Mr MITCHELL - 2000-06-13
My questionconcerns media reports last week stating that the night patrol service has been shut down by the government. I am aware that the night patrol was operating last week. Can the minister outline what services are currently in place?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,that is an excellent question. This has been a fairly topical matter over the last week or so. I know it has been featuring in the media certainly during the last week. This is largely thanks to some of their misinformation that has come from the opposition. It is indeed fortunate that there are people like the member for Millner who keep a close eye on it. I know he has been getting regular briefings from my office on this issue, and as the shelter is in his electorate I know he is very concerned about the whole issue relating to AIMSS.
As members would know, there are actually three major services that operate through AIMSS. There is the sobering up shelter, the transport service, and the night patrol. Through the Territory Health Services department some $1.1m of taxpayers’ money goes to those three services every year. That is recurrent money. So while it is a matter that concerns us, it is also a matter that concerns us about the vigilance over the taxpayers’ dollars and whether they are being appropriately spent.
There is good cause for Territory Health Services to step in. I have received a copy of a review into the Aboriginal and Islander Medical Support Services. It was undertaken by Network Australia NT, a reputable review organisation and it was done over some time to make sure the reviewer had sufficient data to advise the department. There is absolutely no doubt that the time was right for Territory Health Services to step in because a quick perusal of that document would show that there were some immense difficulties, managerially and in a leadership sense, with that organisation. The purpose of Territory Health Services running it is a demonstration of good government. We are in the position of maintaining the service for the next several months until we can look for other auspicing agencies and we have made no secret about that, and we have made sure that the services continue.
I can tell the member for Millner that last week, for instance, there were 240 admissions to the sobering up shelter - 104 of those were from the police through Monday to Saturday and 136 from the Night Patrol, so the Night Patrol is still on the road. That is over 56% of the admissions to the sobering up shelter have been by the Night Patrol. The Territory government believes it is an excellent service and it is a service that should be built on. But it should be built on, on the basis of ensuring that the organisation is robust and that the people who pay the bills, the Territory taxpayers, can be confident that the money is being put to good use.
I was disappointed yet again, it appears, with the shadow health minister. He put out a press release with a very interesting writing style, it talks about the CLP doing all this business which is a little bit of - in fact, it is a terrible thing to say about public servants that they are actually doing this because they are motivated by political parties rather than good government. In the press release it talks about CLP management and since the CLP took over the management of Night Patrol. That is just a blatant lie because the Territory Health Services is a independent department in this government and he should look at the whole business of the separation of powers and understand what it means to be a government and political. I suppose the thing that most infuriates me about this press release is that it was running in the media on Thursday and it was put out to the media about lunchtime. Now, some minutes before that, for about an hour or over an hour, the opposition health spokesman was sitting in my office getting a briefing, on important matters, I will grant you, but if this matter had been of such import to warrant putting out this heady little number here with all the CLP slurs all the way through it, one would have thought he would have brought it up.
The press release is misleading. It talks about 11 of 13 trained staff resigning. Now, most of the media are starting to get used to this bloke and they gave us a call and they said: ‘Look, are there 13 staff there?’
Mr Henderson: How many are there?
Mr DUNHAM: Well, that is the question you ask before you put the media release out. You ask how many there are before you put the thing out.
Mr Henderson: One.
Mr DUNHAM: There are seven positions. Of the six people, two were moved to other jobs ...
Mr Henderson interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the minister please resume his seat. I am not prepared to tolerate the cross-Chamber chatter that is going on, nor the interjections at the level that we are currently hearing. I would ask members to hear this answer in reasonable silence.
Mr DUNHAM: The interjections do not worry me, Mr Speaker, but they must make it particularly hard for Hansard.
In the press release we are talking about 11 of 13 staff resigning. Seven positions, six of them permanent. Of those six, two people moved onto other jobs. One has left town and one has informed Territory Health he will not be accepting the offer to go back to work.
