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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line is the Health Minister,

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Speaker 1: Natasha Files. Good morning to you, Good morning Katid, Good

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Speaker 1: morning with Sam Minister. Firstly, are you able to give

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Speaker 1: us an update on which communities are now in a

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Speaker 1: lockout or have mask mandates in place?

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Speaker 2: Yes, Kady, as you just mentioned in your opener, there

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Speaker 2: was a fair bit of information on the weekend for

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Speaker 2: communities in that Casterine region and Barkley region, so I

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Speaker 2: do encourage anyone to head to the secure NTEA website

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Speaker 2: to be able to read it. But we have detections

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Speaker 2: of waste water in Alice Springs which then went presumptive,

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Speaker 2: so that was a low reading, so we think that

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Speaker 2: may have been someone transfitting through or someone in home quarantine.

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Speaker 2: There's three hundred and seventy five people as I understand,

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Speaker 2: in home quarantine and Alice Springs. But we did also

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Speaker 2: then have it in the Barunga and Beswick. Barunga has

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Speaker 2: a high vaccination rate so it has a mask mandate.

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Speaker 2: But Beswick was put into a lockout, so for those

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Speaker 2: that have vaccinated they can move around. For those that

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Speaker 2: are unvaccinated they do need to only leave home for

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Speaker 2: essential regions reasons. And then on Sunday, the wastewater COVID

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Speaker 2: was detected in a number of remote locations, Katie. These

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Speaker 2: remote locations tend to be all around kal Karinki, La Jamanu,

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Speaker 2: Daggaragu is an outstation near Calkarindi, and Bulla which is

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Speaker 2: a little further north near Timber Creek. But the big one,

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Speaker 2: probably for your listeners, is Tenant Creek, So we really

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Speaker 2: need Tenant Creek residents to get vaccinated. They're at sixty

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Speaker 2: nine percent fully backs and around eighty percent having had

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Speaker 2: their first dose, so they've done well. Would just be

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Speaker 2: great to see those second doses to get the fully

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Speaker 2: backed community up to a high VACKS rate. And we're

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Speaker 2: certainly not going to ask questions. I think people might

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Speaker 2: feel a little uncomfortable at this late point coming forward

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Speaker 2: to get vaccinated. Our health professionals they don't care about

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Speaker 2: your personal business. They'll just vaccinate you. So just a

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Speaker 2: really big reminder, please get vaccinated if you haven't been.

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Speaker 1: Now are you expecting more positive cases today, Teddy.

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Speaker 2: I'd be surprised if we don't have more cases coming

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Speaker 2: from this Cutterin cluster.

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Speaker 3: We've got a.

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Speaker 2: Number of cases. There was four links to that cluster

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Speaker 2: over the weekend and there's a number of household contacts,

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Speaker 2: so we've put them in to isolation, moved people to

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Speaker 2: Center for National Resilience. So I guess I'm even surprised

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Speaker 2: to date there hasn't been more cases. But that's obviously

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Speaker 2: the great work of our frontline teams down there, and

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Speaker 2: also those residents wearing masks and physically distancing and getting vaccinated.

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Speaker 1: Now I know that obviously there's plenty of work being

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Speaker 1: done to make sure that people are vaccinated and to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we're ready once those border is open

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Speaker 1: on December twenty. I've got to say, though these changes,

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Speaker 1: they're sending territorians into a real spin. Minister. I've got

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Speaker 1: a message from from Mick over the weekend and it

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Speaker 1: says my partner and I are due to travel to Queensland.

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Speaker 1: We're in Jabbarou, both fully vaccinated, ready to do the booster.

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Speaker 1: But after the twentieth of December on return to the territory.

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Speaker 1: As we all know, you've got a quarantine in Darwin,

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Speaker 1: Catherine or in Alice Springs. Mick says this is not

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Speaker 1: practical if you live in communities outside of Darwin. He's

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Speaker 1: in mining and his partner's an essential worker. They're desperate

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Speaker 1: to understand their position and believe that the government's punishing

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Speaker 1: them for where they live. Minister, what is the situation

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Speaker 1: for essential workers that are living in more regional and

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Speaker 1: remote areas come December twenty Katy, Just before I.

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Speaker 2: Answer that question, it's important for people to understand that

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Speaker 2: the whole country is now entering a new phase of

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Speaker 2: dealing with a pandemic. We're pushing from a pandemic to

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Speaker 2: an endemic and is going to be a bumpy ride.

