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Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is Lawson Broad.

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Speaker 1: He's the CEO of some of your community services but

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Speaker 1: also the vice chair of VNDS here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Lawson, Good morning Katie. Now, Lawson,

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Speaker 1: I know that I think you'd have to say the

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Speaker 1: last couple of years has been quite confusing in a

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Speaker 1: lot of different ways. But for a lot of different sectors,

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Speaker 1: particularly the likes of the disability sector, it's been a

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Speaker 1: bit of a confusing time in recent months and in

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Speaker 1: recent weeks is some of these different Chief Health Officer

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Speaker 1: directions come into place. I know that you are quite concerned,

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Speaker 1: as are others, about trying to interpret and sort of

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Speaker 1: comply with these Chow directions. Can you talk us through

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Speaker 1: how it is going at the moment from your experience

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Speaker 1: in the disability sector.

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Speaker 2: Sure.

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Speaker 1: So.

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Speaker 2: I think the first thing I'd like to emphasize is

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Speaker 2: that we are doing everything possible to comply with every

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Speaker 2: new CHOE direction. But what we're struggling with is that

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Speaker 2: that's very often that's not an easy thing to do.

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Speaker 2: I think on my last count, we've got forty nine

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Speaker 2: current CHOW directions. We've had forty six since January the first,

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Speaker 2: and we really are struggling to keep up. We've been

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Speaker 2: in situations where I've got my whole management team around

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Speaker 2: the table. The last time that requirements for people isolating

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Speaker 2: was change for essential workers, so we had an announcement.

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Speaker 2: It was two days later and we still didn't have

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Speaker 2: the chow direction. We were sitting around a table a

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Speaker 2: copy of the NT News, someone else had the Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister's Facebook page, someone else was looking at the Coronavirus

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Speaker 2: NT website, and we were doing the best we could

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Speaker 2: to work out how we should be responding because every

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Speaker 2: time one of these changes, it's an enormous administrative effort

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Speaker 2: for us. We've got to get the communication right with

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Speaker 2: our staff because as we hear at every news conference,

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Speaker 2: if we don't, we're up for a twenty five thousand

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Speaker 2: dollar fine, and that's the least of our worries. We

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Speaker 2: work in really high risk services and we us get

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Speaker 2: this right. I think we have done everything we possibly

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Speaker 2: could to work constructively with government. So between Annie who's

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Speaker 2: the chair of the NDSNT State Committee, we have met

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Speaker 2: with the CEO of Territory Families, We have spoken with

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Speaker 2: the Office of the Minister for Disability spoken with the

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Speaker 2: Office of the Minister for Health. We have written to

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Speaker 2: the Minister for Health, Minister for Disabilities, Chief Health Office,

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Speaker 2: the CEO of the Department of Health YEP to say

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Speaker 2: we need more warning, we need more consultation. We've got

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Speaker 2: real practical concerns here that in terms of implementing these

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Speaker 2: directions so lawesome.

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Speaker 1: Which directions are the most difficult at this point in time?

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Speaker 1: Is it that vaccine mandate for the third booster shot?

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Speaker 1: Is that the biggest concern at the moment.

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Speaker 2: That's the straw that I think has broken the camel's back.

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Speaker 2: So we have the announcement on Friday, we're talking four

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Speaker 2: days later now, and we still don't have the official

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Speaker 2: access to the official chain directions. So we have five

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Speaker 2: or six weeks to turn this around within our workforce,

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Speaker 2: which is not an easy thing to do, and we

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Speaker 2: don't even have the official document to refer to to

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Speaker 2: know what we should be complying with.

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Speaker 1: So you're literally just going off what's been said in

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Speaker 1: that press conference and what you're reading in the media

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Speaker 1: at this point in time.

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Speaker 2: There is a single paragraph on the Coronavirus NT website

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Speaker 2: that simply says central workers must be vaccinated by March

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Speaker 2: the eleventh. That is totally unworkable for some of our workforce.

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Speaker 2: And I can tell you our workforce is constrained the

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Speaker 2: same as everyone else's. When we've got soupermarkets in Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory closing their doors because they can't staff them, When

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Speaker 2: we've got Danilla Dilba closing clinics because of staff shortages,

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Speaker 2: I can tell you that when we end up in

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Speaker 2: that situation, we will be transporting people to hospital because

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Speaker 2: we won't be in a position to provide the support

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Speaker 2: that they require twenty four hours a day.

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Speaker 1: Lawson. Right now, obviously, like you've pointed out, it's difficult

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Speaker 1: to try and comply with everything now with this third

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Speaker 1: booster shop. What's the main reason why this is kind

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Speaker 1: of tough for your sector?

