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Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie wolf On mixed one oh four

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Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin.

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Speaker 2: As we know, a repatriation flight is taken off from

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Speaker 2: Turkey carrying about two hundred returning Australians. They are expected

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Speaker 2: to touch down in Darwin last night at the RBAF base. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 2: a flight is expected to arrive from London today as

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Speaker 2: I understand, they're going to be joining more than four

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Speaker 2: hundred people already in quarantine at Howard Springs. So is

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Speaker 2: this the most people that we've had at the facility at.

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Speaker 1: Any one time.

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Speaker 2: Well, joining me on the line is the Health Minister

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Speaker 2: Attasha Files.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, minister.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Minister.

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Speaker 2: Did that flight arrive from Turkey last night and how

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Speaker 2: many were on board?

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Speaker 3: So Katie, yes, there was a flight that arrived last

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Speaker 3: night from Turkey. I don't have the exact numbers, but

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Speaker 3: we are expecting a flight again later today, this time

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Speaker 3: from London and it has around one hundred and ninety

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Speaker 3: five people on board. So each flight generally, Katie, has

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Speaker 3: around that one eighty to two hundred people, but it

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Speaker 3: does depends on that pre screening at the departure point.

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Speaker 2: So obviously, as I understand that we have four hundred

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Speaker 2: people already out there at Howard Springs, plus that Turkey

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Speaker 2: flight and the London flight, is this going to be

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Speaker 2: the most people that we've had at the facility at

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Speaker 2: any one time.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, the latest figures i've got that there's around

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Speaker 3: seven hundred and forty people in quarantine. That's the people

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Speaker 3: from the repatriation flights, but it's also people coming in

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Speaker 3: off the oil rigs and doing that work in the

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Speaker 3: international seas they go into quarantine. We also have some

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Speaker 3: of the Quanta's crew and pilots for example, some of

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Speaker 3: the Air North a cruise and also the passengers that

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Speaker 3: come in on those Air North flights from Billy, So

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Speaker 3: they're not repatriation flights, but they're international flights where they

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Speaker 3: go into to quarantine.

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Speaker 2: So does that include the Turkey arrival last night and

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Speaker 2: also that London flight today?

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Speaker 3: So my understanding is that will include the London flight statistic,

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Speaker 3: but it won't sorry the other way round. It will

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Speaker 3: include that Issemble figure, but it won't include that the

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Speaker 3: London figure. That's the figure that I've got this morning,

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Speaker 3: seven hundred and forty people, Katie, It's not the most

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Speaker 3: we've had in quarantine, but we're certainly you know, the

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Speaker 3: facilities come together under one operation. Out there, people are

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Speaker 3: kept separate. It's really important. There was some questions I

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Speaker 3: had from community members about are they all mixing in there.

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Speaker 3: They're very much kept separate within their flight but even

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Speaker 3: within that, those groupings are kept separate so that you

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Speaker 3: don't have any potential cross contamination.

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Speaker 1: So is it the.

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Speaker 2: Most international arrival so that we've had at the facility

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Speaker 2: at any one time, because obviously those numbers were supposed

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Speaker 2: to be ramping up from the end of May, Katie,

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Speaker 2: I would have.

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Speaker 3: To check that whether it's the most international arrivals. I

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Speaker 3: don't think so. I think that before we saw that

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Speaker 3: the drop off was because of the concerns coming from

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Speaker 3: India and the changes to that. I think we had

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Speaker 3: a slightly high figure that I'm happy to check that

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Speaker 3: off there and get back.

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Speaker 1: To you now.

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Speaker 2: It is still going to be a test for us,

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Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that, because as we know, the

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Speaker 2: facility did change hands from the Ozmat team across to

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Speaker 2: our Northern Territory Health team, and I know there's been

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Speaker 2: plenty of discussion about testing out there also the PPE.

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Speaker 2: Since the facility change hands from Ozmat to the Department

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Speaker 2: of Health as the Minister for Health.

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Speaker 1: Did you feel or why did you feel?

