NLC ‘put people’s lives at risk’ with sudden closure of Cahill’s Crossing: West Arnhem TO

A Traditional Owner and businessman claims the Northern Land Council put people’s safety at risk by closing Cahills Crossing with just a few hours’ notice.

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A WEST Arnhem Land Traditional Owner and businessman claims the Northern Land Council put people’s safety at risk by closing Cahills Crossing with just a few hours’ notice and without broader consultation during last week’s Covid-19 lockdown.

Reuben Cooper, of the Muran Clan in the Cobourg Peninsula area, said requests made by police to delay the closure so people in West Arnhem could safely get back to Darwin were denied by the NLC.

In a statement released last Thursday, the NLC announced Cahills Crossing would be closed at sunrise the next day.

“Traditional Owners concerned about the Covid-19 compliance breach in Jabiru have acted swiftly and requested the NLC and the NT government to close Cahills Crossing until further notice,” the statement said.

However, Mr Cooper – who was in Darwin at the time – said he was only notified by police about 2.15pm on Thursday of the closure so had to rush to contact about 50 guests staying at the outback accommodation facility he owns, located about 230km from Cahills Crossing.

Cahills Crossing.

He said the guests had to travel at night, with one client colliding with a brumby on the road.

In an email from a police officer in Gunbalanya, seen by the NT News, Mr Cooper is told that there would be “no exceptions to the closure … and will not be able to be opened for anyone who doesn’t make their way through by the time of closure”.

After Mr Cooper responded to the email saying his customers were concerned about having to cross the notoriously dangerous Cahills Crossing at night to avoid being trapped for an indefinite period of time, he was told there was nothing police could do. “Apparently they (the NLC) will be blocking off the road both ways and they have refused to open even after Police requests,” another email from a police officer, also seen by the NT News, reads.

Mr Cooper said that as a Traditional Owner, he was not consulted before the closure. “If the TO’s said we’re closing the road, or the crossing, I would have accepted that,” he said.

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“But, make sure our people have time to get out. The police were very supportive and very concerned about the safety of my clients, but (this incident) could give us a bit of a bad reputation as a business.” An NLC spokesman said the organisation “emphatically denies any allegation that its actions placed any person at risk or harm”.

“Ample notice was given of the suspension of permits to enter and remain on Aboriginal land,” he said.

“An NLC Travel Advice issued on 30 June stated in part that if you were currently on Aboriginal land and your usual place of residence was outside of Aboriginal land then ‘you should return home as soon as practical and by the most direct means’.”

The spokesman said the NLC was “not aware of any NT Police officer acting or advising otherwise than in support of the NLC’s actions”.

The government said the closure was managed by TO’s and the NLC. NT Police were contacted for comment.

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