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Speaker 2: We saw Queensland open their borders last night to everyone,

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Speaker 2: and so what I think people have thought that they

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Speaker 2: were going to Queensland or going to Tasmania and that

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Speaker 2: was a green zone and they would be okay. But unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: over the next few weeks we're going to see COVID everywhere.

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Speaker 2: We've already seen it make presence in South Australia, so

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Speaker 2: we have to pivot away to these on again off

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Speaker 2: again declarations of hot spot and start to live with

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Speaker 2: the endemic of COVID. But I do acknowledge it certainly

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Speaker 2: is difficult for those that come from the region. We

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Speaker 2: have the five to eleven year old. Because we have

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Speaker 2: such a young population, we really need them vaccinated to

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Speaker 2: help lift that rate. But in terms of essential workers,

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Speaker 2: we will now work through with Education, Health, with the

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Speaker 2: Office of the Chow around the practicalities of this over

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Speaker 2: the coming days with an absolute sense of urgent Dicatie,

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Speaker 2: I know many people had planned Christmas holidays away, Yes,

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Speaker 2: so what.

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Speaker 1: Is expected to happen because I mean if we're talking

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Speaker 1: about teachers, even our police, our health workers who are

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Speaker 1: planning to go away of booked to go away, and

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Speaker 1: they're now going to have to do fourteen days in

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Speaker 1: either Darwin Alla Springs or Catherine, a highly vaccinated area,

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Speaker 1: how is that going to be possible for some of

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Speaker 1: those essential workers.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, I think people had made an assumption with

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Speaker 2: domestic that you know, Queensland, some of those areas would

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Speaker 2: be green zones. I feel that the country will spread

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Speaker 2: to a red zone. Apart from Wa they're sticking to

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Speaker 2: their own things, and so what it did mean is

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Speaker 2: that people would have been facing some type of health

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Speaker 2: measure as these jurisdictions would have shifted to a red zone.

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Speaker 2: And so we're trying to step forward with the testing regime.

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Speaker 2: But it is going to be a bumpy ride.

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Speaker 1: That's why they got double vags, right, I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: why everybody got double vaccinated. A lot of people were like,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've got to do this so that we

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Speaker 1: are able to actually travel away come Christmas time and

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Speaker 1: we are able to see our families again.

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Speaker 2: But Katie, we can't afford at this final hurdle to

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Speaker 2: stumble and to have COVID spread so rapidly in our community.

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Speaker 2: And so we are stepping away from those red and

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Speaker 2: Green zones treating Australia as one. But we still need

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Speaker 2: to have public health measures to keep our community faith.

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Speaker 1: So why not re implement those biosecurity zones again?

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Speaker 2: So Katie, we have acknowledged that the biosecurity zones and

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Speaker 2: trying to keep people in community is practically not possible.

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Speaker 2: We've got a very transient population and so it would

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Speaker 2: not be a public health measure that would keep the

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Speaker 2: community safe. So we need to focus around other measures

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Speaker 2: that would be practical.

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Speaker 1: How is it going to be police, How are we

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Speaker 1: actually going to make sure then that if people do

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Speaker 1: travel away come Christmas time, that they're not going into

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Speaker 1: more regional or remote areas so.

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Speaker 2: People are able to transit, so they can drive from

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Speaker 2: Darwin or Catherine through the Vasi region into South Australia

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Speaker 2: or across the Queensland for example. Then when they come

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Speaker 2: back they need to comply with those show directions around

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Speaker 2: getting having a negative test when they arrived, before they

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Speaker 2: arrive in the territory, then on arrival and then day six.

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Speaker 2: So there'll be show directions in place that will ensure

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Speaker 2: people comply and if they breach that, we all know

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Speaker 2: that there's a penalty in place, all right.

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Speaker 1: We know that this is also going to have a

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Speaker 1: massive impact on tourism. We spoke to Tourism Central Australia

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Speaker 1: and also Hospitality and Tea on Friday last week. They

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Speaker 1: said that these changes are going to have a terrible

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Speaker 1: impact over the Christmas break. As the Tourism Minister, you

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Speaker 1: must be concerned that this announcement now means that tourism

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Speaker 1: sector basically in regional nt is closed off to everybody

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Speaker 1: besides territorians.

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Speaker 2: Oh Katie. The tourism and hospitality industry is being devastated

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Speaker 2: and my role as the ministry is to support them

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Speaker 2: over what will be a bumpy few weeks and It's

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Speaker 2: important to remember we've bought these changes forward from the

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Speaker 2: middle of January to the middle of December.

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Speaker 3: But I certainly be.