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Speaker 2: I should say that it was necessary that those changes

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Speaker 2: happened with the testing and also with the PPE.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, what we've seen at the facility of Howards Brings,

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Speaker 3: and more broadly, the way we treat coronaviruses, we've seen

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Speaker 3: changes all the way along. The highest standards of infection

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Speaker 3: control are in place and they will continue, but we'll

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Speaker 3: be as we're agile. As we learn more about the virus,

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Speaker 3: you will see changes from time to time. But it's

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Speaker 3: really important for the community to understand we've come together

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Speaker 3: under one operation. But many of those people, in fact,

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Speaker 3: the nurses that had been working for OZMAT have gone

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Speaker 3: across and will work up for another few weeks under

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Speaker 3: the territory operation. So there's been a number of measures

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Speaker 3: to make sure that we've got that continuation of all

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Speaker 3: those practices.

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Speaker 1: So why was there.

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Speaker 2: The change to the PPE, Because I know that at

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Speaker 2: one point late last week there was bus drivers who

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Speaker 2: were refusing to drive until they had their the PPE

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Speaker 2: that they had previously had.

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Speaker 3: So the policy around PPE is guide to buy infection

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Speaker 3: control those national standards from HPPC and it adheres to

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Speaker 3: that highest staty standard. There has been evolution of that

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Speaker 3: PPE and the practices in KD. I've spoken to people, nurses, clinicians,

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Speaker 3: you know that not only operating within quarantine but also

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Speaker 3: other medical environments and there's different ways to use the

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Speaker 3: PPE and we're always looking at making sure we've got

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Speaker 3: the highest standard in place.

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Speaker 2: So you're confident with what is going on out there

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Speaker 2: and you don't feel as though any of those changes

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Speaker 2: are going to have an impact to the wider community.

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Speaker 3: So Katie's mandatory that all staff wear full PPE whenever

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Speaker 3: they come in contact with quarantining arrivals and or if

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Speaker 3: it's not practical to maintain one and a half meters.

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Speaker 1: So I am.

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Speaker 3: Confident in the practices, but I will continue to make

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Speaker 3: sure that they are held to the highest standards, that

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Speaker 3: any changes are rigorously tested based on those national standards,

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Speaker 3: based on the latest advice out of HPPC. Very much.

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Speaker 3: So that's certainly my job as the Minister for National Resilience.

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Speaker 2: Can I just ask how many current cases do we

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Speaker 2: have at the moment, how many active cases.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I don't have that figure. Before me we had,

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Speaker 3: my understanding was that we just had a couple of people.

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Speaker 3: So in the transition to one facility, OZMAC cared for

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Speaker 3: all of the people that were under its care. It

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Speaker 3: cared them out, so to speak. So we had around

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Speaker 3: fifty just a few weeks back. The large majority of

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Speaker 3: those recovered. There was just a couple left on the

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Speaker 3: weekend under the former Ozmat banner that were being cared

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Speaker 3: for as infected. And then in the transition to one facility,

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Speaker 3: people that I became positive were being cared for under

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Speaker 3: that new system. And so I don't have the specific

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Speaker 3: number on how many are COVID positive right now in

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Speaker 3: the territory. But that's just to explain what happened in

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Speaker 3: the transition for your listeners. I can't those couple of

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Speaker 3: people we're hoping recover in the know over the next

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Speaker 3: couple of days.

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Speaker 2: Or I'm just having a look on the coronavirus website

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Speaker 2: it says that there are six to the meeting. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I was going to say there's six total active cases

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Speaker 2: on there at the moment, but I anticipate or I'm

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Speaker 2: assuming that you're potentially anticipating as other staff out there

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Speaker 2: that as those additional flights arrived, that we may well

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Speaker 2: see some additional cases.

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Speaker 3: So that six would be there's definitely a couple of marines.

