Michael Gunner mulls Northern Territory-wide coronavirus quarantine plan

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has not ruled out quarantining the entire Northern Territory.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner. Picture: AAP

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has not ruled out quarantining the entire Northern Territory as his government struggles to combat coronavirus and prevent the infection from reaching indigenous communities.

The news comes as six of the Territory’s top medical professionals wrote to their chief medical officer warning that the jurisdiction’s population was “doubly vulnerable” and its critical care resources “more finite than any other Australian jurisdiction”.

Top End health authorities have detected just one case of COVID-19, and say there is no community transmission. There have been calls including from Aboriginal health organisations and some mayors for the Territory’s borders to be effectively closed.

Mr Gunner said he had been approached about the idea and in the interests of due diligence had followed it up, although he was not sure whether it could be implemented. “We are building moats around Aboriginal communities … the question is does there need to be a moat around the Northern Territory?” he said.

“The priority is protecting our remote communities. We are doing that, and that may be sufficient, but I believe that you do whatever it takes.”

The news comes as Mr Gunner unveiled a $65m stimulus package and promised to “do whatever it takes … spend whatever it costs” to save jobs and protect Territorians.

The package includes money for business and home renovations and tariff freezes and will be funded entirely through borrowing, with Mr Gunner admitting the budget will “take a whack”.

The NT was borrowing to pay expenses before the coronavirus crisis. From Thursday, the Gunner government will resume control of the mainland quarantine centre outside Darwin that Canberra previously used to house Australian evacuees from the Chinese city of Wuhan and the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The former workers’ village will be turned into a drive-through testing centre and makeshift ward.

The six top medical professionals, including Royal Darwin Hospital’s director of emergency medicine and acting head of anaesthesia, called in their letter dated 17 March for “immediate action” to minimise the impact of coronavirus. “Critical-care teams across the globe are reeling from the overwhelming number of patients now requiring ICU and ventilation,” the letter said. “There is a strong sense of regret that these health systems (Italy/Washington State/Holland, among others) did not make fast and better decisions. Australia is only weeks behind this development.

Deputy NT chief health officer Dianne Stephens said the specialist doctors did not know about all the work being done and suggested the coronavirus outbreak might be no worse than a “really bad flu year”.