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Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, news coming through this morning from

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Speaker 1: hospitality venues and also that confirmation from the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: government that the vaccine pass has been dropped. Joining me

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Speaker 1: on the line is the Health Minister, Natasha Files.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners. I'm not sure what

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Speaker 3: was going on there.

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Speaker 1: I apologize that's okay, probably from our endi recon minister.

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Speaker 1: Has this vaccine pass been dropped for licensed venues?

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Speaker 4: Correct?

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Speaker 3: So changes are being made today that the Chief Health

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Speaker 3: officer direction around showing your status of vaccination to enter

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Speaker 3: a licensed premise, so a pub, club, cafe or restaurant

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Speaker 3: has been removed. It is important for people to understand

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Speaker 3: that vaccine does remain one of our best defenses against

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Speaker 3: COVID nineteen. But this I was stepping from the pandemic

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Speaker 3: phase hopefully to an endemic.

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Speaker 1: Is this acknowledgment really that decision that was made last

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Speaker 1: week around allowing people into sporting venues but they then

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Speaker 1: have to show their vaccine at the bars, etc.

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Speaker 2: That it was all just a ridiculous.

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Speaker 4: Katie.

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Speaker 3: These directions are all intertwined with each other. So as

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Speaker 3: we move forward, we do remove some directions, and it

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Speaker 3: may seem logical that another is removed, but they're all

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Speaker 3: assessed individually. The health advice is provided. So the Chow

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Speaker 3: beliefs that we can remove this. But I do stress

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Speaker 3: how important it is to be vaccinated and that does

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Speaker 3: remain our best defense. But the highly vaccinated population we have,

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Speaker 3: the Chow believes we can safely remove this direction.

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Speaker 2: Is it immediate? Is this change immediate?

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Speaker 4: Correct, Katie?

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Speaker 3: So the proof of vaccination is no longer acquired at

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Speaker 3: those venues from now.

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Speaker 1: So why exactly was this decision made, because it seemed

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Speaker 1: last week as though the government was really digging their

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Speaker 1: heels in.

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Speaker 4: I fresh, Katie, As I said, we've been changing, you know,

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Speaker 4: hopefully heading towards that endemic. And so we've been looking

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Speaker 4: at all the directions that are in place, considering them

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Speaker 4: against the health advice. And I do need to stress

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Speaker 4: you know, our numbers are creeping up, they're over five

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Speaker 4: hundred to day, but we have a high rate of

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Speaker 4: vaccination in our population. US has become complacent. So we

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Speaker 4: look at every direction that's in place and see around

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Speaker 4: how effective it is the proportionality of it. So is

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Speaker 4: it proportionate to the response that we need, and the

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Speaker 4: TROW believes that we could safely remove this that decision

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Speaker 4: has been made.

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Speaker 1: Was it a compliance thing as well? I mean, were

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Speaker 1: people actually still checking in so they.

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Speaker 4: Think it is important directions that are in place the

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Speaker 4: community can see why they're needed and.

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Speaker 3: How proportionate they are.

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Speaker 4: We acknowledge that the business owners, particularly small business owners

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Speaker 4: that are pretty busy when they're working, and thank them

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Speaker 4: for their support. This also means that the checking app

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Speaker 4: is no longer required. It was being utilized to facilitate

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Speaker 4: the proof of vaccination. We'll keep the systems there and

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Speaker 4: we hope we don't have to renapce that, but that

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Speaker 4: checking up is also gone.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I know that there is a lot of people

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Speaker 1: that are obviously going to be signing relief, particularly those

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Speaker 1: businesses who were feeling as though had become quite redundant.

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Speaker 2: And I mean, I guess that is the question.

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Speaker 1: Was it because were we in this situation because the

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Speaker 1: past had simply become redundant because it couldn't actually keep

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Speaker 1: up with those vaccine requirements.

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Speaker 3: Can you think it's really important for your listeners to

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Speaker 3: understand how important vaccination remains.

