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Speaker 1: Now, as I mentioned, we usually catch up with the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, Michael Gunner on a Monday. He's not available

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Speaker 1: today so we will speak to him later in the week.

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Speaker 1: But stepping in this morning is the Health Minister at

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Speaker 1: Tasha Files. Good morning, Minister, Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners,

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Speaker 1: and happy International Women's Day.

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Speaker 2: Same to you, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, when are these additional Aussies going to start

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Speaker 1: arriving in Darwin?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, we've seen something that grew organically from those

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Speaker 3: first repatriation flights from Wuhand and the Diamond Princess that

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Speaker 3: was formalized and in October we started to see that

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Speaker 3: regular schedule of flights. What the announcement was on Friday

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Speaker 3: is that from May we will see around two thousand

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Speaker 3: Australians who've been caught up overseas repatriated through the Howard

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Speaker 3: Springs facility each fortnighte.

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Speaker 4: So from around May so we'll.

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Speaker 3: Begin increasing the numbers through April and we expect to

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Speaker 3: see two thousand per fortnite in May rolling through that facility.

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Speaker 1: Was it a directive of the Prime Minister Scott Morrison

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Speaker 1: that the management of this facility change from the National

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Speaker 1: Critical Key of Trauma Response Center to the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: government's Department of Health.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'd probably need to peel that question back

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Speaker 3: a little bit to make Territorians understand the Territory Controller

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Speaker 3: has always sat a top of this. He is responsible

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Speaker 3: in the sense.

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Speaker 4: So by Territory Controller you mean the Commissioner.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, And so it's part of our emergency management processes.

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Speaker 3: And what we saw out of Victoria was there was

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Speaker 3: no clear accountability in terms of who was making those

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Speaker 3: final decisions. So the Territory Controller has always sat at

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Speaker 3: the top of our decision making process and then we

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Speaker 3: have the layers underneath it. So in terms of the

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Speaker 3: directive from the Commonwealth, No, the Commonwealth has been working

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Speaker 3: with us around the proposal to expand this facility and

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Speaker 3: it's been talked about in the community and the media.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so why are you changing the way that the

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Speaker 1: international arrivals are going to be managed at this facility?

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Speaker 3: Ie?

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Speaker 1: Why is the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center,

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Speaker 1: who are at the top of their game, internationally recognized

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Speaker 1: for their amazing work. Wouldn't it be logical to have

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Speaker 1: Lenna Taras, who heads up their center, manage this.

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Speaker 3: So Katie, the shorter short answer is the clinical model

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Speaker 3: remains unchanged, but what we are changing is the governance structure.

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Speaker 3: And it will take me a little moment to go

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Speaker 3: into that detail, but.

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Speaker 1: Can I just say though I can't understand how the

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Speaker 1: clinical model remains unchanged, but the team that's managing it

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Speaker 1: is going to change.

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Speaker 3: So the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center traditionally deploy.

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Speaker 3: They deploy for two or three weeks. They're made up

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Speaker 3: of a team of around eight hundred that are based

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Speaker 3: around Australia. We're preparing and this expansion of the facility

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Speaker 3: acknowledges this is a twelve month plan, Katie, at least

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Speaker 3: twelve months, and so we need to have the structures

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Speaker 3: in place so that there is certainty. So that clinical

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Speaker 3: governance model, the clinical model which National Critical Care and

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Speaker 3: Trauma Response Center have set up, is what will stay

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Speaker 3: in place. But the governance out at Howard Springs right

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Speaker 3: now we have the domestic side on the international side,

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Speaker 3: it's going to come together as one facility.

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Speaker 1: So to break that down for our listeners, what you're

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Speaker 1: saying essentially is that the Department of Health is going

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Speaker 1: to try to manage that whole facility in the same

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Speaker 1: way the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center have

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Speaker 1: previously been managing it.

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Speaker 3: So the practices, the infectious disease protocols that they've put

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Speaker 3: in place will remain. So, Katie, the territory controller presently,

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Speaker 3: as I said earlier, sits at the top. You then

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Speaker 3: have the two sides, domestic and international. We'll have one side,

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Speaker 3: and that's acknowledging.

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Speaker 2: That the hotspots.

