Territory’s peak land councils, the NLC and CLC, call for NT borders to stay shut until elimination of community transmission of COVID-19 in Australia

THE Northern Territory’s peak land councils, the NLC and the CLC, have called on the NT Government to keep the Territory’s borders closed to all other jurisdictions until community transmission of COVID-19 has been eliminated in Australia

CLC chair Sammy Wilson added: ‘Any border openings must be carefully considered by the government and the land councils together’. Picture: AAP/Lucy Hughes Jones

THE Northern Territory’s peak land councils, the NLC and the CLC, have called on the NT Government to keep the Territory’s borders closed to all other jurisdictions until community transmission of COVID-19 has been eliminated in Australia.

In a joint statement, the Northern Land Council and the Central Land Council, also called on the Government to reinstate mandatory motel quarantine for 14 days.

NLC chair Samuel Bush-Blanasi ... ‘I’m not at all for the borders to open on July 17‘. Picture: Justin Kennedy

The CLC executive resolved on Thursday that “if the government ignores our recommendation and decides to open up the Territory’s borders, it should only do this in a ‘travel bubble’ ”.

People from COVID hotspots anywhere in Australia must be required to undertake mandatory supervised quarantine for 14 days, the resolution states.

It also says that the NT Government must implement the ‘Contain and Test Strategy’ in all remote communities, irrespective of what is in the local community’s pandemic plan.

It calls on the government to “implement a community engagement strategy so every person in a community knows what will happen if there’s an outbreak”.

It also asks the NT Chief Health Officer to immediately re-issue an order requiring everyone except for close family members to comply with physical distancing rules in public.

In the statement the Northern Land Council said it supported the resolution.

“I’m not at all for the borders to open on July 17,” NLC chair Samuel Bush-Blanasi said.

“Chief Minister Michael Gunner should really be talking to the land councils about reopening the border at a later date because of the hotspots in Melbourne and elsewhere,” he said.

“I’m calling on him to please talk with us and let’s consider a better outcome for everyone in the Territory.”

CLC chair Sammy Wilson added: “The safety of Territorians is the main thing and any border openings must be carefully considered by the government and the land councils together”.