NT Covid: Govt clarifies directions after women’s shelter calls out confusion

The government has clarified Covid directions for victims of domestic violence after a women’s shelter called out the confusion.

THE NT government has clarified Covid directions for victims of domestic violence after a Darwin women’s shelter called out the confusion.

Dawn House executive officer Susan Crane had to reach out to the Chief Minister for clarity over whether women and children in unsafe situations were allowed to leave in lockdown, lockout or lock-in situations.

“The direction for when communities are in lockdown, lockout or lock-in are inconsistent and confusing,” Ms Crane said.

“In all cases, it should always be made explicit that in cases of emergency such as a women experiencing domestic/family violence, they are able to leave for their safety.”

The government amended the chief health officer’s directions on February 1 after Ms Crane and the NT News asked directly.

The directions now include a line to say a person can leave if they are “a person exiting the area to escape a risk of harm, including harm relating to family violence”. Ms Crane said it was also unclear to shelters what happened if a woman needed to isolate and could not do it safely in her home due to domestic and family violence.

“We have said repeatedly, that emergency agencies such as ours need access to a dedicated line with the Covid hotline so we can arrange for them to be transported to Howard Springs immediately and complete their isolation,” she said.

“I do not know if government are allowing women to isolate at Howard Springs and, if they are, what the process is.

“We had a woman in that situation … and waited days for a response.”

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said Covid isolation provisions were made for victims of domestic violence

“Close contacts and people who are Covid-19-positive that have no safe place to isolate will be able to complete their isolation period at a supervised quarantine facility including CNR or the Todd Facility,” Ms Fyles said.

“People are permitted to leave a lock-in area for the purpose of fleeing a domestic violence situation.” Crime statistics, released by NT Police in January, showed domestic violence-related assaults across the Northern Territory increased 15.49 per cent from December 2020 to November 2021.

In the same period in Darwin, there was a 33.55 per cent rise, totalling 1245 incidents.

There was a 57.02 per cent increase in Palmerston, totalling 570 incidents.

In that period, Katherine experienced a small decrease in domestic violence-related assaults by 2.44 per cent, down to 440 incidents.

Tennant Creek had an increase of 6.91 per cent to 294 incidents and Nhulunbuy 12.5 per cent to 27 reported incidents.

Originally published as NT Covid: Govt clarifies directions after women’s shelter calls out confusion