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Speaker 1: I think we all understand that, because you've said it

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Speaker 1: with every answer that you've had for us this morning.

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Speaker 1: But what I'm getting to is, you know, with that

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Speaker 1: vaccine pass it was really only showing that you needed

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Speaker 1: to be double vax to be able to get in,

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Speaker 1: but the Northern Territory government wants people to be triple VAXX,

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Speaker 1: so it did become quite redundant, Telly.

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Speaker 3: These changes are in line with our progression to living

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Speaker 3: with COVID, and it sees those health goals they do

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Speaker 3: shift and we are managing that rate of bread and

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Speaker 3: trying to prevent that serious illness and the hospitalization. So

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Speaker 3: this is a proportionate change that has been announced today.

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Speaker 1: All right, Minister, we know yesterday more than one hundred

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Speaker 1: people filed notices to appeal against you yesterday over the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Government's expected extension to the COVID emergency declaration

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Speaker 1: is the action going to stop that ninety day extension

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Speaker 1: to the public Health emergency and then indeed those Chow

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Speaker 1: powers being extended.

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Speaker 3: So Katie, I do need to respect that this is

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Speaker 3: a matter before the courts and in place in commentary

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Speaker 3: would not be appropriate. But we signed the Public Health

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Speaker 3: Declaration as you.

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Speaker 4: And your listeners know, for the eighteenth of March.

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Speaker 3: And we've indicated we hope that that ends on the

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Speaker 3: eighteenth of May and we can transition to the legislation

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Speaker 3: that will allow some directions to.

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Speaker 4: Stay in place.

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Speaker 3: So it is a matter before the courts, and I

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Speaker 3: respect that process and I won't be providing further comments.

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Speaker 1: So Minister, has this been done just so that you

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Speaker 1: can ensure that that vaccine mandate goes ahead and that

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Speaker 1: people do get the third vaccine.

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Speaker 3: Katy, We're still in the pandemic and we still need

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Speaker 3: chow directions to be in place. So for the ability

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Speaker 3: to have a chow direction you need a public health emergency.

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Speaker 3: What we have flagged is we'd like to step away

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Speaker 3: from that emergency aspect. We are consciously watching those case

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Speaker 3: numbers presently, but we'll need some legislation to ensure that

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Speaker 3: there can be some directions, and we spoke about this

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Speaker 3: last week what those types of directions might be. It

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Speaker 3: might be the quarantine period if you're ill with COVID,

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Speaker 3: might be masked in a high risk setting. So this

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Speaker 3: is flagging how we can step away from the public

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Speaker 3: health emergency. But right now we need that public health

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Speaker 3: emergency to keep our community safe with those chow directions.

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Speaker 1: I guess the one thing that doesn't seem to be

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Speaker 1: stepping away from, though, is that vaccine mandate. And I

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Speaker 1: know that there are still a lot of people who

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Speaker 1: are quite concerned about having the third booster shot.

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Speaker 2: Look I'm not one of them.

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Speaker 1: I'm okay about having it, but I know that there

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Speaker 1: are a lot of people who are concerned about this,

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Speaker 1: some who haven't been able to go back to work.

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Speaker 1: Is the vaccine mandate for that booster shot something that

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Speaker 1: is going to be stepped away from or are we

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Speaker 1: in a situation here where no matter what you do,

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Speaker 1: still need to have that booster by April twenty second.

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Speaker 2: I believe it is.

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Speaker 1: So.

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Speaker 3: The third dose of the vaccine provides eighty eight percent

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Speaker 3: protection against hospitalization into the illness from COVID nineteen, So

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Speaker 3: we're not stepping away from that presently. That's requirement for

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Speaker 3: workers in certain categories of employment to have that third

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Speaker 3: dose is still there.

