Fyles denies the undeniable, backs away from statements that tourists not welcome here in the Dry

HEALTH Minister Natasha Fyles has denied saying there will be no tourists in the NT during the Dry season, despite last month insisting travellers were not welcome

NT Minister Natasha Fyles has denied saying there will be no tourists in the NT during the Dry season, despite last month insisting travellers were not welcome here

HEALTH Minister Natasha Fyles has denied saying there will be no tourists in the NT during the Dry season, despite last month insisting travellers were not welcome.

On April 30 the NT News reported Ms Fyles said interstate visitors would not be welcome to the Territory during peak tourism season.

“Those borders will remain shut,” she said at the time.

“Now is not the time to visit the Northern Territory. It won’t be this Dry season because we want to protect Territorians.

“We don’t have the community transmission of coronavirus and we want to keep it that way.”

But when asked yesterday if she maintained her previous assertions, Ms Fyles denied she made them.

“I haven’t said that there’d be no tourists this Dry season,” she said.

“What I’ve said is to stem the coronavirus, we’re acting. We’ve put in place tough measures to protect Territorians. There is a great unknown.”

The Gunner Government is under pressure to set a date for opening the borders.

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Ms Fyles said it would depend on coronavirus cases and the rate of transmission interstate. “What will happen over the next few weeks and few months will depend on what happens interstate,” she said.

“As we see those restrictions easing we’ve already seen clusters in Victoria, we’ve got close to 400 active cases in New South Wales.

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“We don’t want that here in the Territory so in terms of what will happen over the coming weeks and months it is an unknown but we can assure Territorians the measures that we’ve put in place are saving their lives and protecting them.”