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Speaker 3: There was a couple on the weekends that were under

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Speaker 3: the former of was Matt India flights. Yes, we see

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Speaker 3: one to two percent infectivity off these flights. That's why

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Speaker 3: these people are going into quarantine. But we've got those

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Speaker 3: measures in place if we're to see that large spike,

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Speaker 3: and it was reassuring to see the India flight coming

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Speaker 3: on the weekend and see that. You know that those

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Speaker 3: measures that were put in place at the front end

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Speaker 3: at the departure point seem tour work. So we need

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Speaker 3: to keep working with DEFAT and the Commonwealth to protect

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Speaker 3: ourselves as much as we can.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister.

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Speaker 2: Last week it was reported by the abcne Use that

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Speaker 2: questions are being asked why the new medical director out

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Speaker 2: there at Howard Springstee Stevens received passengers from the India

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Speaker 2: repatriation flight last Saturday and then went to work at

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Speaker 2: a music festival.

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Speaker 1: Later that day. Do you think that that's appropriate?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I understand that that took place, and I

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Speaker 3: understand that there was an investigation and that no infection

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Speaker 3: control breaches were found. So I think that we do

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Speaker 3: need to consider, when you know, people are working at

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Speaker 3: the Howard Springs location, even the perception of going out

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Speaker 3: into the community like that to reassure territorians there was

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Speaker 3: no threat to the community. But I can understand that

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Speaker 3: the concern and I've raised that with my team so

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Speaker 3: that we can going forward as we manage this facility

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Speaker 3: for the longer term under the banner of territory health,

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Speaker 3: that we meet everyone's expectation.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it something that you would do.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it's a difficult one and it's off in hindsight,

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Speaker 3: is an easy thing to look back and go that

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Speaker 3: just just didn't make sense. But I think that you know,

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Speaker 3: we're talking about someone that's very hard working. They've been

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Speaker 3: involved in, you know, all of the flights originally from

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Speaker 3: Wuhan and Diamond Princess, as well as providing that support

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Speaker 3: to our community, which we see that as Matt team do.

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Speaker 3: So I think hindsight it is easy to pick it

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Speaker 3: out and point it out, but going forward will make

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Speaker 3: sure that those teams that are intricately involved in managing

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Speaker 3: the Howards Brings operation that they're you know, the community

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Speaker 3: feels is comfortable with the events that they're attending outside

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Speaker 3: of that.

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Speaker 2: All right, minister, are you able to give us the

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Speaker 2: latest with the requirements from those who've been in Melbourne

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Speaker 2: at this point in time?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we're watching Victoria very very closely now. I

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Speaker 3: think Chief Health Officer last night declared quarantine and testing

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Speaker 3: directions for people who have been to a number of

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Speaker 3: those public exposure sites, so where we've seen those in

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Speaker 3: our four cases just before I came on air. There

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Speaker 3: is a number of peers to these, Katie, it's a

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Speaker 3: little bit confusing. This is Matt what Victoria has done.

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Speaker 3: But people should head to the Coronavirus dot NT dot

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Speaker 3: gov dot AU website if they've been in Victoria recently.

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Speaker 3: That's the easiest piece of advice, and anyone that's in

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Speaker 3: Victoria and planning to come home should also visit there

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Speaker 3: because this relates to our site from the sixteenth of May.

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Speaker 3: So going back to early last week.

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Speaker 2: Well, Minister, we appreciate your time this morning and welcome back.

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Speaker 2: We're really pleased to hear that your son went well

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Speaker 2: with his operation and surgery in Queensland as well, and

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Speaker 2: we're glad to have you back.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Wi. It's certainly great to be home, very wonderful

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Speaker 3: to be back and enjoying this beautiful drive season weather.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for your time and well, hopefully we'll have

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Speaker 2: you back Friday.

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Speaker 1: We'll see how we go for the week that was.

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Speaker 3: I'm out of the habit now, I'm sure i'll get

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Speaker 3: back into it pretty quickly.

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Speaker 2: All right, thank you, we'll catch up with you very soon.

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Speaker 2: That is the Health Minister there, Natasha Phile