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Speaker 3: There'll always be room if we need beds for quarantining

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Speaker 3: from a territory hot spot perspective. But with the last

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Speaker 3: Melbourne outbreak, Katie, we saw less than one hundred beds needed.

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Speaker 3: We have over three thousand beds at that facility, so

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Speaker 3: we're saying two thousand repatriations per fortnite is manageable. But

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Speaker 3: in terms of your listeners, I know they've got concerns

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Speaker 3: around you know, they've seen OZMAT run this fantastic facility

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Speaker 3: for the past you know, twelve months. It began organically

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Speaker 3: and then it grew into that structured model for the

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Speaker 3: last six months. But their practices will absolutely be the

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Speaker 3: basis for this.

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Speaker 1: Well, that might be the plan, but I think that

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Speaker 1: you know, without them in there, Without that ozmat team

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Speaker 1: in there, things are going to be quite different. I

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Speaker 1: would suspect Minister was Lenda Taras, who heads up then

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Speaker 1: our Critical Care and Trauma Response Center, happy with this change.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I've been working with the Acting Chief Executive

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Speaker 3: of Health, Lenataris, as the Director of Critical Care and

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Speaker 3: Trauma Response Center and the Territory Controller through my ministerial

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Speaker 3: portfolio as Minister for National Resilience, and that work will continue.

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Speaker 3: We saw the announcement on Friday that we're going to

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Speaker 3: head towards two thousand. We have agreed to that with

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Speaker 3: the Commonwealth Government. But what will happen now is we'll

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Speaker 3: sign a subclause as part of the National Partnership Agreement

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Speaker 3: for Health for the funding and the finite details.

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Speaker 4: So was Len Nataris?

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Speaker 1: Was he part of the you know, was he part

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Speaker 1: of the decision making process for this change?

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Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, so both the Police Commissioner and Len and

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Speaker 3: I don't want to verbal Len. I know that he'd

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Speaker 3: be happy to speak with you as well, but we

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Speaker 3: both met with Cabinet for example last week. I've spoken

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Speaker 3: to him regularly and so my minister or portfolio is

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Speaker 3: the Minister for the Center for National Resilience is to

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Speaker 3: stabilize this model.

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Speaker 2: So we've got a twelve month plan.

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Speaker 3: We need to remember that OSMACK may need to deploy

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Speaker 3: not only to a natural deser or an emergency, but

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Speaker 3: I see them as a key part of rolling out

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Speaker 3: the vaccination. For example, in the South Pacific.

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Speaker 1: Minister, if you're the Minister for National Resilience, why were

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Speaker 1: you not at that event on Friday?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, what happened on Friday was the Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: made an update out of National Cabinet and he made

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Speaker 3: announcements around both this and the vaccine. Of course, I'm

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Speaker 3: always available to speak to the media. I was at

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Speaker 3: other engagements on Friday afternoon, but certainly it was just

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Speaker 3: a briefing off the back of National cabinets.

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Speaker 4: So why was lend nataris not there?

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Speaker 1: I mean because to me, we're talking about the whole

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Speaker 1: structure and the whole way in which this center is

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Speaker 1: managed changing. I know that you're saying that the Police

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Speaker 1: Commission has always been on top and that you know

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Speaker 1: you're going to implement the same procedures and protocols is

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Speaker 1: what the OSMAT team have, But the reality is they're

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Speaker 1: being transitioned out. You know, no matter how we put it,

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Speaker 1: they're being transitioned out. If they're happy with this happening,

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Speaker 1: and if you're happy with this happening, why.

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Speaker 4: Weren't either of you at the press conference?

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Speaker 3: So Katie, I just explained that the Chief Minister came

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Speaker 3: out of National Cabinet to provide an update to Territorians.

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Speaker 3: There's certainly plenty of time for both myself and Len

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Speaker 3: and everyone involved to explain these processes and we will

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Speaker 3: make sure Territorians understand this because that is really important.

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Speaker 3: But I just need to explain with OZMA. So people,

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Speaker 3: those eight hundred osmatis as they're referred to, they come

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Speaker 3: from not only NT health and logistics experts in the territory, but.

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Speaker 2: From around Australia.

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Speaker 3: They traditionally leave their day jobs for two to three

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Speaker 3: weeks to deploy, and so a casual might backfill them,

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Speaker 3: they might defer work that they were going to do.

