00:02150 staff at the Northern Territory's busiest emergency department will be equipped with
00:08duress alarms following today's announcement from Health Minister Steve Edgington.
00:14Now this follows weeks of concerns from the nurses' union about their members' safety,
00:20saying some had reported almost daily threats of violence in the workplace that it was leaving
00:26them traumatised. At the time, they raised concerns of up to 15-minute wait times for
00:31security responses to incidents. Now this announcement today from Health Minister Steve
00:37Edgington is a part of the 2026 health budget. The other part that we've heard today is an
00:44additional $500,000 funding boost to increase air conditioning services in wards at the Royal
00:51Darwin Hospital, including in the maternity ward, despite the fact that Minister Edgington himself
00:56has previously denied anything being wrong with the air conditioning in that ward. For the rest of
01:03the health budget's priorities, they're yet to be seen, but the rest of the budget will be released
01:09in the coming weeks.
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