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Speaker 1: Over the weekend, we know that a doctor revealed the

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Speaker 1: horror confronting demoralized staff at the Alice Springs Hospital as

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Speaker 1: they tried to deal with extreme alcohol fueled violence and

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Speaker 1: parental neglect in Central Australia. Now, the doctor who spoke

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Speaker 1: to Sky News to Matt Cunningham on the condition of

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Speaker 1: being anonymous, told Matt that the hospital had treated patients

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Speaker 1: including a baby who'd been sexually assaulted and a woman

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Speaker 1: whose husband had tried to cut her head off. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is the head

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Speaker 1: of the Nursing and Midwiffree Federation of the Northern Territory, Hatcher,

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Speaker 1: the secretary. Good morning to you, Cath.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie Kath.

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Speaker 1: What are you hearing on the ground in Alice Springs

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Speaker 1: from the nurses that work at the hospital.

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Speaker 2: Terrible things. Actually, we've had multiple calls and emails over

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Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks. There was an assault of

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Speaker 2: a nurse at the car the new car park. By

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Speaker 2: fifty they knew there was a sexual assault by a

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Speaker 2: doctor at the accommodation within the grounds of the hospital.

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Speaker 2: Cars are getting smashed windows when they come off their work.

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Speaker 2: They're scared to walk out to their car. Sometimes they're

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Speaker 2: even scared to drive home, depending on what day, the

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Speaker 2: time of night, or day it is. They're getting it

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Speaker 2: more verbally and physically assaulted within the hospital caring for patients,

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Speaker 2: and they're really completely over it. They're tired, they're fatigued,

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Speaker 2: and they want some more action CAT to help.

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Speaker 1: Can I just go back to that? So, did you

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Speaker 1: just say that there was a doctor who was sexually

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Speaker 1: assaulted in the new car.

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Speaker 2: Park at the accommodation ground somewhere on campus, somewhere around

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Speaker 2: the hospital accommodation there.

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Speaker 1: Yes, how long ago did that happen?

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Speaker 2: About a week to ten days ago? Oh? My, I

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Speaker 2: don't know anymore. I don't know any more information to that,

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Speaker 2: but you may need to talk to the doctor's union.

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Speaker 2: But it is terrible and it shouldn't be happening.

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Speaker 1: You're dead right, cas. You also said that a nurse

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Speaker 1: was assaulted by up to fifteen youths.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, she's physically not harmed, but she was walking out

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Speaker 2: to her car at eight point thirty Saturday evening into

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Speaker 2: the new secure car park. Somehow these fifteen youths got

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Speaker 2: into the secure area of the car park and they

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Speaker 2: were demanding various things keys, wallet, money, etc. Her They

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Speaker 2: didn't physically assault her, but they pinned her into the

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Speaker 2: corner and you know, she's emotionally traumatized by that. And

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Speaker 2: luckily someone came along and they were you know, they

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Speaker 2: ran away, but I don't know how they got into

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Speaker 2: the accommodation or sorry, the secure area of the new

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Speaker 2: car park there, but it shouldn't happen. And at any

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Speaker 2: one time there is only two security guards roaming inside

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Speaker 2: or outside of the hospital. They have now put another

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Speaker 2: security guard on twenty four to seven, which has made

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Speaker 2: to three over a twenty four hour period, seven days

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Speaker 2: a week, which I think they probably need more, although

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Speaker 2: I did hear yesterday from the regional area director that

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Speaker 2: there is now four on a night duty of security guards.

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Speaker 2: Good cat, yeah, And I'm not too sure whether that's

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Speaker 2: enough either. But I am going down to Alice Springs

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Speaker 2: on Thursday morning for two days and with one of

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Speaker 2: my colleagues, and we're just going to walk around and

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Speaker 2: face to face and talk with all of our members

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Speaker 2: rather than getting them to ring or email us.

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Speaker 1: I reckon that's a really good idea and finding out

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Speaker 1: exactly how they're feeling I mean, is it getting more

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Speaker 1: difficult to retain stuff in Central Australia at the moment,

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Speaker 1: to retain nurses.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. There was something written on the Sky News

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Speaker 2: the other day on the weekend. I'm not sure whether

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Speaker 2: it's true or not, but the new graduates that are

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Speaker 2: starting over the next month or two have decreased, So

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Speaker 2: that was on the Sky News. So instead of day

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Speaker 2: forty four starting, there was about half now that are

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Speaker 2: not starting their graduate program of nursing in all of

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Speaker 2: Springs Now. I don't know how true that is, but yes,

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Speaker 2: the people down there that are saying they've had enough there.

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Speaker 2: If they have homes, they're trying to sell their homes

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Speaker 2: or rent it out and they're moving. They've even people

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Speaker 2: that have lived there twenty thirty years they said it's

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Speaker 2: really bad. They're not waiting around, they're leaving.

