NT Government ‘open’ to taking in more overseas arrivals at the Howard Springs facility
THE NT Government is open to potentially using the Howard Springs quarantine facility to repatriate more Australians stuck overseas, Health Minister Natasha Fyles says
Northern Territory
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THE NT Government is open to potentially using the Howard Springs quarantine facility to repatriate more Australians stuck overseas, Health Minister Natasha Fyles says.
It comes after Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling slammed the federal government for not raising the cap on international arrivals, saying the Territory could and should be used to repatriate Australians home quicker.
Minister Fyles said the NT had extensive experience with quarantining international arrivals during the pandemic from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
“There would be a lot of work to be undertaken if we were to see international flights arriving into the Northern Territory,” she said.
“As I said, it’s always the health and safety of Territorians that comes first, but the Northern Territory is certainly open to that.”
“The Northern Territory, of course, is well set up particularly with the Howard Springs facility and will continue through the Chief Minister to work through that at a National Cabinet level.
“I am, of course, in regular contact with the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt going forward.
“But we do need to be careful. We saw from the Victorian quarantine an outbreak into that community which has been absolutely devastating from both the community perspective but also from an economic perspective.”
Minister Fyles said the Howard Springs quarantine facility had the ability to care for up to 3000 people.
“I think today we will hit 1000 people in the facility out at Howard Springs. I understand that there is a flight later today from Melbourne,” she said.
“It’s a huge facility, as we know, and used to cater for many thousands of people in a mining work camp situation. In a quarantine facility you would need to allocate spaces differently but there’s certainly room at that facility, going forward.”
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It comes after the Chief Minister Michael Gunner flagged removing the COVID-19 hotspot declaration for Sydney on October 9.
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