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Speaker 2: Working with them, listening to their advocacy around some practical

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Speaker 2: solutions and talking to Health about how we can step

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Speaker 2: forward to support this industry.

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Speaker 1: So are you expecting this to only last for a

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Speaker 1: few weeks, so.

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Speaker 2: Katie, as I said, we're in a transition phase from

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Speaker 2: the pandemic to the endemic, and so we do believe

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Speaker 2: that this will be for a period of time. We

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Speaker 2: know that the five to eleven year olds we can

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Speaker 2: vaccinate them from January tenth, so we're making sure that

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Speaker 2: we'll sedge our resources to get them vaccinated as quickly

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Speaker 2: as possible and then we'll see those overall rates lists

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Speaker 2: that we feel that we can keep the community safe

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Speaker 2: whilst having much for your travel within the territory.

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Speaker 1: Is there any possibility here for the tourism sector that

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Speaker 1: you know that you're able to have travel bubbles, So

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Speaker 1: maybe the likes of Litchfield National Park and Bachelor in

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Speaker 1: a Darwin Zone, nit Malak Gorge obviously in Catherine and

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia having a travel bubble for the likes

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Speaker 1: of Lara.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, our vulnerable communities remain vulnerable, and so many

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Speaker 2: remote communities we need to get those five to eleven

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Speaker 2: year olds. But we're certainly looking at practical solutions to

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Speaker 2: keep the community safe. But I do envisage, as I

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Speaker 2: just said, that this will be for a period of

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Speaker 2: time until we see much freer travel within the territory

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Speaker 2: and across Australia.

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Speaker 1: Have you met with the tourism and hospitality sector and

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Speaker 1: what has your message been to them?

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Speaker 2: So I did speak with Tourism Central Australia on Friday,

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Speaker 2: and I'll be catching up with Tourism top ends this

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Speaker 2: week and just listening to the practical solutions that they

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Speaker 2: may be able to bring forward and balancing that with

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Speaker 2: a healthy advice to keep the community safe over the

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Speaker 2: coming week, which will be a very bumpy ride.

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Speaker 1: Katie, I acknowledge that how are they going to be

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Speaker 1: supported through what is going to be such a difficult

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Speaker 1: time when they've already had such a difficult time and

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Speaker 1: they really didn't see this coming.

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Speaker 2: So Katie, a point to the fact that we are

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Speaker 2: opening up a month earlier. It might not been as

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Speaker 2: people and busied, but we have put in place a

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Speaker 2: number of tourism survival funds of visitation reliance support programs.

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Speaker 2: We announced just a couple of weeks ago an extension

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Speaker 2: to that with a significant increase working with the Commonwealth.

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Speaker 2: So we'll keep working with them around those industry supports

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Speaker 2: to get them through to that March April when we

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Speaker 2: start to see the peak season in the territory.

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Speaker 1: So Minister, I mean, are you expecting that the reality

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Speaker 1: of this is come December twenty that we are going

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Speaker 1: to see, you know, a lot more COVID in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory community.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I hope not, Katie, but I think it's

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Speaker 2: inevitable that COVID. We are not aiming for eradication. We

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Speaker 2: can clearly seeing Catherine, that it is seeping and so

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Speaker 2: we need to make sure that it's managed and doesn't

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Speaker 2: overburden our health system. South Australia has already got COVID

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Speaker 2: in their community. I imagine it will be spreading in

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Speaker 2: Queensland within the coming weeks following their border opening. And

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Speaker 2: so what people need to understand is that we've responded

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Speaker 2: to the situation in Australia. So we could have start

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Speaker 2: with our old measures that every jurisdiction I believe over

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Speaker 2: the next few weeks would have become a red zone,

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Speaker 2: which was fourteen days quarantine or seven days quarantine. So

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Speaker 2: as much as people are frustrated, in one sense, we

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Speaker 2: are trying to be as practical as possible in responding

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Speaker 2: to the change in COVID situation in Australia.

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Speaker 1: I did just get a message from Alex Bruce, the

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Speaker 1: CEO of Hospitality here in the Northern Territory. He said, Katie,

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Speaker 1: could we declare null and Boy a high VAC zone

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Speaker 1: and then look at including the likes of Litchfield National

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Speaker 1: Park and other areas into those travel bubbles and see

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Speaker 1: all essential workers that cannot come into contact with Faulner?

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Speaker 1: Can they also well those that are on stations and

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Speaker 1: mind sights etc. Is there a possibility for them to

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Speaker 1: be able to still get those exemptions and do their.

