CLOSED: Uluru National Park off-limits to tourists

UPDATE: The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is considering next steps after traditional owners set up a blockade to stop tourists from Brisbane.

Traditional owners have blockaded the entrance to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park amid growing fears of travellers arriving from hotspots. Picture: Supplied

• Traditional owners blockade Uluru as flight arrives from Brisbane
• Calls to close Uluru airport and park due to ‘unacceptable risk’ of flights from coronavirus hotspots

UPDATE 2.50pm: THE Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park will remain closed while re-opening protocols proposed by Traditional Owners are considered.

Parks Australia announced the decision this afternoon following further discussions with Mutitjulu Aboriginal Community Corporation (MCAC), Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, the Central Land Council, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress and the Northern Territory Government.

“We have the utmost respect for Uluru-Kata Tjuta’s traditional owners and are continuing to work in good faith with them and all other parties to keep Mutitjulu residents safe,” a Parks Australia spokeswoman said.

EARLIER: THE Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation (MCAC) have proposed any further flights to Uluru from COVID-19 declared hotspots be suspended, after blockading the entrance to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park from tourists yesterday.

The Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation (MCAC) were calling for the immediate closure of Uluru after 42 passengers arrived on a Jetstar flight from Brisbane at Yulara airport at about 10am on Monday.

Three of those passengers arrived from hotspots and were bussed to Alice Springs for mandatory quarantine.

A meeting between MCAC and Parks Australia concluded earlier today.

MCAC general manager Glenn Irvine said they had expressed reservations about the way the situation were handled.

“At the end of the meeting a proposal was put forward to all parties to suspend any further flights from Brisbane or any other hotspots,” he said.

“Subsequent to the end of the meeting as a gesture to try and open the park we have suggested all people who were on the plane yesterday who are currently in Yulara and quarantine in Alice Springs undertake a COVID-19 test.

“If all those tests come back negative, we would then consider reopening the park.

“It will take a little while to get those messages and those proposals backward and forward.”

An announcement by Parks Australia is expected later today.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said planes landing in Yulara created a “logistical difficulty” for the government in terms of transporting travellers to quarantine sites.

“I want all planes that come into the Territory to land at one of those places like at Alice Springs or in Darwin. That would be what I want, rather than Yulara.

“It creates a logistical difficulty for us in regards to taking those people from Yulara airport to Alice Springs but if we have to do that we will.”

He said the government has “got local pandemic plans everywhere”.

“If someone lands in Yulara and they’re from a hotspot we take them straight to Alice Springs,” Mr Gunner said.

“We dealt with it immediately at the airport (yesterday).

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A spokesman from Jetstar said they are currently operating two flights per week between Brisbane and Uluru as part of the Federal Government’s minimum viable network to keep communities connected and deliver medical supplies and mail.

On Jetstar’s website the flights are flagged for Mondays and Thursdays.

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