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Speaker 2: So it's partly because of the lack of clarity. Yep.

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Speaker 2: So if someone did everything they should to comply with

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Speaker 2: the direction to be fully vaccinated by the twenty fourth

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Speaker 2: of December, they cannot receive a booster vaccine unless a

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Speaker 2: minimum of three months has expired. That's March the twenty fourth.

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Speaker 2: Now this mandate comes in on March the eleventh, I'll

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Speaker 2: be in a position where I'm standing down those affected

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Speaker 2: workers for two weeks without pay. I can't staff rosters.

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Speaker 2: It's an impossible situation.

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Speaker 1: So how I mean, how tough going is it right

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Speaker 1: now when it comes to staff for the disability sector.

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Speaker 2: Well, initially it was. Initially it was tough because of

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Speaker 2: the isolation requirements. Now we are getting more and more

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Speaker 2: workers go down who have actually contracted coronavirus. Real risk

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Speaker 2: for us is what happens when someone in one of

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Speaker 2: our houses contracts coronavirus? What are the requirements in terms

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Speaker 2: of isolation? How do we manage that because we can't

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Speaker 2: isolate every one of our participants in a bedroom. We've

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Speaker 2: got all of those concerns. Three weeks ago we wrote

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Speaker 2: to the Minister for Health and the Chief Health Officer.

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Speaker 2: More than three weeks ago, we haven't had a response.

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Speaker 1: So still waiting to hear from the Health Minister on this.

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Speaker 2: And we're not talking panic here. These are really practical concerns,

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Speaker 2: but you just.

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Speaker 1: Need to work through them otherwise it could actually be

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Speaker 1: a really really difficult situation where you may not have

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Speaker 1: staff who are able to work and be you don't

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Speaker 1: know what you need to do. Then if you do

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Speaker 1: wind up with cases of COVID in some of those homes.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right. It shouldn't be down to every service

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Speaker 2: provider to manage their own risks when clearly this will

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Speaker 2: have a flow on effect for our health system once

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Speaker 2: we get to a position where we have to close

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Speaker 2: a house and we are transporting five people to a hospital,

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Speaker 2: whether that's Alice Springs, Catherine or Darwin, but the hospital

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Speaker 2: system can't keep up, that's exactly right, but we can't

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Speaker 2: provide the services.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and see this is the thing I guess you know,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if that clear direction

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Speaker 1: is provided, it does mean that in the long run,

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Speaker 1: it's hopefully going to make things easier on everyone, including

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Speaker 1: the health system.

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Speaker 2: At the very very least, we need access to the

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Speaker 2: most current information. We need a single point of truth.

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Speaker 2: And so when the government amends a direction or when

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Speaker 2: they revoke a direction, what they should be doing is

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Speaker 2: publishing a consolidated version so we know that's what we

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Speaker 2: need to comply with as an essential service. We don't

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Speaker 2: need to look elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: So really that is what you are after. You are

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Speaker 1: after that really clear communication from the government when one

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Speaker 1: of these mandates is announced, or when one of these

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Speaker 1: changes is announced, what the disability sector and by the

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Speaker 1: sounds of it, other sectors need as well is a

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Speaker 1: bit of a bible that goes up on the World

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Speaker 1: website that you can click on and you can see

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Speaker 1: exactly what your sector needs to do.

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Speaker 2: There are two things. That's the first absolute clarity of information,

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Speaker 2: and the second is please talk to us, because what

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Speaker 2: seems to be happening is that where an afterthought the

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Speaker 2: announcement gets made, we're told you work it out twenty

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Speaker 2: five thousand dollars if you don't. When we've got, as

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Speaker 2: I say, these really practical concerns that we could easily

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Speaker 2: work out around a table, questions we can raise and

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Speaker 2: get resolved before a Chow direction gets issued and then

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Speaker 2: gets amended.

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Speaker 1: Well then surely we would just want the best for everybody.

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Speaker 1: You know, I would think that realistically the government wouldn't

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Speaker 1: want to be, you know, placing a twenty five thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars fine on a sector like the disability sector. But

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Speaker 1: then you go, you've just got to make it a

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Speaker 1: bit more easy for people to be able to understand

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Speaker 1: exactly what's.

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Speaker 2: Required and As I say, that's the least of our worries.

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Speaker 2: We operate in high risk services.

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Speaker 1: We must get it right, absolutely well, laws and broad

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Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time, mate, Thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for coming into the studio with us this morning with

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Speaker 1: that hat. On obviously is the vice chair of the

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Speaker 1: NDS here in the Northern Territory, but also as the

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Speaker 1: CEO of some of ill services.

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Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you