Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker defends decision to allow miner who breached Covid-19 directions to drive himself to quarantine
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has defended authorities’ decision to allow a miner who later tested positive to Covid-19 to drive himself to Howard Springs, after it emerged the man had breached directions by stopping at a Darwin store on his way.
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NT POLICE Commissioner Jamie Chalker has defended authorities’ decision to allow a miner who later tested positive to Covid-19 to drive himself to the Howard Springs quarantine facility, after it emerged last week the man had breached directions by stopping by a Darwin supermarket on his way there.
Amid the NT’s recent Covid-19 outbreak, Commissioner Chalker and Chief Minister Michael Gunner revealed on Thursday that the Granites gold mine worker had been ordered to go directly to Howard Springs, but instead entered the Stuart Park Corner Store on his way there to buy cigarettes.
Speaking on ABC radio this morning, Commissioner Chalker said he believed allowing people to make their own way to Howard Springs was best practice for preventing the spread of Covid-19.
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“If people are able to drive themselves to the facility, that’s the lowest risk (approach) that you can have, if they do it appropriately, because you’re not introducing the second or even a third party,” he said.
“We have Covid taxis, for the purposes of people who don’t have that means and don’t choose to travel out there.
“(But) we can keep vehicles quite secure out at the Howard Springs facility. It’s a very large facility with lots of carparks, so people can keep their car well and truly secured there and it enables them to be able to leave at their time, when they conclude their 14 days.
“The simple practice here is, if you stay in a vehicle and you introduce yourself to no others in that travel, then you’ve minimised the risk completely.”
Asked if NT authorities would reconsider letting people who may have Covid-19 drive themselves to the facility from now on, Commissioner Chalker said NT Police would work with NT Health “as it relates to … messaging, so that they’re far more explicit in that respect”.
“But again, I think the general awareness out there is that if you’re tested positive or have been deemed a close contact, then the intent is for you to go to a quarantine facility and be directed to do so,” he said.
“I hasten to add, there have been many many many people who’ve been directed under those same provisions, who’ve made themselves available to go straight to the facility and have not stopped anywhere else on the way.”
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