarantine, and there's the

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Speaker 3: individual benefit of the treatment and there's also the community

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Speaker 3: benefit of the quarantine, and there's always that uneasy balance.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, doctor Robert Parker, the president of the Australian Medical

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Speaker 1: Association here in the territory. We always enjoy catching up

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Speaker 1: with you. Anything else we should be aware of this morning, Well.

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Speaker 3: Just the Lequer Commission and concerns about what's happening with

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Speaker 3: the legislation. Of course, yeah, I mean, as a commission'm

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Speaker 3: going to be fairly careful, but I mean it's a

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Speaker 3: real concern where the government has taken what is the

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Speaker 3: level of playing field and has turned it quite markedly

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Speaker 3: upside down. Was where basically if the government doesn't like

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Speaker 3: a decision by the Commission, that can just introduce legislation

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Speaker 3: to overturn it. So it's really affecting the whole basis

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Speaker 3: of the Riley Inquiry and the recommendations from that for

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Speaker 3: a health process with liquor. And it's a real concern

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Speaker 3: if the government said, well we don't like the commissions

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Speaker 3: then will just return it. And you know, it really

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Speaker 3: has a major impact then on on the work the

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Speaker 3: Commission does. And I suppose the morale of the commissioners

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Speaker 3: work very hard. They do it because they are it's

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Speaker 3: their input into the community, their contribution to the community.

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Speaker 3: And I know that there's a lot of concern a

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Speaker 3: Commissions at the moment about this very arbitrary approach by

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Speaker 3: the government and it could basically have a major effect

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Speaker 3: on the work of the Commission, which could then rebound

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Speaker 3: basically on the whole process of liquor in the territories.

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Speaker 3: Are very concerned at the moment about this issue.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I have no doubt that you are, and I

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Speaker 1: know that you're not the only one. We did talk

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Speaker 1: much more extensively about this yesterday morning, and I put

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Speaker 1: a series of questions to the Chief Minister about it.

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Speaker 1: We also caught up with the opposition leader Leaf and Chiaro.

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Speaker 1: Excuse my ignorance, doctor Parker. Are you you're on the commission?

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Speaker 2: Are you?

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Speaker 3: I am the commissioner yet, but I mean, and I've

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Speaker 3: had no I've had no involvement with the cases that

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Speaker 3: are currently in the legislation, but I am very aware.

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Speaker 3: You know, I'm very impressed by by the work that

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Speaker 3: goes with the Commission, and the work and my fellow

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Speaker 3: commissioners and the input they put into things. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of work, a lot of material to read, a

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Speaker 3: lot of time that they put in, quite often unpaid

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Speaker 3: into me. It's their contribution. They want to make sure

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Speaker 3: that the community that you know, while alcohol is part

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Speaker 3: of life in the terror people have the right to

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Speaker 3: win an income and whatever from alcohol, that the community

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Speaker 3: also has a benefit from decisions that are made. As

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Speaker 3: I said, a lot of this is unpaid work and

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Speaker 3: it's people because they want to contribute to health in

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Speaker 3: the territory by doing this work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt about that.

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Speaker 1: Now. I know that there has been some concern that

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Speaker 1: we are going to see potentially some of the commissioners

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Speaker 1: actually step aside or decide not to continue as a

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Speaker 1: result of this changed legislation. I know that Richard Coates

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Speaker 1: had spoken to the ABC last week and had said,

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Speaker 1: you know very much that sentiment that some on the

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Speaker 1: commission are considering resigning and standing down.

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Speaker 2: How are you feeling at this point.

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Speaker 3: Well, I'm still going to see. But it's a real

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Speaker 3: concern because again on the level playing field where you

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Speaker 3: where you have all the evidence before you, and you're

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Speaker 3: making reasonable judgments about whether a license order or not

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Speaker 3: go ahead, and you make a decision therefore that there's

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Speaker 3: a communit any problem with that, and therefore there's and

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Speaker 3: the government comes and overrules that really there's no real

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Speaker 3: points the commission in the end, but are given the

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Speaker 3: amount of given the amount of work that the Commission does,

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Speaker 3: and I mean these are only a number of very

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Speaker 3: small number of cases. It does a massive amount of

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Speaker 3: work outside that, there's going to be a lot of

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Speaker 3: problems I think in the process of giving license and

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Speaker 3: whatever if the commission dissolves and the commissioners quit. So

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Speaker 3: I think it's a very very arbitrary and very dangerous

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Speaker 3: course that the government's pursuing with this, you know, and

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Speaker 3: it's really upsetting the people who have put a lot

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Speaker 3: of their own time and effort into trying to provide

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Speaker 3: a community benefit through the.