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Speaker 1: So not presently that sort of leaves it I opened

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Speaker 1: a little bit. Is this still open for change?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I have said previously that the vaccine mandate

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Speaker 3: I think will be one of the last public health

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Speaker 3: measures to be removed, because that's because vaccines are so

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Speaker 3: important in stopping that severity of illness. So we're hoping

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Speaker 3: that COVID, you know, that we go to an endemic

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Speaker 3: and that COVID at some point leaves, but it's presently

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Speaker 3: here and that vaccine mandate is important, and so I'm

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Speaker 3: not flagging any removal of that vaccine mandate at all.

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Speaker 1: I mean with that show change though, on the extension

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Speaker 1: of the Chow powers, it does mean that the show

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Speaker 1: then and staff have the ability to search people's homes

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Speaker 1: and seize documents. Why is that required. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of people still wondering why that is required.

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Speaker 3: So in terms of the Public Health Act that has

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Speaker 3: been in place in twenty eleven, and that provision has

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Speaker 3: always been there. It's used in a very rare circumstance

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Speaker 3: and it could be used, you know, around accessing someone

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Speaker 3: to provide them with healthcare. Police need that power when

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Speaker 3: they're operating in this space. So it's for a public

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Speaker 3: and environmental health officers, the police that works alongside them.

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Speaker 3: It is used very rarely, but it's something that's been

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Speaker 3: in the accents twenty eleven as needed to facilitate access

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Speaker 3: for certain strict conditions.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it necessary then if we're stepping into

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Speaker 1: an endemic And this is one of the questions that

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Speaker 1: we get asked on the tech sign I reckon daily

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Speaker 1: and we have people call about this daily. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of people wondering why if we are stepping away

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Speaker 1: from things, then why are these powers being extended.

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Speaker 3: In terms of the public health emergency. That legislation encompasses

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Speaker 3: a number of factors. Those factors were looked at as

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Speaker 3: we transition from the pandemic to the endemic. What did

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Speaker 3: we need to keep And there was reason to believe

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Speaker 3: that we should keep that power. It's been in that

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Speaker 3: accent twenty eleven. And it would allow someone to enter

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Speaker 3: a premise to provide assistance, it would allow someone to

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Speaker 3: enter a premise.

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Speaker 4: To ensure the safety of the community. Is used very

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Speaker 4: rarely and particularly with an infectious disease. We do need

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Speaker 4: to be cognizant of that. The advice is that that

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Speaker 4: power should remain.

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Speaker 1: So what were those reasons to believe that it did

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Speaker 1: need to stay in place?

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Speaker 3: So there was a different examples given and I don't

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Speaker 3: have them in front of me. But one of them

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Speaker 3: was around the need to enter a premise.

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Speaker 4: To ensure that someone can safely transition to quarantine.

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Speaker 3: For example.

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Speaker 1: I guess you know there is just a lot of

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Speaker 1: people I think this morning who'll be listening thinking, okay,

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Speaker 1: last week we were told that, you know, we still

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Speaker 1: needed to show our vaccine passport to be able to

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Speaker 1: get into license venues, despite the fact that it had

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Speaker 1: been lifted for sporting venues. So they'll be listening to that,

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Speaker 1: thinking okay, and now it's changed this morning. Why are

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Speaker 1: we still in a situation where we're extending those chow

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Speaker 1: powers when everything does seem to be winding back. And

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Speaker 1: I know what you said at the start that there

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Speaker 1: are still five hundred cases today, there's no doubt that

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Speaker 1: there is still the concern around COVID. But like you

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Speaker 1: guys have been telling us, we've got to learn to

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Speaker 1: live with this thing.

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Speaker 3: O Katie, We'll still need the ability for show directions.

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Speaker 3: For example, I don't know what the period of coarantine

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Speaker 3: if you have COVID maybe or if you're a close contact,

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Speaker 3: but you need to have the legislation to enable that

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Speaker 3: quarantine to be enforced. You would need the ability to

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Speaker 3: enforce masks in certain settings, and that was something I

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Speaker 3: did to speak about this morning, is we don't anticipate

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Speaker 3: a prolonged period, but we do want to let the

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Speaker 3: community know that masks are a really important public health tool,

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Speaker 3: particularly for a short, sharp period. So it's to enable

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Speaker 3: those types of measures to be used if we were

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Speaker 3: to see an outbreak in a specific geographical area, for example,

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Speaker 3: in the territory.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about Howard Springs. How many people

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Speaker 1: are out there.