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Speaker 3: For example, what we're acknowledging is to have two thousand

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Speaker 3: Australians perpatriated every fortnight. We need a steady, stable workforce

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Speaker 3: for twelve months, so someone can leave their position at

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Speaker 3: ARDIH and go across to this for twelve months and

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Speaker 3: they may be an ozmat person, they may be trained

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Speaker 3: in ozmat, but they'll come and work under this banner

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Speaker 3: of national Critical Care and trauma response, or we may

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Speaker 3: employ people into those roles. It will be a mixture

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Speaker 3: to get to that five hundred personnel.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I've got a lot that i want to get

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Speaker 1: through this morning. Now, I know that the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: and yourself the government have said all along that this

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Speaker 1: is a health emergency. If this is a health emergency,

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Speaker 1: why is it being managed by the Police Commissioner.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, this is our emergency structure. It's kept us

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Speaker 3: safe through COVID to date, it will continue to keep

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Speaker 3: us safe. And it is acknowledging that there has to

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Speaker 3: be someone that the final buck stops with, and that

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Speaker 3: is the Territory Control of the Police Commission.

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Speaker 4: If something goes wrong, he's the one that's going to

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Speaker 4: cop it.

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Speaker 2: So there is structures around it.

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Speaker 3: We have that the SEMPSE, which is the sub meeting

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Speaker 3: of Cabinet around emergencies, and yes, the Territory Controller is

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Speaker 3: the final you know, it's not that we have black

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Speaker 3: and white decisions and you know, generally everything is worked

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Speaker 3: through in a robust scenario. But absolutely the territory controller

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Speaker 3: is a top of that structure for emergencies in the territory.

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Speaker 1: Now, this isn't a flood, it's not a cyclone. We

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Speaker 1: are talking again about a health pandemic. We've moved from

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Speaker 1: worrying about people breaking out of the facility obviously, to

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Speaker 1: making sure that once that capacity actually increases, we don't

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Speaker 1: see spread Again, I'm going to ask you, why do

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Speaker 1: you think that that response is best led by the police.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, this is the structure in terms of the

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Speaker 3: territory controller that we've always had. He's always sat atop that.

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Speaker 3: So the clinical decisions, the clinical model is not changing,

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Speaker 3: and it's in this sense, as I've explained before, the

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Speaker 3: domestic and the international coming together as one governance structure.

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Speaker 3: But as far as the clinical decisions, that process will

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Speaker 3: stay in place, and then the territory controller sits atop.

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Speaker 4: So who's making the clinical decisions.

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Speaker 3: So that is the model that has been developed by

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Speaker 3: OZMA working in those highly infectious disease environments, and so

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Speaker 3: it will be all of those protocols will continue under

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Speaker 3: this new one governance structure.

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Speaker 1: So all right, So we've got the police commissioner now

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Speaker 1: overseeing everything. He is, he's in charge for everything, you know,

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Speaker 1: right over the top. But you've just said that in

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Speaker 1: terms of those clinical decisions, it formerly was OZMAT.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, what I'm saying is during a declared emergency,

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Speaker 3: which the pandemic is, everybody in every action reports into

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Speaker 3: the territory controller as the final decision maker. In terms

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Speaker 3: of the clinical training and the clinical governance and those

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Speaker 3: processes they have been over the past twelve months developed

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Speaker 3: by OZMAT. Everyone's been trained in those and those processes

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Speaker 3: will stay the same. But it will come under this

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Speaker 3: banner as the Center for National Resilience, and there'll be

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Speaker 3: a twelve month plan.

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Speaker 1: But ultimately we are talking about having to increase the

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Speaker 1: workforce at this center by four hundred people, and then

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Speaker 1: what you guys are proposing happens here. You know, we've

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Speaker 1: seen that the OZMAT team, the National Critical Care and

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Speaker 1: Trauma Response Center has been the gold standard throughout all

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Speaker 1: of this. You know, we've all spoken about the amazing

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Speaker 1: work that they do. But rather than keeping them on

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Speaker 1: or rather than even a small portion of that team

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Speaker 1: staying on board, what we're doing is transitioning them out

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Speaker 1: and bringing in a whole, you know, a whole new crew.

