Just 80 per cent of 400 new Howard Springs staff found weeks after government takeover
The NT government set itself an ambitious 400-recruit benchmark when agreeing to take over and expand Howard Springs, now the government has revealed how its hiring-spree is going.
Northern Territory
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THE NT government has found 80 per cent of the staff it wants for the expanded Howard Springs facility.
It comes despite the federal government’s AUSMAT crews withdrawing from the centre late last month.
The Territory officially took control of the quarantine facility in early May, despite concerns about the sluggishness of recruiting 400 new staff for the former mining camp.
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Last month Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he wanted the facility to be fully staffed and at its new maximum capacity by the end of June.
An NT government spokeswoman didn’t elaborate when asked whether the AUSMAT crews would be withdrawn soon.
“82 per cent of the staffing profile has been recruited,” the spokeswoman said.
“The Centre for National Resilience will hold a training session this week for over 30 new staff,” she said.
“All other staff recruited have undertaken training.”
The spokeswoman said the NT government was also working through applicants for the remaining positions.
“We have received over 3,000 registrations of interest for health and operational staff at the Centre for National Resilience, and are continuing to work through these to recruit additional staff as we scale up our capabilities,” she said.
“NT Health has focused efforts to recruit nursing staff from across Australia through an ongoing national recruitment advertising campaign. A number of promotional opportunities at the Centre for National Resilience are available to NT Health staff.”
AMA NT president Dr Robert Parker said the worker shortfall would have carry with it a higher risk for existing workers.
“I was always doubtful that they could achieve that number,” Dr Parker said.
“Obviously it’s not going to work as effectively and there’s more risk attached to it.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said the NT government should’ve never taken control of the facility before finding the necessary staff.
“It’s pretty damning that they continue to push ahead with this change of governance model,’ Ms Finocchiaro said.
“Not having the adequate number of staff puts people’s lives at risk,” she said.
Ms Finocchiaro also expressed concern about changes to PPE and clinical procedures.
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