The Night Patrol is still on the road. The statistics I have given demonstrate that they are still picking up the people who are intoxicated and a danger either to themselves or others. I can assure this House that in the six months that the Territory Health Service will be managing the service it will be well managed, and by the time we look for another auspicing body we will be in a very good position to be able to build on a very solid base.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,that is an excellent question. This has been a fairly topical matter over the last week or so. I know it has been featuring in the media certainly during the last week. This is largely thanks to some of their misinformation that has come from the opposition. It is indeed fortunate that there are people like the member for Millner who keep a close eye on it. I know he has been getting regular briefings from my office on this issue, and as the shelter is in his electorate I know he is very concerned about the whole issue relating to AIMSS.
As members would know, there are actually three major services that operate through AIMSS. There is the sobering up shelter, the transport service, and the night patrol. Through the Territory Health Services department some $1.1m of taxpayers’ money goes to those three services every year. That is recurrent money. So while it is a matter that concerns us, it is also a matter that concerns us about the vigilance over the taxpayers’ dollars and whether they are being appropriately spent.
There is good cause for Territory Health Services to step in. I have received a copy of a review into the Aboriginal and Islander Medical Support Services. It was undertaken by Network Australia NT, a reputable review organisation and it was done over some time to make sure the reviewer had sufficient data to advise the department. There is absolutely no doubt that the time was right for Territory Health Services to step in because a quick perusal of that document would show that there were some immense difficulties, managerially and in a leadership sense, with that organisation. The purpose of Territory Health Services running it is a demonstration of good government. We are in the position of maintaining the service for the next several months until we can look for other auspicing agencies and we have made no secret about that, and we have made sure that the services continue.
I can tell the member for Millner that last week, for instance, there were 240 admissions to the sobering up shelter - 104 of those were from the police through Monday to Saturday and 136 from the Night Patrol, so the Night Patrol is still on the road. That is over 56% of the admissions to the sobering up shelter have been by the Night Patrol. The Territory government believes it is an excellent service and it is a service that should be built on. But it should be built on, on the basis of ensuring that the organisation is robust and that the people who pay the bills, the Territory taxpayers, can be confident that the money is being put to good use.
I was disappointed yet again, it appears, with the shadow health minister. He put out a press release with a very interesting writing style, it talks about the CLP doing all this business which is a little bit of - in fact, it is a terrible thing to say about public servants that they are actually doing this because they are motivated by political parties rather than good government. In the press release it talks about CLP management and since the CLP took over the management of Night Patrol. That is just a blatant lie because the Territory Health Services is a independent department in this government and he should look at the whole business of the separation of powers and understand what it means to be a government and political. I suppose the thing that most infuriates me about this press release is that it was running in the media on Thursday and it was put out to the media about lunchtime. Now, some minutes before that, for about an hour or over an hour, the opposition health spokesman was sitting in my office getting a briefing, on important matters, I will grant you, but if this matter had been of such import to warrant putting out this heady little number here with all the CLP slurs all the way through it, one would have thought he would have brought it up.
The press release is misleading. It talks about 11 of 13 trained staff resigning. Now, most of the media are starting to get used to this bloke and they gave us a call and they said: ‘Look, are there 13 staff there?’
Mr Henderson: How many are there?
Mr DUNHAM: Well, that is the question you ask before you put the media release out. You ask how many there are before you put the thing out.
Mr Henderson: One.
Mr DUNHAM: There are seven positions. Of the six people, two were moved to other jobs ...
Mr Henderson interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the minister please resume his seat. I am not prepared to tolerate the cross-Chamber chatter that is going on, nor the interjections at the level that we are currently hearing. I would ask members to hear this answer in reasonable silence.
Mr DUNHAM: The interjections do not worry me, Mr Speaker, but they must make it particularly hard for Hansard.
In the press release we are talking about 11 of 13 staff resigning. Seven positions, six of them permanent. Of those six, two people moved onto other jobs. One has left town and one has informed Territory Health he will not be accepting the offer to go back to work.
The Night Patrol is still on the road. The statistics I have given demonstrate that they are still picking up the people who are intoxicated and a danger either to themselves or others. I can assure this House that in the six months that the Territory Health Service will be managing the service it will be well managed, and by the time we look for another auspicing body we will be in a very good position to be able to build on a very solid base.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016