Before Victoria's surging number of new coronavirus infections started wreaking havoc, the Northern Territory was sailing smoothly towards a July 17 border reopening.
Now, as the NT Chief Minister watches the daily rise and rise of coronavirus cases in Victoria with concern, the NT's border arrangements are shifting almost daily.
Michael Gunner says Victoria is currently "under review" and that he "will do whatever it takes" to keep Territorians safe — and that includes upgrading its restrictions on Victorian arrivals.
The NT Government has announced it will implement a range of measures to restrict access to anyone who has visited Greater Melbourne, which it has now declared a coronavirus hotspot.
The advice is fluid, but here's where the Northern Territory's border now stands with Victoria just nine days before July 17 when its new rules kick in.
Is the Northern Territory implementing a hard border closure with Victoria?
No. Not completely.
At this stage the NT Government had resisted calls from an NT top doctor and the NT's peak Aboriginal health body to shut off entry to arrivals from Victoria.
It makes the NT the only jurisdiction Victorian residents can currently enter without at least going into enforced hotel quarantine.
Has the Government placed any border restrictions on Victoria?
Yes. But hard restrictions do not start until July 17, when the Northern Territory's borders reopen to the rest of Australia.
Currently, anyone who has been in Victoria is subject to the same rule as travellers from all other states when entering the Territory — they must undergo two weeks of self-isolation.
So if a traveller has entered a Victorian hotspot, technically they can cross the NT border before July 17 without declaring they are from a hotspot or facing enforced quarantine protocols.
But the NT Government is "strongly urging" anyone intending to travel to the Territory who has been in an identified coronavirus hotspot to reconsider their plans.
When do tougher restrictions begin?
July 17.
This is the date the NT Government is beefing up its protocols on anyone who has entered a Victorian hotspot.
And as far as the NT Government is concerned, all of Greater Melbourne — some 31 local government areas — is a coronavirus hotspot.
While the Victorian Government has declared only 10 areas as hotspots, Mr Gunner said he had received advice there were outbreaks in Melbourne's suburbs that have not yet been declared hotspots.
What are the tougher restrictions on hotspot travellers?
As of July 17, anyone entering the Northern Territory who has been in any of Melbourne's local government areas will be forced to undergo a 14-day mandatory supervised quarantine period.
They will do so at their own expense inside an approved government facility, such as the Howard Springs quarantine centre used to quarantine Australian coronavirus evacuees from Wuhan.
If a traveller lies about being in a hotspot, the Chief Minister said the Territory would come down tough — three years in a prison cell tough.
The NT Government said all new arrivals in supervised quarantine would be tested before leaving quarantine. And if a test is refused, 10 days will be added to their quarantine.
And while at one point more than half of the NT's interstate arrivals had been granted exemptions, the NT Government said no individual travel exemptions would be given to people from hotspot areas.
There would be one exception though.
Melbourne Airport is in Greater Melbourne. Does this stuff things up?
According to the NT Government, no.
Melbourne Airport will not be counted as being in Greater Melbourne in the NT Government's hotspot classification.
This means if you leave rural Victoria and drive through Greater Melbourne to the airport, as long as you don't stop for a coffee, you can move freely though the NT from July 17.
What if I have driven through other areas of Melbourne, but didn't leave the car?
That is still OK.
According to the NT Government, a person is taken not to have been in a hotspot if the person has only entered it in one or more of the following circumstances:
- The person travelled through the hotspot in or on a motor vehicle, public transport or a bicycle and did not leave the vehicle, disembark the public transport or dismount the bicycle while in the hotspot
- The person was only at an airport located in a hotspot
- The person travelled through the hotspot by motor vehicle, public transport or bicycle directly to or from an airport located in a hotspot and did not leave the vehicle, disembark the public transport or dismount the bicycle while in the hotspot except to enter the airport
Victoria's cases are still surging. Why doesn't the NT shut it off completely?
While states around Australia are implementing closures on Victoria, the NT is currently going it alone with its wait-and-see approach before July 17.
Yesterday NSW shut its border to Victoria and the ACT Government declared all Victorians travelling on flights to Canberra would be denied entry.
This morning South Australia closed its Victorian border to all but South Australian residents, calling in the military to help barricade some roads into the state.
Mr Gunner has so far rejected a hard border closure with Victoria, saying the NT Government's hotspot strategy was flexible and provided a "long-term" template for responding to new outbreaks across Australia.
"This is a policy that is designed to stay for the long term — not just today, tomorrow, next month but also next year — we don't know how long we are going to be in this phase, we don't know when there will be a vaccine, or if there will be a vaccine," Mr Gunner said.