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Speaker 1: Kas that report by Matt Cunningham from Sky News, it

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Speaker 1: noted quite a few horrifying things. But I do want

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Speaker 1: to ask you about the nurses accommodation. My understanding is

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Speaker 1: that there is security for the nursing accommodation that's on site,

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Speaker 1: but what about that that's off site. Do they have security?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I don't know, so these some of the questions

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Speaker 2: I'll be asking when I'm down there on Thursday and Friday.

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Speaker 2: I know that some of the accommodation had their windows

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Speaker 2: smashed was at the weekend before last as well, and

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure that was the old campus accommodation or

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Speaker 2: off campus, but that these are some of the things

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Speaker 2: that I'll be trying to find out and talk to

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Speaker 2: everyone down there now.

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Speaker 1: Cas As I say, the other part of that report

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Speaker 1: was incredibly shocking extreme violence. A doctor had told Matt

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Speaker 1: Cunningham of you know, in the time that he's been

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Speaker 1: working there, never seen the violence as bad as it is.

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Speaker 1: What is the feedback from the nurses.

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Speaker 2: The same it is, It is terrible. The you know,

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Speaker 2: they're fifty percent down in their permanent staff numbers of

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Speaker 2: nursing and mid refree. I'm not sure what it's like

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Speaker 2: for the rest of the doctors and the other allied

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Speaker 2: health workers. They're trying to get agency to fulfill all

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Speaker 2: of those fifty percent vacancies, but that's not happening completely

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Speaker 2: one hundred percent filling it. They've are having a bit

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Speaker 2: of angst between the agency getting you know, triple more

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Speaker 2: pay per day than the permanent staff for getting and

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Speaker 2: they're doing the equal amount of work side by side.

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Speaker 2: So that's putting angst on those permanent staff. Some of

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Speaker 2: them have said, you know, why don't I just resign

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Speaker 2: working from the Department of Health and get an agency contract.

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Speaker 2: I'd be able to get triple the amount of money

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Speaker 2: for the same work I am performing on a daily basis.

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Speaker 2: So that's putting everyone on edge. The numbers that are

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Speaker 2: coming through the hospitals over the December January, they haven't

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Speaker 2: quiet and bound. You know, they haven't had elective surgery,

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Speaker 2: and they're still having multiple multiple issues needing that's coming

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Speaker 2: through ed that are needing to go to theaters. So

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Speaker 2: theater has not slowed down at all. It's still needing

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Speaker 2: to suit your heads, arms, legs, etc. From all the

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Speaker 2: assaults and violence that's been going on in the town.

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Speaker 2: And you know, they've just really really had enough and

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Speaker 2: they want some action.

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Speaker 1: I think everybody does. Cat it is just reached beyond

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Speaker 1: the point of ridiculousness. There needs to be some serious

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Speaker 1: action and it needs to be immediate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was disappointed to hear that the community

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Speaker 2: meeting that happened last night didn't last very long and

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Speaker 2: it was shut down, so it would have been nice

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Speaker 2: to see what outcomes that the community had spoken together.

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Speaker 1: But well, look, yeah, we're going to catch up with

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Speaker 1: the hopefully we'll catch up with the organizer of that

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Speaker 1: meeting very soon, so we'll see what we can see

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Speaker 1: what we can find out, Kath. I really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: speaking to us this morning. I'm mortified to hear about

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Speaker 1: those two incidents you know, that you'd told just told

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Speaker 1: us about at the start of this interview. I you know,

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Speaker 1: our nurses already worked under really difficult, you know, difficult circumstances.

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Speaker 1: They're there to help people. They do a phenomenal job,

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Speaker 1: you know. I yeah, I really they need to be

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Speaker 1: kept safe, as does as do all of our frontline workers.

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Speaker 2: And I know the hospital and the executive down in

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs Hospital it's doing their best to try and

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Speaker 2: put more security on and they're now offering a bus

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Speaker 2: service to take staff home at the end of a shift,

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Speaker 2: particularly you know, the late shift at nine ten o'clock

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Speaker 2: and perhaps even the morning shift after night. Judy, yep,

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Speaker 2: but I I wouldn't be leaving my car there if

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Speaker 2: I'd driven to work and got the buck home. I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure about that. I'd leave my car there, it

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Speaker 2: would come back to the next shift and it would

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Speaker 2: be destroyed or taken them for a joy ride. So

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Speaker 2: that there's still plenty of issues to iron out.

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Speaker 1: There, certainly is Kath Hatcher, the Secretary of the Nursing

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Speaker 1: and with Free Federation here in the Northern Territory. Always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you for speaking with me today.

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Speaker 2: No, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you