NT borders closed to Victoria, Sydney but open to other states

Just 24 hours after South Australia and Queensland announced parts of NSW would be banned from entry, the Northern Territory has followed suit.

Forget that holiday to the Northern Territory if you’re from Victoria or Sydney.

The Northern Territory has become the latest jurisdiction to announce it will be keeping borders closed to Victoria and all of Sydney, despite opening to the rest of the country on Friday.

Addressing media on Wednesday, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he “couldn’t underestimate the crisis” and that his government would not be “complacent” around the pandemic.

“We did plan for this,” Mr Gunner said.

“A week ago, I warned Territorians about NSW and the potential for coronavirus to spread there again.

“Unfortunately that is what we have started to see in the last few days.”

While the Territory will open to the rest of the country on Friday 17 July, Victorians and anyone from Sydney will not be able to visit. It is understood anyone travelling from the listed ‘hotspot’ regions who “present a danger to the Territory” will be forced to pay for their 14-day mandatory quarantine stay.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner detailing upcoming changes to the Northern Territory border. Picture Che Chorley

“We have hard borders, we are keeping hard borders,” he said.

“Our borders are still closed to all states and territories until Friday. They will stay closed to Victoria indefinitely and they will stay closed to all of Sydney for now as well.

“From Friday, if there are any arrivals to the Territory from Sydney, or have been in Sydney for the past 14 days, they will be directed into mandatory supervised quarantine … and charged $2500.”

On Tuesday, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said he would not be reopening to visitors as expected on July 20, given the amount of uncertainty around the current cases in NSW

The decision to keep borders closed to NSW and the ACT was made at the state’s transition committee meeting on Tuesday morning, with Mr Marshall saying his priority was to keep South Australians safe.

“We know that this is going to be very inconvenient for people who perhaps have already made plans...but our primary responsibility in South Australia is to the safety and welfare of all South Australians,” he told media.

“Of course, we don’t want to go backwards. We know what’s happened in Victoria with the second wave, in Melbourne in particular. This has cost tens of thousands of people their jobs.”

Mr Marshall said he didn’t want to see his state in the same position as neighbouring Victoria, adding he was being “cautious” and that a further meeting would be held on Friday to discuss the border restrictions in place with NSW and the ACT.

“We are looking at the epidemiology of what is going on,” he said.

“There’s too much uncertainty with regards to this infection, so a decision has been made to keep the borders closed with New South Wales and the ACT.”