South Australian man fined in Yulara after travelling from Covid hotspot

A man who travelled to a Central Australian community from Melbourne has been fined for not having an exemption to enter from a hotspot, while four more have been caught using Howard Springs as a ‘transit centre’.

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UPDATED: FOUR men will be flown back to Victoria on Sunday after being caught using Howard Springs as a “transit centre”, against Northern Territory rules.

It follows another man was issued with an infringement notice after entering Yulara, despite having been in Melbourne, which is currently in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak.

The four men flew in from Victoria on Saturday and declared their eventual destination as being a Western Australian mine.

None had been granted an exemption to enter the NT, a statement from the Northern Territory Police said.

After Howard Springs recently neared capacity, the NT has begun turning people around who aren’t travelling to the Territory on an exemption.

Incident controller Sachin Sharma said the four men were “either ignorant of, or disregarding the chief health officer directions.”

“Howard Springs is not a transit centre and we will continue to return people who try to enter the Territory without an exemption for the purposes of then continuing to travel interstate.”

EARLIER: Police have issued a South Australian man with an infringement notice after he travelled to the Territory having been in a declared hotspot.

The man, 69, had a South Australian exemption to travel from Victoria as part of his job. However, he then flew to Yulara for a holiday, believing his work border entry paperwork had been lodged and accepted.

The man got as far as Yulara Airport where his error was identified and he was isolated prior to his transfer to the Alice Springs quarantine facility. He returned to South Australia Saturday.

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“There are no exemptions to come to the Territory for a holiday if you have been in a declared hotspot in the previous 14 days,” Incident Controller Sachin Sharma said.

“Even if you have an exemption to travel between other states, if you want to come to the NT you must have the paperwork approved by a delegate of the NT chief health officer.”

The penalty for failing to abide by the chief health officer Directions issued under section 56 of the Public and Environment Health Act 2011 is $5024 for an individual (32 penalty units) and $25,120 for a business (160 penalty units).

Anyone intending to travel to the Northern Territory must ensure they comply with the rules outlined on www.coronavirus.nt.gov.au.