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Speaker 2: Jobs, Katie, I've got a strong relation with the relationship

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Speaker 2: with the tourism and hospitality industry, as do my colleagues

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Speaker 2: with those other portfolios. So we'll certainly be listening to

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Speaker 2: their advocacy with a sense of urgency. But as I said,

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Speaker 2: we can't fall over at these final hurdles and allow

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Speaker 2: COVID to spread rapidly and overburden our health system.

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Speaker 1: I mean, has the government sort of overshot here though?

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Speaker 1: Do you need to take a relook at this and

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Speaker 1: go all right, we actually do need to rethink the

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Speaker 1: way we're looking at doing things for essential workers in

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Speaker 1: some of those regional and remote locations, and we do

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Speaker 1: need to look at whether we could potentially have travel

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Speaker 1: bubbles for some of those tourism hotspots that Katie.

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Speaker 2: We're facing a time where there is an increasing risk

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Speaker 2: of COVID spreading in the territory and those vulnerable communities

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Speaker 2: until we can get the five to eleven year olds

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Speaker 2: vaccinated do remain particularly vulnerable, and as much as frontline

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Speaker 2: workers have the best interest of those communities that they're

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Speaker 2: a part of, they could potentially be the linkage to

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Speaker 2: spread COVID into that community. So January complete situation.

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Speaker 1: So January teenh is my understanding, is when when children

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Speaker 1: aged from five to eleven are going to be able

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Speaker 1: to be eligible for that vaccine. So we are talking

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Speaker 1: about a significant period of time here where presumably our

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Speaker 1: tourism sector is going to be on its nies.

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Speaker 2: So Katie, it's been a particularly hard time throughout the pandemic,

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Speaker 2: and unfortunately that will continue for some time to come.

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Speaker 2: But we do have an opportunity to keep our community

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Speaker 2: safe and step through this and be ready to open

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Speaker 2: up to visitation when we have that vaccination rate, which

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Speaker 2: is so important from our five to eleven years.

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Speaker 1: All right, One of the questions which continues to be

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Speaker 1: asked is what happens if you test positive to COVID

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Speaker 1: after you've traveled into state, you get home, you're at

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Speaker 1: your home, you test positive on one of those three

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Speaker 1: ten it needs to be conducted. Do you have to

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Speaker 1: go into the Center for National Resilience or will you

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Speaker 1: be able to quarantine at home?

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Speaker 2: To Katie, your care comes first. So it's difficult to

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Speaker 2: talk about individual scenarios, but in a broad sense, we

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Speaker 2: are preparing for COVID at home. So if an individual

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Speaker 2: does have a suitable place, they're not putting the community

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Speaker 2: or other members of their family or household at risk.

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Speaker 2: We are looking into that because we will see increasing

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Speaker 2: numbers and so that is one of the programs that

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Speaker 2: we're working on with intelth all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Minister, you've spoken about the situation that we have

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Speaker 1: obviously with making sure that our health system is not overburdened.

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Speaker 1: We had quite a few people call into the station

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Speaker 1: last week to talk about elective surgeries and those elective

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Speaker 1: surgery wait times. I know that the COLP has been

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Speaker 1: out this morning saying that they've received some of the

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Speaker 1: answers to written questions that they put forward around those

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Speaker 1: elective surgeries, and it looks as though, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: some fairly significant wait times and also those surgeries being

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Speaker 1: canceled or rescheduled seventy five percent as I understand at

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Speaker 1: Royal Dalen Hospital, fifty percent at the Palmerston Hospital, seventy

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Speaker 1: five at the Catherine Hospital having to be canceled or rescheduled.

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Speaker 1: When are we going to see changes, I guess to

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Speaker 1: those elective surgeries and people able to get you know,

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Speaker 1: get those operations done that they need.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, we've already seen some significant changes over the

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Speaker 2: past few weeks. We've managed to provide appropriate care for

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Speaker 2: a number of age care patients and disability patients that

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Speaker 2: have been in our hospital system for a long time,

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Speaker 2: so they've moved to more suitable accommodation, which has freed

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Speaker 2: up hospital beds. There has been a significant increase in

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Speaker 2: presentations in top end hospitals over the past five years.

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Speaker 2: We're working particularly in that mental health space with significant

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Speaker 2: investment and infrastructure coming online. We also have been impact

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Speaker 2: ICADI around travel restrictions for visiting medical offices in surgeons,

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Speaker 2: and this is not something that we should just simply

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Speaker 2: employ these people in the territory. Surgeons and specialist medical

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Speaker 2: professionals need to have a volume of patients and they

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Speaker 2: wouldn't see that in the territory, but they come in

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Speaker 2: and provide that service that's been impacted. So there's a

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Speaker 2: number of reasons to why we've seen an impact on

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Speaker 2: elective surgery wait time, but we're also putting in place

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Speaker 2: a number of measures to reduce.

