By ERWIN CHLANDA
Will the bad guys get caught?
That’s the question we asked the NT Government six days ago, at 10.31am on June 30, about people travelling to the NT when its borders are opened on July 17.
Especially we wanted to know about the requirements for people who may have travelled from or through COVID-19 hotspots in Victoria.
Don’t hold you breath for an answer, we suggested to our 25,000 readers. We were right.
It took the Chief Minister until last night to come up with an answer, and not to us but, to ABC TV (pictured).
Reporter: The government’s plan hinges on a statutory declaration every person arriving in the NT will have to sign, outlining where they have travelled from.
Gunner: You can choose 14 days in quarantine or lie to us and face three years in a prison cell.
Given that Labor came to power four years ago on a platform of transparency the media policy it has developed is a disgrace.
That includes denying the Alice Springs News the opportunity of asking questions at the daily COVID-19 media conferences, in Darwin, of course – an easy thing to organise in the era of mobile phones and Zoom.
This arrogant answer came from a minder for Health Minister Natasha Fyles: “As it stands across all media events, all ministers and all portfolios you need be in attendance to do so. This applies to all media outlets, and generally speaking, is how all press conferences work.”
UPDATE 11:50am
Media release from Tourism NT: From July 17 anyone arriving into the NT from an identified coronavirus hot spot area in the last 14 days must undertake 14 days mandatory supervised quarantine at their own cost.
Mandatory supervised quarantine will be at the Howard Springs quarantine facility or another approved facility elsewhere in the Territory.
• The cost per person for supervised quarantine is $2500.
• People in supervised quarantine will be subject to testing before exiting quarantine. If you refuse a test, there will be 10 days added to your quarantine time.
• If you’re found to have provided misleading information or to have lied on your arrival form you will face a fine and a possible prison term of up to 3 years.
• There will be no travel exemptions given to people from hot spot areas.