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Speaker 1: I would think that as we're increasing this capacity, and

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Speaker 1: as we've got a situation where the Northern Territory's risk

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Speaker 1: is going to be increased with those increased numbers, that

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Speaker 1: the sensible thing to do would actually be to keep

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Speaker 1: that team in there for as long as as long

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Speaker 1: as possible, as long as tenable, so that they can

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Speaker 1: not only train those new staff that we're going to

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Speaker 1: bring in from goodness knows where, but actually make sure

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Speaker 1: that they continue to do everything properly.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I need to answer that question in a

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Speaker 3: couple of parts. Their practices will continue the same, strong

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Speaker 3: clinical governance, the infectious disease protocols, all of that will

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Speaker 3: continue under this new governance structure. The clinical processes will

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Speaker 3: stay the same.

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Speaker 2: The second thing is some.

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Speaker 1: People have stuff mate not just from Ozmat actually staying

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Speaker 1: at the center to make sure that that's the case.

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Speaker 3: So it's just about to say some of those people

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Speaker 3: that have been wearing an OSMAT shirt and been working

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Speaker 3: in that facility will continue, but OZMAT will be able

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Speaker 3: to deploy if needed. So some of the people will

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Speaker 3: say yes, I'm going to stay for twelve months. And

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Speaker 3: as I said earlier, OSMAT traditionally deploys for two or

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Speaker 3: three weeks, and so their structure is designed around that.

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Speaker 3: This is acknowledging that we need to get all these

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Speaker 3: Australians home. It's a twelve month plan and so the

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Speaker 3: governance structure of the Howard Springs facility will come as

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Speaker 3: one facility. And I've already pointed out to listeners that

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Speaker 3: a hotspot policy will remain and if we need beds,

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Speaker 3: but we believe that will be a lot less. But

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Speaker 3: absolutely if someone is working there now wearing an oz

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Speaker 3: MAT shirt and they want to stay, there will be

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Speaker 3: room for them to do so. But if someone who's

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Speaker 3: wearing an ozs MAT shirt says no, I want to

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Speaker 3: go back to my day job and be deployable to

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Speaker 3: help roll out vaccines or respond to natural disasters, they

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Speaker 3: will be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Minister, how are you going to recruit four hundred people

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Speaker 1: four hundred staff during a pandemic? So, Katie, that's what

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Speaker 1: these plans going in place for twelve months is really important.

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Speaker 1: People right now have been stepping up out of their

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Speaker 1: day jobs, perhaps doing extra or have perhaps not had that.

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Speaker 2: Day job backfield.

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Speaker 3: So knowing these plans are in plant in place for

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Speaker 3: twelve months, they can step across and take that for

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Speaker 3: twelve months in their usual position, can be backfilled, or

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Speaker 3: we may recruit someone new into those positions. But we'll

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Speaker 3: be growing the workforce from one hundred to five hundred,

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Speaker 3: and that is a range of positions. They're not just

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Speaker 3: clinical positions. There's logistics, there's auditing, There's a lot of

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Speaker 3: aspects out there that will be set up to run

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Speaker 3: this facility for the next twelve months.

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Speaker 1: So essentially, are we hoping to recruit people and bring

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Speaker 1: them from interstate or are you thinking that you're going

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Speaker 1: to have people that maybe work at RDH or the

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Speaker 1: Palmeston Hospital or other areas come across and work at

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Speaker 1: how It springs.

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Speaker 2: So the roles are varied. They're not all clinicals.

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Speaker 3: So it may be that some people come across from

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Speaker 3: our existing health facilities. It may be that there are

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Speaker 3: other territories here that want to get involved. It may

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Speaker 3: be someone that's unemployed, or it may be someone that

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Speaker 3: re recruit from interstate.

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Speaker 2: It will be a mixture.

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Speaker 1: Will you be using agency staff in terms of some

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Speaker 1: of those medical professionals that we need to bring across.

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Speaker 1: Are you going to need to use you know, or

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Speaker 1: you're going to need to use agencies to recruit people

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Speaker 1: and then use agency staff.

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Speaker 3: So we've done a great deal of work, particularly in

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Speaker 3: the nursing aspect of health in the territory, and we've

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Speaker 3: stepped away from a reliance on agency stuff. Going to

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Speaker 3: rule anything in or out at this point, But what

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Speaker 3: I can say is those five hundred jobs are mixed jobs.

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Speaker 2: They're varied.

