Chief Minister provides no date for ending QR code, mask mandate
Chief Minister Michael Gunner still hasn’t provided any date for when mask mandates and QR check-ins will be dumped, despite saying earlier this week the date would be ‘soon’.
Northern Territory
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TERRITORIANS still have no idea when QR code check-ins and indoor mask mandates will be dropped.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Monday this week said a decision to ease the restrictions would come “soon”.
But in a statement on Friday, Mr Gunner said the government were yet to reach a decision about when to dump the measures.
“The advice from our health experts is that we are past the peak of the current wave, and we are actively discussing reducing public health measures based on the declining pressure on our health system,” Mr Gunner said.
Other states have removed QR code check-in requirements as part of a return to normal.
Speaking to Mix 104.9’s Katie Woolf, CLP MLA Marie-Clare Boothby said the government needed to release a coherent and clear plan to give Territorians certainty.
‘Hide in their offices’: Govt slammed over evasive border changes
UNVACCINATED people are free to travel into the Territory quarantine-free after a stunning U-turn by Chief Minister Michael Gunner.
The embarrassing about-face was made in the form of a press release on Friday evening, with no government minister or health official fronting the media to explain the changes.
Mr Gunner and chief health officers have, for months, stood by a chief health officer direction requiring entrants into the Territory to be double vaccinated.
The chief minister recently suggested mandating a third booster dose for arrivals by April. But in a press release sent out late on Friday, the government confirmed arrivals would no longer be required to even fill out a border declaration form.
NT authorities, therefore, have no way to know whether an arrival is double vaccinated or not, meaning that rule has been effectively abolished.
It was still not clear whether arrivals would be banned from entering remote communities for 14 days, as had been the case prior to the removal of border entry forms.
CLP health spokesman Bill Yan said the government had avoided scrutiny by announcing the changes via a press release.
“They had the opportunity to come out early in the day and provide an explanation, and be questioned by the media as to why they’re making those decisions,” Mr Yan said. “But they choose to hide in their offices, they don’t want to speak to Territorians.”
In a statement, Mr Gunner said Omicron was now widespread and the risk from arrivals “no longer outweighs the Covid-19 risk in the Territory”.
There were 835 cases recorded on Saturday in the NT. Of these, 736 were positive cases from a rapid antigen test.
There were 450 cases recorded in the Top End region. Hospitalisations again fell, with only 127 patients in hospital.
There are 18 patients requiring oxygen and two patients in intensive care.
There are now 6467 active cases across the Territory.
Border entry form, unvaxxed ban dropped in sweeping changes to Territory’s border rules
THE Northern Territory government has quietly removed all restrictions on travelling into the NT.
Unvaccinated people will be allowed to travel to the Territory without needing to quarantine, despite the Chief Minister Michael Gunner insisting for months that the measure is necessary.
Border entry forms have also been scrapped as of Saturday, in a bid to free up staff to work on other Covid-19 measures.
The about-face comes as coronavirus continues to spread in the NT, with over 1000 cases being recorded on Friday.
The changes to border rules were sent out as a press release late Friday afternoon.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has not fronted the media to outline the changes or answer questions, despite having done so on numerous occasions.
Mr Gunner’s office has been contacted for comment.
Covid positive health boss says ‘people are suffering’
THE TERRITORY’S top Aboriginal health boss says countrymen will be suffering after he experienced Covid first-hand.
AMSANT chief executive John Paterson has been bed-bound since last Thursday when a “slight scratchy throat” alerted him to the possibility of having Covid-19.
“It started with a sore throat and then I went downhill pretty quick … the aches and pains have made me really fatigued,” he said.
“But I feel sorry for our mob who aren’t triple vaxxed and trying to isolate in overcrowded, hot homes sometimes without any more than a mattress on the floor.”
Uncle Patto, as he is known in many communities, said having the comfort of an airconditioned home and “proper bed” to recover has made the crisis out bush all the more real for him.
“On day one I had really high fevers and bad body spasms but having airconditioning helped me rest more comfortably,” he said. “It has been a real struggle.”
Uncle Patto is a month post his third Covid-19 vaccination but said the impacts of Covid have left him feeling “miserable.”
“I just really can’t imagine what this would be like if I wasn’t protected. It is so important all our mob get out there and get vaccinated.”
Some of the Government’s processes are not designed for people in the bush according to AMSANT.
“Filing a positive RAT via a website requires people to firstly have access to the website – many countrymen don’t have smartphones or internet -– and secondly understand the website which is in English,” Mr Paterson said.
“We need a more simple system, something like a text message that they can log their RAT because I think the numbers would be much higher than what is currently reported.”
Mr Paterson’s lived experience of Covid has renewed calls for defence supportin remote communities to ensure people can isolate safely.
“This virus needs people to rest so they can recover quickly. They can’t do that in unsafe, hot, overcrowded homes. If the government is determined for people to do “Covid at home” they need to make sure they have a safe environment to do that – we all know right now, many families in the bush don’t.”
The calls come just a day after the NT recorded its most deadly week in the pandemic.
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Originally published as Chief Minister provides no date for ending QR code, mask mandate
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