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Speaker 1: Well, as we know, Parliament resumes in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: today and it is set to be an interesting couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks before we get to that, though, a significant

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Speaker 1: and incredibly important announcement was made yesterday. The territory mental

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Speaker 1: health services sector is set to receive more than forty

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Speaker 1: three million dollars of combined funding from the federal and

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Speaker 1: territory governments in a bid to improve.

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Speaker 2: The gaps in the support services.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: This funding is going to be spent over five years

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Speaker 1: and with the Commonwealth investing thirty point six five million

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Speaker 1: dollars and the Northern Territory government investing thirteen point twenty

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Speaker 1: five million. Joining me on the line to talk about

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Speaker 1: this and plenty more is the Minister for Health, Natasha Files.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to.

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Speaker 3: You, Good morning Katie, good morning listening.

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Speaker 2: Now, Minister.

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Speaker 1: This money it's going to include fifteen point four million

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Speaker 1: for two new head to Health adult mental health satellite clinics,

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Speaker 1: nine point one million for a new Head to Health

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Speaker 1: Kids Hub to improve access to multidisciplinary team care for children,

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Speaker 1: as well as five point seven million to enhance two

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Speaker 1: headspace centers and various other funding. Nine point three million

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Speaker 1: to establish universal after care services. It is an incredibly

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Speaker 1: important announcement which is no doubt largely going to be

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Speaker 1: welcomed by territorians. How soon is some of this work

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Speaker 1: and some of these services going to get under way, So, Katie, the.

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Speaker 3: Mental health needs in the territory are incredibly complex and

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Speaker 3: they're vastly different to other jurisdictions. We have already invested

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Speaker 3: significantly both the Commonwealth and territory governments across the territory

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Speaker 3: into mental health, but will continue to do so on

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Speaker 3: improved services. So this will roll out from next financial year.

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Speaker 3: But what we have seen already is the first head

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Speaker 3: to help adult mental health clinic open at Casarina, and

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Speaker 3: this is a space where we're trying to support what

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Speaker 3: we call the missing middles, so people that are acutely

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Speaker 3: unwell end up in our hospital system, and we've recently

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Speaker 3: announced a significant investment in acute terre at Royals are

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Speaker 3: in hospital for mental health. But this is designed to

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Speaker 3: capture people and help them stay out of that hospital

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Speaker 3: level care and provide them with this support. So that

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Speaker 3: opened in January and I was really excited to be

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Speaker 3: at that location and hear how it's really gaining traction

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Speaker 3: to support vulnerable territori ins. So this announcement is significant

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Speaker 3: and it'll be right across the territory.

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Speaker 1: We've been contacted over the last few weeks by parents

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Speaker 1: concerned that there really isn't enough supporting this space for

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Speaker 1: our youth, specifically teens who are struggling with mental health concerns.

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Speaker 1: Is the announcement from yesterday going to be enough to

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Speaker 1: fill this space?

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Speaker 3: So within the announcement Katie, is five point seven million

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Speaker 3: to enhance two headspace centers to increase access to the

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Speaker 3: multidisciplinary use mental health services. So this is more staff,

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Speaker 3: more resources, and it's designed to reduce that wake time

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Speaker 3: and support more young people. So we know that the

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Speaker 3: complexities and I just spoke about that. We're also putting

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Speaker 3: in place nine point one million dollars for a head

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Speaker 3: to help kids hub so really looking at those zero

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Speaker 3: to twelve year olds and try and provide the support

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Speaker 3: to those individuals and the children but also to their

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Speaker 3: families and care is before they get to that critical

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Speaker 3: phase during the teenage years. So this really is a

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Speaker 3: multifaceted approach and it will be going right across the territory, Katie,

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Speaker 3: not just here in Darwin and are.

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Speaker 1: There services right now though which can be accessed specifically?

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Speaker 1: I guess for those, like you said, obviously incredibly important

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Speaker 1: in those teenage yes, but also beforehand.

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Speaker 2: Are there services at the moment?

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Speaker 3: So Katie, there are services, but it is of course,

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Speaker 3: you know, always a challenge to find staff for those services.

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Speaker 3: But we have got headspace that work in this space

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Speaker 3: as well as private providers, and of course that the

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Speaker 3: public mental health team that provides support to children. Your

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Speaker 3: question was specifically to them, But I think that this

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Speaker 3: is an area that's been an incredible focus for me

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Speaker 3: as Minister, and it's not just within those additional facilities

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Speaker 3: that are going into RDH, it's right across the territory

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Speaker 3: and it's certainly something that I'll continue to.

