The NT opposition says more frequent reporting requirements for the Chief Health Officer (CHO) during declared emergencies would bring "genuine transparency" to the government's pandemic management.
Both Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro and shadow health spokesman Bill Yan have suggested the decisions made by the CHO during the current emergency declaration require greater scrutiny.
This, they say, should come in the form of quarterly annual reports that detail what decisions the CHO has made, the evidence supporting those decisions, the consequences of those decisions and an analysis of their impact.
The opposition said it was currently drafting legislation that would require the CHO to publicly publish the reports through parliament.
"There must be appropriate checks and balances to ensure the Gunner government, which has been granted greater power than normal, is properly scrutinised," Ms Finocchiaro said.
"There is absolutely no way to analyse or verify what the Gunner government tells us when it comes to COVID.
"Currently, the government has had rolling emergency powers for two years now, and not a single report has been tabled to parliament.
"We want to see that changed to bring some genuine transparency into this system."
In a statement, Mr Yan said the bill would "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".
Under the current NT Public and Environmental Health Act, the CHO is required to report to parliament on actions taken during an emergency declaration within three months of the declaration ending.
Emergency declarations in the Northern Territory can last a maximum of 90 days after the act, which previously allowed emergency declarations to last five days, was changed at the start of the pandemic.
The NT's current emergency declaration has not yet ceased because it can be extended by the Health Minister for periods of up to 90 days.
NT has a 'very transparent' CHO: Gunner
Responding to the CLP flagging plans for new legislation, Chief Minister Michael Gunner, whose government has a clear majority in parliament, labelled it an "additional, unnecessary burden" on the CHO.
"I believe the Chief Health Officer explains his decisions already … for me, I don't think [he] needs the extra workload," he said.
"I know, talking to industry, he meets with industry regularly when they need to him to talk to his decisions or his thinking.
“I think we have a very transparent Chief Health Officer … he talks his health advice out and he’s available repeatedly and consistently for press conferences."
Mr Gunner also said a lot of the decisions made by the CHO were "based on the evidence and the science" that Territorians could "Google search".
"There's medical journals available that detail what's going on here," Mr Gunner said.
But, according to Mr Yan, communication of health advice via coronavirus press conferences, which usually feature the CHO or one of his deputies, under-served the public.
"We've been two years now under [emergency powers] and so far the only information we are getting is from those press conferences," he said, adding many Territorians had been long tuned out of the press conferences.
"Sometimes there are bits of information missing, sometimes people don't understand it, and there's been I suppose some … mixed information.
"People are confused and that's eroding trust in government ... [this bill] would go a long way to resorting trust in the decisions the government is making on behalf of all Territorians."
Ms Finocchiaro went further, saying the government's "poor communication [had] led to community division, confusion and mistrust".
Coronavirus press conferences were often held daily in the Northern Territory in the second half of 2021 but have become less frequent this year.
The government has held not held an official coronavirus press conference since February 7, and the CHO last fronted a press conference on February 4.
"It's not okay for the Gunner government to pick and choose the information it provides Territorians, or pick and choose when the CHO is or isn't publicly available," Ms Finocchiaro said.
Editor's note 15/02/2022: A previous version of this story said the CLP's reporting requirement bill would be tabled in the parliamentary sitting week beginning February 15. The party has clarified that the legislation is still being drafted.