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Speaker 1: Commission, Doctor Parker, Is that a very real possibility here,

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Speaker 1: that you know that the commission dissolves, or that you

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Speaker 1: end up with a number of commissioners who choose to

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Speaker 1: stand down and relinquish those positions.

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Speaker 3: Well, you have to wonder if all the commissioners leading

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Speaker 3: and they can't find replacements because they can't see any

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Speaker 3: purpose being a commissioner, if the government can just overrule

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Speaker 3: their decisions. You really have to wonder whether the commission

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Speaker 3: can be a functioning entity in the future if the

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Speaker 3: government can arbitrarily just overrule reasonable decisions the commissions, say,

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Speaker 3: why do we have to spend so much time making

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Speaker 3: these decisions if they can just be over ruled by

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Speaker 3: the government.

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Speaker 1: You have to wonder if you don't mind just giving

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Speaker 1: us a little bit of context, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: feel free to tell me if I'm asking too many questions,

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Speaker 1: But how many hours would you sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: would you put into being on on the liquor Commission.

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Speaker 3: Well, generally, before the hearing, you get a large volume.

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Speaker 3: You get a large volume of information by the licensee

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Speaker 3: and they're putting arguments about why they want the license.

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Speaker 3: You get information from people who may object to the license.

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Speaker 3: So you've got to read quite often a very sick

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Speaker 3: folder of quite detailed information before the hearing, and then

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Speaker 3: the hearing will often go for a couple of hours

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Speaker 3: where the licensee and their representatives present information. There may

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Speaker 3: be there may be other people presenting information to the hearing,

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Speaker 3: and then you've got to come to a decision. So

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Speaker 3: quite often a hearing maybe six or seven hours at

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Speaker 3: work four hours of reading, two hours of the actual

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Speaker 3: decision making. And these are often quite they're not major

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Speaker 3: decisions like the Dan Murphy when they're often fety minor ones.

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Speaker 3: In fairness to the licensees and the community, they're decisions

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Speaker 3: that have to be made. And they said there is

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Speaker 3: a lot of work that often goes into these reasonably

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Speaker 3: minor decisions, but they keep the whole process of licensing

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Speaker 3: going and make sure the licenses licensees have access to

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Speaker 3: a fair hearing as well as the community also putting

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Speaker 3: in information.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it must make you start to

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Speaker 1: question why the commission was set up if now they've

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Speaker 1: rushed through this legislation to overturn some of those decisions.

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Speaker 3: Well, the commission was set up for very good reasons.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you had the Rieley Review with some recommendations

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Speaker 3: about the amount of damage that alcoholis in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: I mean the commission was set up up as much

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Speaker 3: of a health process to deal with those significant issues

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Speaker 3: brought up in the right of review. So it was

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Speaker 3: a very good move to have a level playing field

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Speaker 3: where there can be there is a commission to consider

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Speaker 3: issues on a level playing field, and there are significant

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Speaker 3: benchmarks they've got to look at in terms of community

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Speaker 3: damage community benefit. So it was a good idea. But

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Speaker 3: the problem is, of course that this is a very

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Speaker 3: arbitrary and pull very poorly thought out decision by the

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Speaker 3: government which can have a major impact on a much

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Speaker 3: wider issue of alcohol licensing in the Northern Church. And

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Speaker 3: I don't think the government has particularly thought about the implications,

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Speaker 3: so that just rushed ahead with this thing, and I

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Speaker 3: really haven't thought about the broader implications. If the Commission

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Speaker 3: suddenly stops to work, stops working, what they may then

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Speaker 3: have to do about keeping the licensing process going and

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Speaker 3: then the potential health problems resulting from that.

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Speaker 2: Well, doctor Robert Parker, I'll tell you what.

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Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time, and I really appreciate your insight,

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Speaker 1: my pleasure. Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Good to talk to you as well.

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Speaker 1: That is doctor Robert Parker there, the Northern Territory president

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Speaker 1: of the AMA, the Australian Medical Association, but also one

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Speaker 1: of those commissioners on the Liquor Commission. And yeah, as

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Speaker 1: you would have been able to acknowledge or been able

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Speaker 1: to hear there, I actually wasn't aware that he was

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Speaker 1: one of those commissioners, so I found that a really

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Speaker 1: insightful discussion.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully you did as well.