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Speaker 3: Right now, Katie.

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Speaker 4: The figures are fluctuating.

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Speaker 3: There was up to twelve people. I think we talked

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Speaker 3: about this on the West of Wars and there were

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Speaker 3: three or four.

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Speaker 4: It went up to twelve.

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Speaker 3: I don't have a figure this morning, but we certainly

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Speaker 3: are winding down the Center for National Resilience. Thousands of

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Speaker 3: people have gone through that facility, either in terms of

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Speaker 3: the territory or those international appatriations.

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Speaker 4: But we are.

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Speaker 3: Working with the Commonwealth Government to wind that down as

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Speaker 3: we head towards June thirtieth, but then have it on standby.

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Speaker 3: I so we did need to to research that facility again.

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Speaker 1: So what is the situation now with all the health

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Speaker 1: staff that were out there. How many staff have you

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Speaker 1: gone operating out there at the moment.

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Speaker 3: So there's currently about two hundred and fifty staff employed

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Speaker 3: by seeing our in total, but under agreement with the

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Speaker 3: Commonwealth staff employed, they're able to work across other areas

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Speaker 3: and tea health and can be recalled to the site.

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Speaker 3: So we thank our staff out there. They've come together

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Speaker 3: and provided an amazing resource and so we're working with

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Speaker 3: them to see if there's redeployment opportunities. Some people came

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Speaker 3: in for the short term, so we're working with those

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Speaker 3: staff and we're also making sure Katie, that if we

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Speaker 3: did need to search to the facility again, that we

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Speaker 3: could redeploy people back out to that facility. So we're

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Speaker 3: very much in that planning phase around transitioning it but

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Speaker 3: providing it if we did need it into the future.

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Speaker 1: What happens with things like security and catering out there,

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Speaker 1: because I've no doubt that there were tenders for those

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Speaker 1: different different jobs out there, So what happens with those

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Speaker 1: types of things, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Katie, So we had a Commonwealth agreement that they paid

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Speaker 3: on invoice and then so as those and this is

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Speaker 3: common across government where we have tenders in place, and

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Speaker 3: then if we need to utilize those services, we can

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Speaker 3: act upon that and we pay for the services we receive.

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Speaker 3: So we are winding the facility down and we thank

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Speaker 3: all of the community, the organizations I should say in

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Speaker 3: businesses that have worked with us, and then we'll have

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Speaker 3: arrangements in place if we did need to stand it

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Speaker 3: up again. And you remember how quickly we set that

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Speaker 3: up at.

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Speaker 1: So I guess, is there a retainer though in place

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Speaker 1: or are people being you know, are they going to

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Speaker 1: be paid regardless of whether there are actually people in

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Speaker 1: the facility. That's I suppose what I'm getting to the

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Speaker 1: bottom off.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, I think there'll be two different phases. Obviously

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Speaker 3: until June thirty, where we could expect to take people,

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Speaker 3: there will be arrangements in place that will be shorter

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Speaker 3: re term. But post June thirty, we'll make sure that

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Speaker 3: services are maintained. But yes, there would be a period

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Speaker 3: to stand up the facility. In terms of catering, We're

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Speaker 3: not going to be ordering food and not utilizing it well.

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Speaker 1: But so at the moment, if we've got say twelve

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Speaker 1: people there over the weekend, we do still have all

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Speaker 1: of those catering services available and we are still are

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Speaker 1: we paying at a reduced rate?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Katie.

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Speaker 3: As the numbers within the facility fluctuate, we order accordingly,

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Speaker 3: so we try and keep that waste, of course to

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Speaker 3: a minimum.

