Mr MITCHELL - 2001-06-07
Mr Speaker, some members may have noticed in today’s NT News on page 5: Gastro virus hits 30: weekend warning. This weekend at Barunga there is the annual Barunga Festival. Can the minister give any assurances that the Territorians attending the festival will not be affected and further, does this virus have the potential to reach Darwin?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I know he has a great familiarity with Barunga, having worked in the area for some years and he has many friends there. I would have also - you chortle - the member in whose electorate it is chortles, but I do know personally that the member for Millner still counts many people living in the Barunga area among his close personal friends.
The rotavirus in the Katherine region is a very serious issue. Before I speak particularly about Katherine, I would like to put on the record my gratitude and thanks to the staff in Alice Springs who combated this particular rotavirus in Alice Springs at great cost, not only to Territory Health budgets, but to the staff who had to work extended hours in difficult conditions.
I visited the paediatric ward in Alice Springs on the last occasion I was there. There were over 60 children on drips. This is a terrible virus for children to get. It affects mostly children 0 to 5 years, and it is potentially fatal. It is a very dangerous virus for children under six months to get; it is highly contagious, it is easily spread, and there is not a lot we know about how it comes about.
In the case of Alice Springs, we first knew about it when there were people driving in from bush communities into A&E with dozens of small children who were dehydrated, vomiting and had diarrhoea. It is with that recent background that we now see a small outbreak of some dozen or so children in the Katherine region and it is a matter we treat very, very seriously.
The events that are coming up with the long weekend coming in Katherine, and I know there are three or four major events throughout the Territory at this time, but particularly in the Katherine area, and particularly the Barunga Festival, where there will be people coming from communities right across the Top End, I am not sure the local member will get there, but certainly people across the Top End will be there. At the early stages of this notification we had some very concerned people. In fact they were politicians, who come to government, ones name is Alan Wright and the other is Cliffie Thompson, who both came to government, and they asked on behalf of their potential constituency, because they are both candidates in the field out there and both knowledgeable not only about rotavirus but also about the Barunga Festival, and the potential to cause some problems. They came to government because they had been aware that there were some infrastructure deficits at Barunga, not so much to hold the festival in normal circumstances, but to hold the festival at a time when this terrible, insidious virus was around.
I give thanks to my colleague, the Minister for Local Government, because when we went through an audit of the things that were necessary it was obvious that they needed to have more portable toilets there and he was forthcoming very quickly with additional funds to help the Barunga Festival committee to make sure there were more portable toilets on-site. We have provided benefit to the community by way of advice on vigilance with the virus. We have provided advice to them about alerting people coming to the community, which they have done. We have notices going up both in Creole and English. We have provided advice about hand washing and hygiene measures, disposal of disposable nappies. We have put a lot of effort in place, unbeknownst to the local member, I might add, to make sure that we can be very vigilant about keeping this disease in check.
I must admit to this parliament that we are still keeping our fingers crossed. We do not believe that this is something that you can adequately say that you have total confidence will not be spread on an occasion like the Barunga Festival. I thank the member for his question because he asked what impact it would have. Certainly, from my personal point of view, if I had a frail, young child I would not be going to Barunga. There is the necessity for not only the community to be vigilant and exercise great preventative measures with this, but also parents attending to make sure that if they are attending with young children they keep a watch on them and also make the judgement call whether they should attend or not.
I hope that all goes well for the festival. I applaud the fact that the community has put so much effort at very short notice into the preventative measures that were advised by Territory Health, and like my other colleagues, I hope that we can stem the tide of this rotavirus here in the Top End.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I know he has a great familiarity with Barunga, having worked in the area for some years and he has many friends there. I would have also - you chortle - the member in whose electorate it is chortles, but I do know personally that the member for Millner still counts many people living in the Barunga area among his close personal friends.
The rotavirus in the Katherine region is a very serious issue. Before I speak particularly about Katherine, I would like to put on the record my gratitude and thanks to the staff in Alice Springs who combated this particular rotavirus in Alice Springs at great cost, not only to Territory Health budgets, but to the staff who had to work extended hours in difficult conditions.
I visited the paediatric ward in Alice Springs on the last occasion I was there. There were over 60 children on drips. This is a terrible virus for children to get. It affects mostly children 0 to 5 years, and it is potentially fatal. It is a very dangerous virus for children under six months to get; it is highly contagious, it is easily spread, and there is not a lot we know about how it comes about.
In the case of Alice Springs, we first knew about it when there were people driving in from bush communities into A&E with dozens of small children who were dehydrated, vomiting and had diarrhoea. It is with that recent background that we now see a small outbreak of some dozen or so children in the Katherine region and it is a matter we treat very, very seriously.
The events that are coming up with the long weekend coming in Katherine, and I know there are three or four major events throughout the Territory at this time, but particularly in the Katherine area, and particularly the Barunga Festival, where there will be people coming from communities right across the Top End, I am not sure the local member will get there, but certainly people across the Top End will be there. At the early stages of this notification we had some very concerned people. In fact they were politicians, who come to government, ones name is Alan Wright and the other is Cliffie Thompson, who both came to government, and they asked on behalf of their potential constituency, because they are both candidates in the field out there and both knowledgeable not only about rotavirus but also about the Barunga Festival, and the potential to cause some problems. They came to government because they had been aware that there were some infrastructure deficits at Barunga, not so much to hold the festival in normal circumstances, but to hold the festival at a time when this terrible, insidious virus was around.
I give thanks to my colleague, the Minister for Local Government, because when we went through an audit of the things that were necessary it was obvious that they needed to have more portable toilets there and he was forthcoming very quickly with additional funds to help the Barunga Festival committee to make sure there were more portable toilets on-site. We have provided benefit to the community by way of advice on vigilance with the virus. We have provided advice to them about alerting people coming to the community, which they have done. We have notices going up both in Creole and English. We have provided advice about hand washing and hygiene measures, disposal of disposable nappies. We have put a lot of effort in place, unbeknownst to the local member, I might add, to make sure that we can be very vigilant about keeping this disease in check.
I must admit to this parliament that we are still keeping our fingers crossed. We do not believe that this is something that you can adequately say that you have total confidence will not be spread on an occasion like the Barunga Festival. I thank the member for his question because he asked what impact it would have. Certainly, from my personal point of view, if I had a frail, young child I would not be going to Barunga. There is the necessity for not only the community to be vigilant and exercise great preventative measures with this, but also parents attending to make sure that if they are attending with young children they keep a watch on them and also make the judgement call whether they should attend or not.
I hope that all goes well for the festival. I applaud the fact that the community has put so much effort at very short notice into the preventative measures that were advised by Territory Health, and like my other colleagues, I hope that we can stem the tide of this rotavirus here in the Top End.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016