Government refuse to outline how many public servants fired over vaccine mandate
The government have refused to say how many public servants lost their job when the Covid-19 vaccine mandate came into force.
Northern Territory
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EVERY government minister is either unsure or unwilling to say how many public servants left their portfolios due to the vaccination mandate.
The CLP submitted questions in November asking each government minister how many public servants were stood down with or without pay, resigned and were dismissed for failing to get just one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Each minister responded to Mr Yan with the same one line statement: “This information will be available at Estimates”.
In response to questions from the NT News, Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s office said: “These are Estimates questions which will get answered during estimates.”
“The Treasury Department is doing the work now in preparation for Estimates,” a spokesman for Mr Gunner said.
Estimates won’t be held until June, meaning Territorians won’t have any idea of the impact of the vacancies for months.
The responses were provided 80 days after questions were submitted, 50 days later than the usual deadline for a response to a question on notice.
Mr Gunner last year linked savings from letting go of unvaccinated staff with the remaining public sector workers receiving a four-year $10,000 bonus.
Opposition health spokesman Bill Yan said the decision to not provide the figures was disappointing and showed a disregard for transparency.
“We put in these questions as part of the parliamentary process,” Mr Yan said.
“It’s not just us as the Opposition, its Territorians across the board, it’s not right we have to wait so long for those answers.
“The agencies would have that information.”
Mr Yan said it was “very obvious” that the government weren’t wanting to admit how many staff had resigned because of the mandate, and called the lack of responses a “slap in the face”.
In late November, Mr Gunner boosted the bonus each public servant received as part of EBA negotiations, saying: “The only reason we can improve the wages offer is because some have left.”
Call for overhaul of CHO’s emergency powers
THE Opposition will seek to force the chief health officer Dr Hugh Heggie to justify his decisions every three months during a health emergency, saying current laws “no longer make sense”.
The government have seemingly rejected the idea, saying the chief health officer and his many deputies were too busy fighting the pandemic.
An emergency declaration has been in effect since the Covid-19 pandemic began back in March 2020.
Under existing laws, Dr Heggie only has to provide a report on the declaration to parliament three months after the declaration has been called off.
CLP health spokesman Bill Yan said a new bill to be introduced in parliament would legislate that a report by Dr Heggie be tabled every three months through a crisis.
“Our Bill will ensure that the latest official health advice is made available to all members of parliament, businesses, organisations and the public every three months – at a minimum – during the state of emergency, instead of after the emergency declaration has ceased,” Mr Yan said.
“It no longer makes sense to have a reporting period after a state of emergency that has already lasted almost two years, and could potentially be extended beyond 2022.”
Mr Yan said it was “not acceptable” that the government and chief health officer had not yet been required to table a single report on the emergency declaration in two years.
He said a report four times a year would provide a “more efficient, real-time reporting model”.
Speaking on Mix 104.9, Disabilities Minister Kate Worden said Dr Heggie was “extremely busy” and would be burdened by the requirement to write a report.
“He’s not going to sit down every three months and provide a report,” Ms Worden said.
Emergency health declarations can be made in the event of a pandemic or epidemic, water contamination or an outbreak of a mosquito-borne disease.
The provision for the chief health officer’s powers are in the Public and Environmental Health Act 2011.
In March 2020, the government made changes to extend the maximum emergency declaration period from five days to three months, in response to Covid-19.
‘Crisis mode’ at airport as health staff learn of Covid changes
A WHISTLEBLOWER on the frontline of the Territory’s Covid response has described in detail the chaos which overran crews at Darwin Airport, after Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced changes on Sunday January 29.
The NT News understands border teams at Darwin Airport were thrown into “crisis mode” for 24 hours after Mr Gunner announced changes, including the dumping of Rapid Antigen Test requirements for recent interstate arrivals.
The source said management had no warning of the changes, needed to find new roles for roughly 100 staff within days, had no idea where to put them, and were not warned in advance of the changes.
The worker said they found out “basically out of the blue while receiving passengers through from a flight”.
“Passengers started asking questions and team leaders started getting calls from staff at home who saw the news,” the worker said.
“No prior warning or indication to anybody from senior management to anyone down the line of the announcement.”
“(The) next days that followed was crisis mode with management and executives trying to find where to put the displaced staff.”
The worker said confusion reigned for a week within management, as staff couldn’t be easily redeployed since they weren’t employees of the NT government.
“(They) were employed externally from NT (government) specifically for the purpose of border control,” he said.
“Some people were promised contracts but never received them, there are new hires that are starting their employment today because they were hired before the announcement was made,” the source said.
Last week, deputy chief health officer Dr Charles Pain said the dropping of border rules had been decided on, because Covid-19 was now as widespread in the Territory as it was interstate and overseas.
The Territory has been recording roughly 1000 cases daily for the past week, an amount unthinkable just two months ago.
In response to the claims, an NT Health spokeswoman said there was a “scaled-back present at NT airports”.
“NT Health has worked closely with staff impacted and all have been redeployed to other essential roles supporting the pandemic response within the department with no change to employment conditions.”
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