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Speaker 3: They could be people that are here in our community

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Speaker 3: that are looking for a change. They might be someone

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Speaker 3: that moves to the territory, or yes, they could be

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Speaker 3: someone coming out of an existing role. But we know

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Speaker 3: they're going to go across for twelve months, so we

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Speaker 3: need to fill that other position for twelve months at least.

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Speaker 1: You must can see though it's going to be a

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Speaker 1: tough task to try and recruit four hundred people.

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Speaker 3: This is a massive task setting this facility up, but

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Speaker 3: there's opportunity for the territory here. We've led through COVID

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Speaker 3: nineteen Katie. We haven't had that community transmission, we haven't

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Speaker 3: seen any deaths. We've helped and as I said, it

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Speaker 3: grew organically those first flights where we stepped up, and

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Speaker 3: that was very short notice, Katie, when we accepted those

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Speaker 3: refugees sorry, repatriated Australians from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess.

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Speaker 3: What this is is acknowledging we have a facility out

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Speaker 3: at Howard Springs and there will be Katie, upgrades to

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Speaker 3: the infrastructure out there. There'll need to be significant refits

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Speaker 3: to make it work across all of those beds. We've

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Speaker 3: been using a number, but there's more that we'll need

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Speaker 3: to come online. But this is a significant body of work,

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Speaker 3: but I believe that we can do.

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Speaker 4: It, Minister.

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Speaker 1: People move from all over the country, obviously to be

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Speaker 1: part of that national Critical Care and Trauma Response Center or.

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Speaker 4: The OZMAT team. I'm told by.

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Speaker 1: Health professionals that it is seen as a real stepping

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Speaker 1: stone into other areas of crisis health management. Do you

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Speaker 1: think that people are honestly going to move from other

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Speaker 1: locations to work at essentially what many we'll see as

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Speaker 1: being similar to medi hotels which are operating in other states.

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Speaker 3: Katie, I disagree with you on that point. This is

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Speaker 3: not going to be some second class operation. It is

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Speaker 3: still going to have all those principles. People don't move

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Speaker 3: to the territory to become part of OZMAT. OSMAT has

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Speaker 3: around eight hundred professionals that are from around Australia. Yes,

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Speaker 3: it's based here in the territory and that's a wonderful

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Speaker 3: opportunity for us. But I believe that in expanding this

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Speaker 3: facility we will keep those clinical practices that are being

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Speaker 3: developed by National Critical Current and Trauma Response Center, but

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Speaker 3: we provide certainty for the starf working the facility and

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Speaker 3: also for the jobs that they leave to come across Minister.

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Speaker 1: As of the end of February, since those repatriation flights

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory began on the twenty third of

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Speaker 1: October last year, we've had four thousand, six hundred and

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Speaker 1: six international arrivals quarantine at the Howard Springs Center for

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Speaker 1: National Resilience. Sixty seven positive COVID nineteen cases have been

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Speaker 1: reported from international repatriations. You'd have to say that the

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Speaker 1: management of these arrivals and the containment.

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Speaker 4: Of that spread is largely attributed.

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Speaker 1: To the amazing work which has been undertaken by that

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Speaker 1: OZMAT team. You're now going to be increasing dramatically the

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Speaker 1: number of arrivals and the territory's risk of spread. I

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Speaker 1: just can't understand why you guys are now going to

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Speaker 1: change something which isn't broken and potentially put the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory at greater risk.

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Speaker 2: And we're not changing that clinical model, Katie, what we're seeing.

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Speaker 1: You understand how you guys keep saying that when you're

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Speaker 1: taking out the National Critical Care and Trauma Response.

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Speaker 3: Teamational Critical Care and Trauma Response Team have been in there,

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Speaker 3: operating the clinical practices and providing the support around those individuals.

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Speaker 3: Those same practices will continue, but this is acknowledging that

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Speaker 3: this model will go on for at least twelve months.

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Speaker 3: We're bringing the facility together under one governance model, and

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Speaker 3: I've already spoken about the need for less beds for

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Speaker 3: the domestic side. But I can absolutely assure territorians that

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Speaker 3: the facility, everyone working there will still receive that comprehensive

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Speaker 3: and expert training those practice that have been set up.

