Coronavirus: PNG villagers breaching travel ban to Torres Strait Islands

Papua New Guinea villagers are breaching a ban on travel to the locked-down Torres Strait Islands, sparking fears they could bring the coronavirus to vulnerable communities.

A longboat from Papua New Guinea is towed by Australian Border Force.

Papua New Guinea villagers are breaching a ban on travel to the locked-down Torres Strait Islands, sparking fears they could bring the coronavirus to the vulnerable communities.

More than a month after Torres Strait leaders instigated the first shutdown of Australia’s borders because of the pandemic — with the suspension of the free movement treaty between the islands and nearby PNG mainland — authorities are struggling with new arrivals every day.

The first case of coronavirus in PNG was confirmed on March 20, and the nation’s 4000 nurses this week announced a planned strike to protest at a purported lack of medical supplies and preparation to handle a potential outbreak.

Torres Island Regional Council mayor Fred Gela said the Australian Border Force and Queensland police had, so far, been unable to stop the “flow of people into our communities’’ from PNG.

Under the Torres Strait Treaty, people from 12 coastal villagers in PNG’s Western Province are allowed to travel to the Australian islands to maintain traditional kinship and trading relationships.

For years, villagers have also sought and received medical assistance in clinics on the islands of Saibai and Boigu, just 10km by boat to the PNG mainland.

Mr Gela, chair of the regional disaster management committee, said PNG villagers were travelling to the Torres Strait to get “food and other staples” after the capital of the Western Province, Daru, was locked down and villagers couldn’t get access to shops.

“Border Force and police are ramping up, but there is still an alarming number of boats arriving daily,” he said. “Our communities capacity to deal with the situation if there is an outbreak is next to none — it will be devastating, given the extent of chronic diseases suffered by so many people.

“People will drop like flies.’’

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said he was concerned by the exposure of the Torres Strait and Cape York communities to coronavirus, and from those villagers coming from PNG.

“We are aware of these concerns,’’ he said.

“Some of these people are coming for medical assistance and we have never turned them away.’’

On February 20, Mr Gela and the disaster management committee agreed to ban movement between the Torres Strait and PNG.

Under the treaty, people can cross without a passport or visa but usually seek a permit for extended stays, with up to 50,000 visits a year.

Mr Gela said PNG villagers were getting around the ban by saying they needed medical ­assistance.

The Cape York and Torres Strait island communities will also have to deal with the transfer of the majority of its leadership after last weekend’s local government elections. Although counting is still continuing, it is estimated about 80 per cent of the region’s mayors have either retired or have lost in the contest, including Mr Gela after more than a decade.

Eddir Newman, mayor of the Northern Peninsula Area on the tip of Cape York, said the elections should have been postponed.

A spokesman for the ABF said they were unable to comment by the time of publication.