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Speaker 1: Those I'm just going to take you to a call

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Speaker 1: that we took from Anne late last week. Take a listen.

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Speaker 4: He went through the emergency operation. They ended up with

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Speaker 4: a STAMA bag and we were told that that would

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Speaker 4: be reversed in about six months. We're December, thirteen months later,

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Speaker 4: and we're still waiting for a reversal. He's also got

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Speaker 4: really bad a hernia, so he's gone back to his

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Speaker 4: GP that's tried to ring the surgical team three or

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Speaker 4: four times yep, and to no evail. Now, we were

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Speaker 4: told back in March that we could have this reverse publicly.

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Speaker 4: We don't have the twenty five odd thousand dollars to

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Speaker 4: do this privately. Sorry, when you told by a surgical

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Speaker 4: team that yes, the reversal was going to happen within

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Speaker 4: six months, you don't get told yance not happening.

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Speaker 1: Minister. We will make sure that we pass in details onto.

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Speaker 1: But is that an acceptable situation in your eyes?

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, that the line did break up. I didn't

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Speaker 2: hear all of what Anne said, but it sounds like

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Speaker 2: her family member is in a particularly difficult situation, and

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Speaker 2: of course her details we can certainly look into that.

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Speaker 2: We're working actively to enhance the systems to provide for

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Speaker 2: patients there that are on those surgery waiting lists, and Katie,

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Speaker 2: they're categorized in terms of categories one, two, and three.

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Speaker 2: People can move around within that system when we're trying

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Speaker 2: to make sure that they can easily access that. But

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Speaker 2: this is a complex space of delivering healthcare.

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Speaker 1: Look, I may mixed these details up slightly because I

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Speaker 1: don't know exactly what the procedure is. But she'd said

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Speaker 1: that her husband has a stoma bag which he was

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Speaker 1: told would be removed after three or four months. I

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Speaker 1: believe he's still We've got it in thirteen months later,

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Speaker 1: O Katie.

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Speaker 2: I'm just not across the individual's details and it wouldn't

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Speaker 2: be appropriate. But patient safety is a priority. Are dedicated

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Speaker 2: staff at ARDH work extremely hard. There has been a

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Speaker 2: number of barriers and we're continually working. We've invested significantly

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Speaker 2: in health and we will do so into the future.

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Speaker 1: Minister. Just finally, the Chief Minister is on leave. I understand, Katie.

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Speaker 2: I think that it's been an incredibly busy time for

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Speaker 2: everyone and I hope all Territorians do manage to get

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Speaker 2: a break. It's important for our mental and physical health.

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Speaker 2: I'll certainly be taking some time with my family over

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Speaker 2: the Christmas January period, so you'll start to see a

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Speaker 2: number of the ministers and members of Parliament from both

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Speaker 2: Opposition and government all take a break. But yes, the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister has taken a short amount of time to

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Speaker 2: be with his family and as I said, it's important

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Speaker 2: we all look after ourselves.

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Speaker 1: I know that that we did have people get in

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Speaker 1: contact with us over the weekend saying has he taken

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Speaker 1: leave before that December twenty date because he's concerned that

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Speaker 1: there's going to be issues come when we get to

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Speaker 1: December twenty.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Katie, I think that all of us have got

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Speaker 2: personal arrangements, and yes, COVID is a complex overlay, but

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Speaker 2: I don't believe that's.

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Speaker 1: The reason that Minister just very quickly, I know you've

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Speaker 1: got to go. We did receive a message somebody asking

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Speaker 1: if there was an escape from the Center for National

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Speaker 1: Resilience last night or over the weekend.

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Speaker 2: Sorry, so, Katie, I've been very busy with media this

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Speaker 2: morning and I'm about to head into as you've just

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Speaker 2: alluded to, I probably do need to get moving into that.

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Speaker 3: Emergency tablet meeting where both myself and Nicole Manerson will

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Speaker 3: be fully breathed on everything and if there is any

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Speaker 3: information that the public needs to know, it will certainly

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Speaker 3: be shared with them very quickly by the Territory Controller

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Speaker 3: and Health Authority.

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Speaker 1: All Right, Health Minister Natasha Files also Minister for Tourism.

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Speaker 1: We will leave it there. Thank you for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you,