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Speaker 2: Work out now, Minister.

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Speaker 1: I know that there has been a lot of work

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Speaker 1: on way on the mental health facility at Royal Darwin

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Speaker 1: Hospital where's it at, So Katie.

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Speaker 3: We've been doing all the design work, so we're making

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Speaker 3: sure that we build a facility that really serves the

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Speaker 3: needs of the community. And we've spoken about this before.

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Speaker 3: People that are having a mental illness episode, emergency is

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Speaker 3: not a great place for them and we see in

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Speaker 3: other institutions where they can enter the facility without going

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Speaker 3: through ED. So we've been doing a lot of work

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Speaker 3: with the clinicians around how the facility will be structured

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Speaker 3: and how patient flow will occur. And so it's in

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Speaker 3: the design phase and I'm looking forward to sharing those

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Speaker 3: designs and plans with the community soon.

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Speaker 1: And so it's obviously still quite a long way away

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Speaker 1: from being operational.

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Speaker 3: So I'm asking the agencies, both department and infrastructure and

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Speaker 3: help to work as efficiently as possible so that design

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Speaker 3: phase should conclude soon and then we can go to

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Speaker 3: tender and get that construction underway, because I know how

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Speaker 3: critical this facility is to provide additional resources to take

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Speaker 3: that pressure off our current mental health in patient beds,

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Speaker 3: but also across our emergency department to provide better care

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Speaker 3: for individuals suffering mental illness episodes. But at the same time,

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Speaker 3: you know other patients accessing the hospital now still.

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Speaker 2: In this health space.

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Speaker 1: An issue which you and I have spoken about, and

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Speaker 1: we've certainly spoken about at length in recent months is

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Speaker 1: visitation at the hospital for those who are unwell. Have

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Speaker 1: those visiting restrictions been lifted yet, so Katie, my.

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Speaker 3: Heart goes out to families. You know, COVID has impacted

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Speaker 3: so many parts of our lives, but then to have

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Speaker 3: family members critically unwell, in some cases palliative, and then

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Speaker 3: have restriction on the visitation. So I have worked incredibly

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Speaker 3: hard with the department to ensure that they fully understand

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Speaker 3: the need for visitation. We have got some visiting hours

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Speaker 3: back in our hospitals, Katie, and I've asked them to

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Speaker 3: provide a pathway so that those visiting hours and the

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Speaker 3: numbers of people that can visit can return to normal

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Speaker 3: as we sort of you know, COVID. There's not as

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Speaker 3: many cases this week as there was last week and

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Speaker 3: even a month ago. So to acknowledge that change in

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Speaker 3: the COVID situation and the importance of allowing family and

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Speaker 3: friends in to our hospitals to provide that support to patients.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, is there any real need realistically for

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Speaker 1: the visitation to still be the way that it is

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Speaker 1: or there to still be any restrictions. I mean, from

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Speaker 1: what those numbers told us yesterday, there are sixteen patients

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Speaker 1: in hospital, three patients requiring oxygen, and there are no

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Speaker 1: patients in ICU. So realistically do we still need to

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Speaker 1: have these restrictions on visitation at the hospital.

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Speaker 3: So the restrictions were put in place because there was

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Speaker 3: COVID in the broader community and we didn't want to

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Speaker 3: bring that into our hospital where people are particularly vulnerable.

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Speaker 3: So it's trying to find that balance and our health

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Speaker 3: leadership that rozal and Palmerston Hospital, but right across the

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Speaker 3: territory is at Alasabringe Hospital on Friday, Kati, They've done

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Speaker 3: an amazing job. So I'm just asking them to work

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Speaker 3: through how we can get back to that normal visitation

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Speaker 3: as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: All Right, We know that Parliament resumes today. We know

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Speaker 1: the government is planning to focus on cutting red tape

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Speaker 1: for business through the Territory Economic Reconstruction Bill. But many Territorians,

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Speaker 1: including the Independent for Our lun feel that one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest issues right now when it comes to doing

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Speaker 1: business is the issue of crime. Yesterday, the Independent Member

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Speaker 1: for Our A Luhn said, well, she came on this

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Speaker 1: show and she spoke about moving a motion that a

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Speaker 1: select Committee of Parliament be created to undertake a full

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Speaker 1: inquiry into crime in Olice Springs. The motion is that

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Speaker 1: Parliament former Select Committee to examine all the factors affecting

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Speaker 1: crime in Central Australia and form a three to five

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Speaker 1: year strategy for how to manage and deal with crime

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Speaker 1: going forward. Minister, is the government going to support this

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Speaker 1: or shut down any debate in this space, Katie.

