Push to use Bladin workers village to help quarantine more stranded Aussies
SENATOR Sam McMahon is calling on her federal government colleagues to use another workers village near Darwin to repatriate even more stranded Aussies
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SENATOR Sam McMahon is calling on her federal government colleagues to use the Bladin Village workers camp, on Wickham Point near Darwin, to repatriate even more Aussies stranded overseas.
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The commonwealth is set to pay the NT government more than $50m to quarantine about 500 repatriated Aussies per fortnight at the Howard Springs facility.
Senator McMahon said Bladin Village had about 2000 beds and enough space to handle 500 repatriating Aussies a fortnight to help more stranded Aussies come home before Christmas.
The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia estimated there were likely to be 100,000 Australians stranded overseas, including 30,000 in the UK alone.
Senator McMahon said she didn’t understand why the NT’s Chief Minister hadn’t got on board with the idea.
“Why is Mr Gunner severely limiting the number of returning Aussies wanting to quarantine in the NT?” she said.
“I’ve put this proposal before several relevant federal ministers for consideration but this is also a decision for the NT government as they approve and manage quarantine.”
Health Minister Natasha Fyles said because Bladin Village was privately owned it would be up to the owners of the centre and the federal government to work out.
The NT News understands the owners of the workers’ village, Trepang Services, have reached out to the NT and federal governments about using the centre for quarantine.
Labor Member for Solomon Luke Gosling said he saw potential in the proposal.
“If the federal government is willing to help the Northern Territory properly resource this, then I’d welcome any measure that helps get as many Australians home to their family by Christmas as we can,” he said.
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It comes after the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which is funded by the federal government, revealed it would be employing an additional 70 staff at Howard Springs, including customer service personnel, to support the telehealth services.
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