Coronavirus: Traditional owners blockade Uluru to tourists

Coronavirus fears have forced the closure of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park after locals blockaded the entry gate.

Locals have blockaded the entrance to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in protest against Parks Australia for refusing to close the park.

Coronavirus fears have forced the closure of Uluru-Kata Tjuta Nat­ional Park after locals blockaded the entry gate to keep a planeload of visitors arriving from a declared COVID-19 hotspot away from vulnerable communities.

The move followed a breakdown in relations between Aboriginal park residents and other stakeholders, including tourism authorities, park managers and airlines.

Brisbane was last week declared a COVID-19 hotspot by the Northern Territory.

Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation, representing UKTNP residents, had expected flights from there to Yulara to be cancelled but learned on Monday a Jetstar service would go ahead.

Locals parked their vehicles across the park entry gate after watching passengers disembark and seeing that not everyone would be made to quarantine, as they had wished.

Local leader Craig Woods told The Australian he was upset about community demands being ignored and felt relations with other stakeholders had broken down. “This is far worse than betrayal — we are being threatened,” he said. “It’s a threat to people’s health.”

Mr Woods stressed that the community did not want to turn visitors away but felt it had no choice, on health and safety grounds.

Dorothea Randall, another local leader, said the message from a community perspective was: “The gate is closed.”.

A Parks Australia spokeswoman said following the protest that UKTNP “will be closed … until at least 12pm (Tuesday) as all parties continue to work towards a resolution on this matter.”

“Parks Australia is committed to being part of a collective response that minimises the risk of COVID-19 to staff, visitors and residents within the Mutitjulu and Yulara communities and at UKTNP,” she said.

A Jetstar spokesman said the airline was operating two flights a week between Brisbane and Uluru as part of the federal government’s minimal viable network system.

“We understand the health concerns from the local community, but the NT government already requires all travellers from declared hotspots to enter 14 days’ mandatory supervised quarantine on arrival, which includes passengers on these flights,” he said. “We advised all passengers, including those from Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan areas, they are subject to travel restrictions that came into force on Saturday.”

MCAC has previously asked for a range of coronavirus control measures that go beyond those imposed by governments.

Locals have warned for days about shutting the park if their demands were not addressed.

Mr Woods accused Voyages Indigenous Tourism, which operates the Ayers Rock Resort, of working in secret with Parks Australia to sidestep local demands.

A Voyages spokeswoman did not respond to questions.

“We want to make money, too,” Mr Woods said, “but we can’t afford to take any chances.”

Three senior Parks Australia staff were last month sidelined from managing Kakadu National Park after a public spat with traditional owners there.

A spokesman for Environment Minister Sussan Ley did not ­respond to an invitation to ­comment.