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Speaker 3: We of course will welcome the debate, but there's no

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Speaker 3: one solution that will address these issues. There's long term

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Speaker 3: generational issues and there's those short term measures that we

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Speaker 3: have been putting in place, more police, more CCTV and

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Speaker 3: consequences rap defenders. So this is an issue that every

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Speaker 3: jurisdiction across the world has challenges and we're certainly investing

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Speaker 3: heavily in this space, particularly around the youth crime and

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Speaker 3: identifying those root causes. So we won't be supporting the

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Speaker 3: motion that's been put forward.

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Speaker 2: But with why not? Why not?

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Speaker 1: I mean there's been select but there's been Select Committees

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Speaker 1: on so many different things, you know, under the last

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Speaker 1: term of government.

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Speaker 2: Jeff Collins I.

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Speaker 1: Believe that his Select committee was something around around the cannabis,

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Speaker 1: cannabis and the use of cannabis. I mean, why not

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Speaker 1: have a look into it?

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Speaker 3: So Katie, first and foremost, we're investing in those services

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Speaker 3: to stop crime before it starts, including program Stanley.

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Speaker 1: But at the moment what's happening in Central Australia is

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Speaker 1: not working, Like what's happening right now is not working.

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Speaker 2: You've you you know you yourself.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure when you were down there, you speak to

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Speaker 1: tourism operators, you speak to people in the community. They're

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Speaker 1: really at their wits end. And I like, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to make this a political thing. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to make it you and I having Argi Bardi on

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Speaker 1: the radio about it. But it's really reached a point

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Speaker 1: where the people in Central Australia are saying, please. Robin

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Speaker 1: Lanley said to me yesterday, Katie, I'm happy to beg

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Speaker 1: the government on your show to please give us the

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Speaker 1: opportunity for this to happen.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'm outlining what we're doing. People want us

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Speaker 3: to ask. They don't want us to continue to talk.

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Speaker 3: They don't want to see political.

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Speaker 2: They want you to listen. They want you to listen.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, we are listening and we're putting in place programs,

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Speaker 3: resources and will continue to.

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Speaker 1: Do so so there will be even though at every

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Speaker 1: level of government, every parliament around Australia. There are select

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Speaker 1: committees here in the Northern Territory into one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest issues impacting territorians right now. The Labor Government is

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Speaker 1: refusing to allow a select committee to go ahead looking

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Speaker 1: into this space.

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Speaker 3: So what we're doing, Katie, is we're investing heavily in

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Speaker 3: reducing particularly youth crime, identifying those root causes, working extremely

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Speaker 3: hard to address those issues that break that generational change,

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Speaker 3: break that cycle. We've also given more police resources, giving

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Speaker 3: them more police on the CCTV, particularly in Central Australia.

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Speaker 3: So we're focused on delivering and action.

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Speaker 1: I think people are going to be pretty upset to

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Speaker 1: hear this this morning. I know that, particularly those people

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Speaker 1: in Alice Springs. You know, I would have thought, if anything,

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Speaker 1: maybe what we need to look at is not just

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Speaker 1: doing it in Alice Springs, but doing it across the

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Speaker 1: board around the territory.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I will keep talking about the actions that

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Speaker 3: we're putting in place, the programs that we're putting in place,

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Speaker 3: and the investment, and that's what we'll continue to do.

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Speaker 1: So do you acknowledge though that some of those actions

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Speaker 1: really aren't working quickly enough at the moment and they

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Speaker 1: are having an impact on things like business, on things

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Speaker 1: like tourism. You know, even yesterday we spoke to one

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Speaker 1: of the police commanders about the terrible rates of domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: It's across the board at the moment.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, there's not one single solution, there's not one thing,

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Speaker 3: but we know what we need to do. We're continuing

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Speaker 3: to put in place those actions. We're continuing to focus

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Speaker 3: on the short term measures as well as those longer

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Speaker 3: term measures. So we'll keep putting measures in place, we'll

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Speaker 3: keep listening to the community, and we'll keep acting on

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Speaker 3: this issue.

