Labor Opposition Leader Selena Uibo says she has met with the Federal Health Minister who said the NT Government didn’t request any assistance on private maternity services until after May this year despite knowing about Healthscope’s plans to close services in October last year

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
But let's get straight into it because there is so
much happening around the place. And joining me live on
the line from Canberra is the Opposition leader Selena Ubo.
Good morning to you, Selena.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning Katy, and good morning to your listener.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Good to have you on the show now, Selena. What's
on your agenda in Canbra this week?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, Katie, I've been in Canberra since Sunday evening and
the full day of meetings yesterday Monday, and then also
pretty jam packed today. So meeting with a lot of
federal ministers and assistant ministers to talk about the Northern territory,
to advocate for the territory and to get their support
and make sure that we're not forgotten on their agenda,

(00:38):
and been very much supported by a Senator mull and
Darry McCarthy's office. Married Scrimdraw is our sort of remember
for Lingarray, she's my local member, and of course Luke
Gosling the member for Solomon Well.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
And look, one of those areas where there has been
quite a few concerns raised is around maternity services and
in the health space. I know you and I have
spoken about this on numerous occasions, but have you met
with the Federal Minister for Health about those concerns that
are being raised in the Northern Territory right now.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yes, Katie I met with Federal Minister for Health Mark
Butler yesterday and also his assistant Minister for Health, Assistant
Minister Whites, and raised those concerns directly and unfortunately, Katie,
they did confirm that the Northern Territory Seepeak government did
not request any support around the private health maternity care

(01:26):
for women in the Northern Territory until after May this year.
So this is something that we were, you know, theorizing
that when did the CLPA government approach the federal government.
We know that they knew about this issue and concern
as early as October last year after they were elected,
and we got that confirmation from Minister Butler yesterday that

(01:48):
the Northern Territory did not approach them until May this
year around the federal government elections. So that is hugely
disappointing for Northern territories that we don't have those relations.
It's by the CLP government with our federal ministers to
advocate for the Northern Territory and to get that support
because we heard the example to Katie that Tasmania was
in unfortunately a similar situation with their private health care

(02:12):
and they got to bail out by the federal government
because they approached them earlier in the year. So unfortunately
we've missed out in the territory because of the lack
of leadership by Steve Edgington and Leofanocciaro when it comes
to maternity care for territory.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
From what the Health Minister's now said to you and
the Assistant Health Minister, we're not expecting any funding now
when it comes to those paternity services well through the
private hospital. There's not going to be any kind of
you know, I don't know, throw out of funding in
some way to help in that space or not.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
That I'm aware of at this point. Katie. Obviously Luke's
been advocating in terms of Solomon very very heavily with
the federal government. But the delay in request in asking
for assistance for this very critical issue for the nor
tread and you've mentioned it, Katie spoken at about this
many many times. I think that's a huge disappointment. So territories,

(03:04):
it doesn't matter what political colors you are, if the
territory is in trouble, you should be making sure that
we get as much support as possible, particularly when it
comes to healthcare.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
So in terms of then our maternity services, because again
we've spoken at length on this show and to you
about some of the other maternity services changes through the
public hospital, we know that they've had to make some changes,
but we also know that as we get towards the
end of the year, our private obstetricians are not going
to be operating here in the Northern Territory, which is

(03:36):
quite unbelievable to me given the fact that we are
a capital city. But from those discussions with the federal
Health Minister and also the Assistant Health Minister, is there
any sort of movement in that space in terms of
potential additional funding or ways that they may be able
to help the Northern Territory government to ultimately ensure that
women in the Northern Territory have those options.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, Katie, Well, I'm not privy to the Anti government's
conversations with the federal government, but I am obviously open
about sharing what the concerns are that I've raised directly
with the Health Minister, and I have asked for them
to see what kind of support they can offer the
Northern Territory. I can only hope that Steve Edgington, as
the Health Minister, is also doing the same. I'm not
privy to that, but being able to see or foresee

(04:23):
some of the pressures that we're already seeing experience with
maternity care in the Darwin Royal Hospital and I think
they're doing an amazing job. But we've also heard from
the Nurses and Midwifery Union that there are huge pressures
for our health workers who are caring for pregnant women
and women who sometimes have challenging pregnancies and want to

(04:45):
make sure it doesn't matter what type of pride you have,
swallow it and ask for help if that's what we
need here in the territory.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Just on the space of health, but a little bit
a little bit different. We know that this situation with pharmacists,
they're now looking to take industrial action across the Northern Territory.
The current industrial action well, they're determining basically today whether
they do take that industrial action or not. But it's
as a result of concerns around pay and the fact

(05:14):
that Northern Territory pharmacists are earning less and those in
other states and territories. They say the pay gaps put
a lot of pressure on pharmacists and has led to
unsafe staffing levels in hospital pharmacies. Is this something that's
been raised with you by Northern Territory pharmacists.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
I've met with some of the guilds representing pharmacists across
the Northern Territory in the past and this has been raised. Obviously,
there is a national benchmark of making sure our workers
in that field, those professionals in the field are paid
at the reasonable and good rate, but particularly in the
Northern Territory because of those extra challenges and not always

