{"id":803398,"date":"2026-07-16T06:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803398\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T06:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:43:29","slug":"nt-health-boss-says-casuarina-plaza-mould-infestation-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803398\/","title":{"rendered":"NT Health boss says Casuarina Plaza mould infestation ‘unacceptable’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Territory Health Department has confirmed that a Darwin building where a community health clinic operates has been dealing with pervasive mould issues for years.<\/p>\n

The Health Services Union (HSU) NT branch alleged in a statement yesterday that “mould has significantly infested the first and second floors” of Casuarina Plaza, a building where the environmental health inspector and other NT Health offices are located.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An air-conditioner at Casuarina Plaza is covered in mould. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

HSU NT Branch Secretary Billy Elrick said the mould had become persistent over the past few years following a redevelopment of the site and that health professionals inside Casuarina Plaza had reported regularly cleaning mould from their workstations, equipment like foam therapy mats and children’s toys.<\/p>\n

“The mould is getting reported daily,” Mr Elrick said.<\/p>\n

“Clinicians are coming in and cleaning off equipment that they were using just a matter of days ago; it’s constantly on the air-conditioning vents.”<\/p>\n

Mr Elrick said that young children visited the site for therapeutic assessments and other interventions.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Health staff at Casuarina Plaza regularly have to clean mould from patient equipment. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“It is completely unacceptable that health professionals are being left to clean persistent mould from clinical equipment and children’s toys while the Territory government fails to provide clear answers or ensure a safe environment for staff and patients,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Members have raised this through the appropriate channels with NT Health on numerous occasions without any action being taken.”<\/p>\n

Lung Foundation Australia chief executive Mark Brooke said immediate action should be taken to rectify the mould.<\/p>\n

“One of the things we know about mould is it does increase the likelihood of exacerbations or flare-ups for people living with respiratory conditions like asthma,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Ongoing exposure to mould of any type is really detrimental to your lung health and overall health.<\/p>\n

“One of the things we’re very clear about is mould needs to be treated very seriously.”‘Unacceptable’ but staff won’t be moved<\/p>\n

The HSU raised the concerns in a letter to the Commissioner for Public Employment, Nicole Hurwood, sent last week.<\/p>\n

They have called on the NT government to relocate all staff out of the building, but NT Health chief executive Susan Bowden said it wasn’t necessary to move all of the staff out.<\/p>\n

“It does have a mould problem, and it has been a recurring problem, and it is unacceptable,” she told ABC Radio Darwin.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Susan Bowden acknowledges the mould is unacceptable. (ABC News: Tilda Colling)<\/p>\n

“We’ve engaged a specialist environmental consultant with specialist expertise to do a report on the issue.”<\/p>\n

According to an NT Health website, people are exposed to mould daily without issue; however, “if mouldy materials are not removed or properly cleaned, high levels of airborne mould spores may be a health risk if you are sensitive”.<\/p>\n

The NT Health website also said mould “can trigger asthma attacks and make other respiratory and allergic conditions worse”.<\/p>\n

Experts call for more research on mould-related illnesses<\/a><\/p>\n

For years Sue Phoo’s health was\u00a0unravelling but she had no idea why\u00a0\u2014 that was until specialists took swabs inside her house.<\/p>\n

Ms Bowden said the specialist would identify the underlying cause of the mould in Casuarina Plaza and “put in a permanent solution”.<\/p>\n

“What we have done is ensured we have closed off certain areas of the building,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s already been some work that’s been undertaken while we were waiting for the finalisation of the report because we didn’t want to wait.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The HSU NT Branch has raised serious concerns about a mould infestation at Casuarina Plaza.\u00a0 (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

“That includes specialist deep cleaning of surface mould, [and] we’ve been looking at how we can decrease the humidity in the building by air-conditioner hours being extended, there’s been targeted carpet replacement.”<\/p>\n

She said NT Health was also working to reduce water sources such as pot plants, fish tanks and air fryers that create that additional humidity.<\/p>\n

“It is unacceptable, and we’re doing everything we can to support our staff and our clients \u2026 certainly, if patients don’t feel comfortable there, we can find alternative locations for them,” Ms Bowden said.<\/p>\n

She invited the union to have a conversation about the mould issue and said the report is likely to be finalised in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Casuarina Plaza is not NT Health property, but is leased to the Northern Territory government.<\/p>\n

NT Health Minister Steve Edgington had also been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Territory Health Department has confirmed that a Darwin building where a community health clinic operates has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,376348,376349,376350,50394,25269,17188,18481,29092,376351,338837],"class_list":["post-803398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-casuarina-plaza","tag-casuarina-plaza-mould","tag-health-services-union","tag-hsu","tag-mould","tag-nt-government","tag-nt-health","tag-paediatric","tag-patient-safety-nt","tag-steve-edgington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}