COVID hot spot logic playing with people’s emotions, writes Matt Cunningham

PASSENGERS flying into Darwin from Melbourne must feel like they’re living that famous scene from Monty Python’s the Life of Brian where the Christians are asked if they’ve arrived for crucifixion or freedom

Some passengers flying into Darwin from Melbourne are being granted freedom while many others are being made to quarantine at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility (pictured) when they arriive. Picture: Che Chorley

IT was a bit like the famous scene from Monty Python’s the Life of Brian where the Christians are asked if they’ve arrived for crucifixion or freedom.

Some passengers arriving at Darwin on a flight from Melbourne were granted freedom, and while in this case the alternative wasn’t quite so dire, many others are now stuck in quarantine at Howard Springs.

The NT Government had declared 10 Melbourne suburbs as hotspots while the plane was in the air — and probably already over the Northern Territory.

For close to three hours passengers were questioned about their movements in the previous days before they were either let through, or sent to Howard Springs for 14 days with the option to fly back to Melbourne if they preferred.

For most of those three hours one grandfather stood at the gates, waiting in hope, checking his phone.

Some passengers arriving in Darwin from Melbourne are being granted freedom while many others are being made to quarantine at Howard Springs. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

He hadn’t seen his grandson in three years.

Now, he might be deprived that precious reunion.

Eventually the bad news came via text message.

His grandson and his girlfriend had visited a hotspot area and were heading to Howard Springs.

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“It’s upsetting that after three years you can’t see your own grandson, but I can’t do much about it,” he said, before exiting the airport in resignation and heading to the pub.

Another young couple had confessed they’d gone for dinner in Melbourne’s Chinatown district the night before they flew to Darwin.

That was enough to see them sent to supervised quarantine.

Meanwhile, a pregnant woman tried valiantly to control a restless toddler as she waited for a loved one who wouldn’t be allowed through the gates.

Eventually it all became too much and she left in tears.

Mardi Stephenson was relieved she doesn't have to go into quarantine as she arrived in Darwin on a flight from Melbourne. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford.

This is the human toll of the tough border measures that have been implemented by the various states and territories.

We’re consistently told they’re based on the best medical advice, but it’s hard to see how when they vary so greatly from one jurisdiction to another.

In Sydney, a cluster of cases can be controlled with moderate, localised restrictions.

Yet a single case in Perth has seen the entire city locked down for a week.

New South Wales and Queensland saw no need to close their borders to Victoria after one case was recorded in Melbourne, yet the Northern Territory declared 10 suburbs hotspots and forced travellers into supervised quarantine.

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And while no measure has proved too tough to deem it politically unpalatable, it’s hard not to view Thursday’s hotspot decision as unfair, if not cruel.

The Victorian case had been reported about 8pm on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t deemed urgent enough to force passengers on board a flight the next morning – landing about 11am – into quarantine.

Yet those who arrived a little over five hours later were deemed such a risk they had to be shipped off to Howard Springs.

It would be great to know the difference in the risk profile between those on the morning flight and those who landed in the afternoon.

Or the difference between sending those on the afternoon flight into quarantine versus implementing the hotspot declaration after their plane had landed.

Was the extra risk – presumably minuscule – worth the pain it has caused?

And all of this for one case.

Some passengers arriving in Darwin from Melbourne are being granted freedom while many others are being made to quarantine at Howard Springs. Picture: Che Chorley

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said airlines had been informed on Thursday morning of the potential for a hotspot declaration and passengers boarding those flights were aware of the risk.

But the passengers trudging through Darwin Airport on their way to catch a bus to Howard Springs on Thursday night say the first they knew about any of this was when their plane landed on the Darwin tarmac.

At the beginning of this crisis we were told we had a suppression strategy.

That’s clearly shifted to become one of elimination.

And it’s obvious each state and territory is now rowing its own boat, putting its own political considerations ahead of the national interest.

In the year we changed our national anthem to declare ourselves “one and free”, we’ve never been more divided.