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Speaker 1: What about them with something like security, are we still

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Speaker 1: at full operational and full payment or are those kind

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Speaker 1: of prices or those kind of rates reduced as well?

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Speaker 4: Katie.

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Speaker 3: The facility itself has overall security, and then we put

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Speaker 3: it into designated areas of two hundred people or a

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Speaker 3: maximum of two hundred people, and then there was internal

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Speaker 3: security to manage those zones. So as you've seen the

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Speaker 3: significant reduction in numbers at Howard Springs, you will have

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Speaker 3: seen a reduction in the staff on site that delivered

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Speaker 3: services such as security.

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Speaker 1: And what about what I mean, what are the plans

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Speaker 1: now longer term? So you said they're June thirty, what

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Speaker 1: are the plans post June thirty with this facility, Katie?

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Speaker 3: I think it's become an asset that we didn't realize

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Speaker 3: how valuable it was. So we are looking at maintaining

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Speaker 3: that facility, so ensuring that you know, being electrical, pest control,

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Speaker 3: all of those services are maintained particularly as we transition

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Speaker 3: through the next year or so with COVID, whether we

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Speaker 3: need to stand that facility up. We need to ensure

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Speaker 3: that that can be done quickly. But it's certainly an asset,

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Speaker 3: so we're working across government to ensure that it could

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Speaker 3: be utilized for a range of reasons.

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Speaker 1: It is an expensive facility to maintain, I would imagine,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's massive. Is that something that the Feds

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Speaker 1: are going to assist with or is that something that

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government is going to shoulder alone?

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Speaker 3: But the repatriation program the Commonwealth have ensured that we're

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Speaker 3: not out of pocket at all for that, and then

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Speaker 3: we're working with the Commonwealth government and they certainly see

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Speaker 3: it as a valuable asset into the future. So can

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Speaker 3: we work together to ensure it's there not only for

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Speaker 3: the Northern Territory but for all Australians.

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Speaker 1: So there is a possibility that the federal government will

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Speaker 1: assist with that, but at this stage it doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: like that's been firmed up.

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Speaker 4: There's nothing finalized at this point.

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Speaker 1: Katie, all right, so we have any idea how much

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Speaker 1: it will cost a month or a year to maintain it?

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Speaker 4: Depends on what level it's maintained, Katie. So there's a

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Speaker 4: minimum as I just pointed to around electricity, plumbing, etc.

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Speaker 4: And when we stood the facility up there was an

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Speaker 4: enormous body of work undertaken to get those services. We

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Speaker 4: will maintain those services.

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Speaker 3: But then it's the additional laundry, catering, additional levels of security.

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Speaker 3: They'll of course be a base level of some services

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Speaker 3: that we would bring in if we were to utilize it,

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Speaker 3: and whatever that reason might be.

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Speaker 2: All right, Minister, we know you'll press for time very quickly.

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Speaker 1: Has the decision been made with those rat tests with

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Speaker 1: that tender.

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Speaker 3: So in terms of the rough tests, we know how

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Speaker 3: useful they've been and they're still being useful. So there's

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Speaker 3: a punnel contract arrangement, so it doesn't commit the Churtary

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Speaker 3: government to purchase those rapid antigen tests. If we need them,

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Speaker 3: we can certainly access them.

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Speaker 1: So we're not going to be spending millions and millions

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Speaker 1: of dollars as had initially been outlined in that tender.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Katy, that was based on the cost of those

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Speaker 3: RUT tests at the time when they were pretty hard

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Speaker 3: to come by. Now s feels like when you walk

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Speaker 3: through Woolies or coals, you can send them at the checkout.

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Speaker 3: So they're certainly there and they've come down in costs,

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Speaker 3: but we need to ensure we've got to availability if

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Speaker 3: we need them. But I can absolutely reassure territories that

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Speaker 3: only will be paid on what we utilize with those rights.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister for Health, Natasha Files, we appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Thanks Katie,