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Speaker 3: It's just that OZMAT will be able to deploy if

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Speaker 3: needed for natural disasters and other aspects. They're going back

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Speaker 3: to what they've been doing, but they're leaving in place

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Speaker 3: all of their good.

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Speaker 4: Work, So did they want to get out of it?

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Speaker 2: Katie.

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Speaker 3: In terms of OZMAD and the arrangement, what has happened

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Speaker 3: is some people come across for two or three weeks.

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Speaker 3: Other people have been out there at the facility the

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Speaker 3: whole time, and so if they want to stay on

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Speaker 3: and be a part of this into the future, they're

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Speaker 3: absolutely welcomed. We encourage that, We want that, but we

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Speaker 3: also need OZMA to know what resources they've got so

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Speaker 3: in case they are called upon to deploy, and so

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Speaker 3: this is the most responsible way of delivering that for

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Speaker 3: at least the next twelve months.

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Speaker 1: Mister, many of us in the territory at the moment,

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Speaker 1: we know you and I spoke about this on Friday

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Speaker 1: during the week that was Crime is an issue that

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Speaker 1: a lot of people are really concerned with at the moment.

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Speaker 1: We're now talking about our police commissioner overseeing this center

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Speaker 1: for National Resilience. I know that you've explained that that

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Speaker 1: is you know, that is the usual practice and that's

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Speaker 1: been the case for some time. But realistically, do we

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Speaker 1: need our police commissioner to be doing that when we

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Speaker 1: have an issue with crime?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, that's the emergency structure in the territory and

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Speaker 3: I won't repeat the words that I've said. That would

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Speaker 3: be a question for the Territory Controller and the Police

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Speaker 3: Commissioner around what resources and what capability is. But I

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Speaker 3: certainly think he's got the capability to do it, and

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Speaker 3: this is the structure that has been in place since

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Speaker 3: that public health emergency was declared around twelve months ago.

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Speaker 3: Will it be a distraction though, Katie, that would be

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Speaker 3: a question for the Police Commissioner and the Minister for Police.

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Speaker 3: But what I can say is the territory can troller

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Speaker 3: has sat in this position for approximately the last twelve

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Speaker 3: months when we first declared that public health emergency.

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Speaker 4: All right.

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Speaker 1: One thing that you definitely do have control over is

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Speaker 1: the staff at the hospital. Two weeks ago there was

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Speaker 1: that code yellow at the hospital. Insiders tell us that

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Speaker 1: the hospital is at capacity. We've had those six surgeon

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Speaker 1: positions obviously which can't be filled. Nurses are doing double shifts,

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Speaker 1: but we're now going to be taking on this extra strain.

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Speaker 4: Do you really think it's doable?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, in terms of those repatriated Australians that have

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Speaker 3: come back in, they have been managed. The ones that

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Speaker 3: have been COVID positive within the Howard Springs facility. There

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Speaker 3: has been a very very small number that have needed

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Speaker 3: to access our health services and some of those have

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Speaker 3: been repatriated back into other centers in Australia. In terms

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Speaker 3: of World's Own hospital, we know it's one of the

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Speaker 3: busiest hospitals in the country and we did see the

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Speaker 3: code yellow. We talked about this on Friday, Katie. The

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Speaker 3: patient's safety, of course, is always a priority for us.

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Speaker 3: Our staff work very hard. I've gone away in us

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Speaker 3: the apartment to make sure that when we do hit

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Speaker 3: and the code yellow is a formalized part of health

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Speaker 3: that if you hit a certain capacity you have to

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Speaker 3: issue that and then certain practices happen within the hospital.

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Speaker 3: I've adds to make sure that we communicate that clearly

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Speaker 3: with the public so they understand. I apologize again that

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Speaker 3: that didn't happen last week, but it is one of

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Speaker 3: the busiest hospitals in the country. But I don't believe

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Speaker 3: these extrapatriated Australians will be a burden on our health

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Speaker 3: system for the reasons I've outlined.

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Speaker 1: Essentially, though, we are talking about and I know I've

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Speaker 1: covered this, but we are talking about such a huge

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Speaker 1: number of staff to man that Center for National Resilience,

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Speaker 1: And I do believe that we need to do our part,

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Speaker 1: obviously as Aussie's to try and support Australians wanting to

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Speaker 1: come back into the country, but not at the risk

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Speaker 1: of Territorians.