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Speaker 1: Well, no doubt it is going to be one which

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Speaker 1: is at the fort today in Parliament, and I'm sure

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Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks now there is also

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Speaker 1: no doubt that the Chief Minister's comments about consequences flowing

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Speaker 1: are going to be raised when Parliament sits. There are

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Speaker 1: still questions which remain unanswered about why the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: traveled to You and Demou in the days after the

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Speaker 1: fatal shooting of Kumen Jai Walker. He last week said

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Speaker 1: on this show that he'd traveled to You and Demou

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Speaker 1: three days after the shooting to address concerns that health

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Speaker 1: staff had been evacuated from the community on the day

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Speaker 1: Walker was shot dead by Constable Zachary Rolf during a

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Speaker 1: failed arrest attempt. Now, a report in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: News today by Matt Cunningham, Well, it's reported that you

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Speaker 1: held no formal meetings with the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner

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Speaker 1: in the four days after kumen Jai Walker was shot

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Speaker 1: by the police at ew and Demou. Now, if the

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Speaker 1: concerns around the health staff were top of the agenda

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Speaker 1: for the Chief Minister, why did you not meet with him?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'm in constant contact with the Chief Minister,

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Speaker 3: and we were in those days as we are continuing

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Speaker 3: to do so. In terms of diary meetings. We weren't

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Speaker 3: busy getting PA's and putting meetings in the diary. We

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Speaker 3: were dealing with an issue that was evolving. The Chief

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Speaker 3: Minister was invited to you and Demu by that community

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Speaker 3: to address a community that was in mourning, and he

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Speaker 3: did so as a leader of the territory.

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Speaker 1: So were there informal meetings held between you and the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister about this? I guess what I'm trying to

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Speaker 1: nut out is had you actually outlined to him those

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Speaker 1: concerns that health staff for raising.

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Speaker 3: The Chief Minister and I constantly speak Katie over the

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Speaker 3: last five years. I think there would be the hard

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Speaker 3: pressed to find a day where we haven't had some

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Speaker 3: type of communications because it's absolutely vital as the Minister

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Speaker 3: for Health and the other portfolios that I keep in

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Speaker 3: regular contacts, particularly around some of these critical issues, so

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Speaker 3: I can assure the community we were in constant contact

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Speaker 3: and he was getting the full advice not just as

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Speaker 3: the Leader and the Chief Minister, but from the other

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Speaker 3: ministers and from me as the Health Minister.

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Speaker 1: And so you had raised those concerns that obviously your

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Speaker 1: health staff had been raising about their safety.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, it's something that we've seen. We see from

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Speaker 3: time to time across the territory where are health starts

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Speaker 3: to do an incredible job. And I don't need to

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Speaker 3: tell you that you know better than most and they

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Speaker 3: work in some pretty tiring circumstances. And so one of

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Speaker 3: the things that we have changed, you know, in recent times,

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Speaker 3: is that when we do have communities and they have

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Speaker 3: this you know, unrest that occurs from time to time,

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Speaker 3: how we can provide relief to the staff that are

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Speaker 3: on the ground acknowledging the hard work they do and

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Speaker 3: it's often twenty four to seven when they're in a

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Speaker 3: remote community. They don't clock in and clock off. But

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Speaker 3: how we can either change over a staff, how we

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Speaker 3: can give them additional resources, and how we can get

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Speaker 3: governed agencies across the board. And they work incredibly well

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Speaker 3: at a local level. You see police and health and

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Speaker 3: education and territory families. But how can we have some

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Speaker 3: procedural changes that support communities. And that's where you get

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Speaker 3: the Chief Minister's comments around surging resources into a community

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Speaker 3: rather than reducing them and walking away.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so I'm trying to get my head around this.

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Speaker 1: So is what he is saying that even though nurses

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Speaker 1: and health staff in you and Demu felt unsafe enough

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Speaker 1: to be evacuated from the community down the track or

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Speaker 1: in future if there was a similar situation, what he

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Speaker 1: would do is surge more health staff in.

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Speaker 3: Correct, And Katie, I do need to head off. I've

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Speaker 3: got another I do just.

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Speaker 1: Want to ask, so why would we be surging more

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Speaker 1: staff in when there are people feeling unsafe?

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, I've just outlined to you it's about addressing

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Speaker 3: the situation on the ground and acknowledging the hard work

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Speaker 3: of those frontline workers, but how can we support them

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Speaker 3: and support.

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Speaker 1: Our community health Minister Natasha Files, We understand you are

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Speaker 1: very much pressed for time this morning. We appreciate you

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Speaker 1: speaking to us and we'll see you hopefully on Friday.

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Speaker 2: For the week that was.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie. I'm sorry to cut that short.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. It is well.

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Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine

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Speaker 1: three sixty if you'd like to call through this morning

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Speaker 1: eight nine four one one O four nine