NT government reaches agreement to extend Todd quarantine facility contract until March 2022

The Todd quarantine facility in Alice Springs will continue operating unchanged until at least March next year.

THE NT government has reached an agreement for a four-month extension to Todd facility contract, which will see quarantine services continued until at least March 31, 2022.

It comes days after the government was seemingly blindsided by Alice Springs Resort Enterprises – the owner of the Mercure Alice Springs – which opened bookings for 2022 at its resort, which currently operates as one of the NT’s two “gold-standard” quarantine facilities. It’s unclear whether the government will continue to operate multiple quarantine facilities after that time, following Chief Minister Michael Gunner announcing that new arrivals to the Territory who are fully vaccinated will be permitted to quarantine at home, once the Territory reaches an 80 per cent vaccination rate.

The Todd quarantine facility in Alice Springs will continue operating into 2022. Picture: Lee Robinson

NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the safety and security of Territorians will continue to be the government’s “highest priority”.

“This agreement provides certainty to Territorians that a safe, secure and effective quarantine facility at Alice Springs will remain available into the future,” Ms Fyles said.

“The Territory Labor government has been working hard with Alice Springs Resort Enterprises to deliver this crucial service to Territorians and I thank them for their outstanding efforts.

“Our gold-standard management of quarantine facilities has kept Territorians safe and protected our community from a significant Covid-19 outbreak.”

Reservations for the Mercure Alice Springs Resort can still be made from January 1, 2022 on a several booking websites. A graphic advertising the resort is reopening in 2022 also still appears on the resort’s listing page on Booking.com.

A spokesman for Alice Springs Resort Enterprises declined to comment.

The Todd facility has capacity to service 139 rooms.

The Department of Territory Families, Housing and Communities continues to be the responsible agency to provide supervised quarantine services in Alice Springs in partnership with Alice Springs Resort Enterprises.

The site is further supported by NT Police and NT Health.

Ms Fyles said last week there were “many contingency plans” in place to mange the “twists and turns” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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