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Speaker 4: And that's really what I'm getting at.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what are you going to do if there

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Speaker 1: is an increased number of cases at that center and

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Speaker 1: we see community transmission?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I think the reasons that you just pointed

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Speaker 3: out highlight why we need to go to a twelve

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Speaker 3: month structure, put plans in place for twelve months so

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Speaker 3: that we can make sure that people if they want

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Speaker 3: to leave their position at Roald Darwin or Palmeston Hospital

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00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,800
Speaker 3: or a primary healthcare clinic and come and work at

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Speaker 3: the Howards Brings Center for National Resilience, their position is backfield.

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00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,200
Speaker 1: But then we're already understaffed at those hospitals, Like we're

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00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: already got nurses doing double shifts. So do you see

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00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:18,800
Speaker 1: what I'm getting at? Were then I'm sort of going, well,

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00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,280
Speaker 1: how are we going to make sure we've got enough

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00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,160
Speaker 1: staff across all of those areas?

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00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,280
Speaker 3: Because the OSMAT model relies on people deploying for two

449
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,320
Speaker 3: or three weeks and their position may not necessarily be backfilled.

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00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 2: This structure for twelve months.

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00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:31,879
Speaker 3: We need five hundred people to run the Center for

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00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,360
Speaker 3: National Resilience, and Katie, those five hundred people, I think

453
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,080
Speaker 3: it's important for people to note they're mainly well and

454
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 3: even when they do get unwell, they're mildly unwell, and

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00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,520
Speaker 3: we can care for them at that facility. That five

456
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 3: hundred is clean as caterer is, people responsible for auditing, etc.

457
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 3: Our hospital. If people do choose to go across to

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00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,639
Speaker 3: work at that center, we can know that they're gone

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00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 3: four twelve months and backfield those positions.

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00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 1: All right, what are you going to do if there

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00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 1: is community transmission?

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00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,679
Speaker 3: So, Katie, we've always worked with the Commonwealth around this.

463
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,160
Speaker 3: These lights come in, people are quarantined for two weeks.

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00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 3: If we were to start to see an impact that

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Speaker 3: we couldn't manage her in the territory, we would go

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00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,200
Speaker 3: back to the Commonwealth. This is negotiated through a national

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00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 3: partnership agreement and that is what we're working on over

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00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,680
Speaker 3: the coming days, finalizing that with the Commonwealth, so that

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00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,600
Speaker 3: territory is protected, the territory tax payer is protected. All

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00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:20,880
Speaker 3: of this is paid for by the Commonwealth, but we're

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00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:22,879
Speaker 3: clearly meeting our obligations around that.

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00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,159
Speaker 1: Is that what this is all about that it is

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00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 1: going to be a financial benefit to the.

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00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,200
Speaker 2: Territory, Katie, absolutely not. We have a facility.

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00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 3: When that IMPEX workers camp was vacated, there was a

476
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,560
Speaker 3: lot of ideas thrown around around what to do with it.

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00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 3: We didn't realize that it would become such an asset

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00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 3: to our community going forward with a global health pandemic.

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00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,120
Speaker 3: So yes, every cost is covered by the Commonwealth. There

480
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,159
Speaker 3: is going to be infrastructure changes. They do need to

481
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 3: refit some of the spaces out there so that work

482
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,360
Speaker 3: will be there. But this is certainly not purely about dollars.

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00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,280
Speaker 4: Are we going to be making money though from this?

484
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,960
Speaker 3: So, Katie, we won't be making money, so to speak.

485
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,280
Speaker 3: But what we will do is be re enumerated by

486
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 3: the Commonwealth for every cost that the Northern Territory government occurs.

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00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,360
Speaker 3: How much, Katie, I don't have and we're working through

488
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 3: the figures for this next twelve month agreement, but I

489
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,679
Speaker 3: can update territories and this figure was public with the

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00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 3: last repatriations that we took from October three to about

491
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 3: now the Commonwealth Partnership Agreement was worth around two hundred

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00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:23,679
Speaker 3: and fifty million dollars.

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00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 1: Well, we are going to have to leave it there,

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00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: Minister for Health as well as the Minister for the

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00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:30,480
Speaker 1: Center for National Resilience.

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00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:31,879
Speaker 4: We appreciate your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie.

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00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 4: Natasha Files there