(05:52):
having the number of professionals that we would like to
see in the Northern Territory. So I understand absolutely their
frustration in being left behind in the pay scale, and
I think it's something that the Northern Territory government does
have the opportunity to correct and I really hope that
they do that.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
All Right, while you're in Canberra, any other meetings happening
that we should be aware of, or that we might
see some progress on any of the concerns that people
have got in the NT.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, Katie, you have met with the Federal Infrastructure Minister,
the Federal Environment Minister. We've got a meeting that the
Prime Minister's office today, meeting with the Federal Attorney General,
meeting with the Federal Treasurer, so it's pretty jam packed.
We want to make sure that we've got a really
good ear to each of those federal ministers about the
territory's challenges but also the opportunities, Katie, some of the

(06:40):
economic opportunities which unfortunately don't feel have been picked up
by the Colp government. How do we make sure that
we can continue to support those long term plans around
developing and improving the territory's economy. And I think also
of course around some of the social issues antisocial behavior
and justice in the Northern Territory. Have been open and

(07:00):
frank with each of these ministers that I've been meeting
with so far. Will continue to do that today for
the rest of the meetings, but making sure the territory
is firmly in their mind, and a lot of the ministers,
Katie are very very interested. If they haven't already been
to the Northern Territory already since the election, they are
planning to come to the territory and I think that's
a really positive so making sure that we continue those relationships.

(07:23):
Obviously I'm in opposition now I'm hoping that Leafanokiaa and
her team are also doing the same, but making sure
that we continue that interest and that good relationship for
the betterment of the territory. And that's really my purpose
for these two days.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Now, Selena. Obviously, yesterday we heard from the Chief Minister
as the government marked one year in power. The Chief
Minister said there is still work to be done, but
legislative changes and investment into police corrections and courts are
having an impact on crime. However, you say, it's becoming
increasingly clear that Leaf and Occhiaro isn't capable of meeting

(07:56):
the promises that she made to Territorians and that her
governor lack substance and vision what promises At this point,
do you believe she's broken.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, Katie, I mean the number one promise was around
getting law and order and community safety back to a
level where Territorians feel safe, and her team hasn't done that.
That's something she firmly promised in the election. A lot
of Territorians voted on that commitment, and we will hold
Leah and her team to account on that we've also
seen a lack of regard unfortunately now for our amazing

(08:31):
police officers who do a huge amount of work, particularly
around the law and order. Commitments that the colp have
made and they've broken very very clearly and openly some
key promises to the police, like the retention bonus, and
that is being huge for our police in terms of
the morale, and then they're expected to go out without
that commitment being fulfilled, like a lack of disregard from

(08:53):
the Police minister who's the Chief Minister earlier Finocchiaro to
our hard working police. So we'll keepsh that we know
that those commitments were made, we will keep pushing for
those commitments to be fulfilled.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Selena, I know that when it comes to crime, you
point to numbers with the adult with adult and child
sexual assault, serious assault, assaults on frontline workers, and domestic violence,
and the fact that there has not been a decrease
in those There certainly needs to be work done on
those issues, there is no doubt about that. But what

(09:25):
do you then make of the Northern Territory recording the
six hundred and five fewer victims of crime that obviously
the Chief Minister is hanging her hat on for that
first half of twenty twenty five, which is a four
point seven percent decrease compared to when Labor was in power.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, Katie, it's interesting, and of course there's always this
back and forth about you know, what sort of data
and statistics are used and spoken about. But when you
look down to the commitment that was made by Lea
and her team by the COLP that territorians will be safer,
we're seeing more people locked up, but we are seeing
crime increase and particularly violent crimes against the territory and

(10:05):
that is a huge concern. What else is the government
doing other than locking up people? What else is the
government doing to keep people safe? So why are we
seeing violent crime and particularly sexual assaults increase in the
Northern Territory And we're not hearing anything of substance from
the government in addressing that.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Now. One thing I do want to say is I
feel like it's a really difficult space for Labor at
the moment when it comes to crime. I mean, many
of our listeners feel that Labor had the chance to
make an impact for eight years with crime and things
just got worse. How do you think you win back
that credibility in this space because we are sort of
obviously looking at the government's performance over the last twelve months.

(10:46):
But for a lot of people listening, they feel like,
this is your weak spot.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, Katie, and I acknowledge that. I mean, that's a
huge part of why Labour lost the Nter election is
being very open about that, not hiding the fact that
that is a really sore point in terms of people
trusting Labor around community safety and very open about that,
but in terms of commitments and our job now in
opposition to hold the government to account, to hold the

(11:13):
CLP to those promises, to those commitments, who made those
decisions based on those promises when it came to the
territory election. We all keep pushing to make sure that
those commitments are delivered because it's about community safety, it's
about making the territory a better place, it's about having
an economic plan and so far we're seeing the favors
of the CLP on this front, so we want to

(11:35):
keep doing that job. We understand the criticism. I completely
understand and acknowledge the criticism made of Labor and our
team and our former government. But our job now, Katie,
is to make sure the CLP deliver on what they
promised territories, because that's what they deserve, all.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right, Opposition leader Selina Jubo. We'll let you go. I
know you've got to get to other meetings in Canberra
this morning. Appreciate you still having a chat to us
while you're away.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Thank you so much. Katie really appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Thank you, Thanks so much.