Long-term Territorian Mark Horrocks lives with his 91-year-old mum and has been anxious to keep her safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
But extra precautions taken upon his return from holidays may end up costing Mr Horrocks thousands of dollars on top of a double stint in quarantine, because of tough protective measures taking effect in the Northern Territory this week.
Mr Horrocks was in Thailand when the COVID-19 outbreak escalated into a pandemic.
The 65-year-old flew back to Australia and landed in Melbourne on March 22, before transferring to Adelaide where a friend had offered him a place to self-isolate for $600.
Mr Horrocks said he considered it safer to undergo two weeks of voluntary quarantine in Adelaide instead of returning straight to the Darwin home he shares with his elderly mum.
"I did not want to put her at risk," Mr Horrocks said.
"If she got coronavirus, it'd be a death sentence."
Changes to NT border controls
While Mr Horrocks was isolating in Adelaide, the NT Government announced new travel restrictions to protect Territorians from the spread of COVID-19.
On Monday, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said anyone arriving in the NT from midnight on Wednesday would be forced to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days, even if they had already quarantined in another state.
Anyone arriving after midnight on Friday has to foot the $2,500 bill themselves — Mr Gunner said "enough notice" had been given that travel to the NT was being discouraged.
But Mr Horrocks, who has booked a flight home to Darwin for this coming Sunday after his isolation is up, has been caught in the cracks of the arrangements.
Had he been forced into quarantine interstate, the NT Government would pay for his hotel upon return to Darwin.
But because he chose to isolate in Adelaide voluntarily, Mr Horrocks has to pay the bill himself.
"My quarantine ends on Sunday evening and I'm going to leave my quarantine accommodation and go straight to the airport," Mr Horrocks said.
"I've done everything I possibly can to abide by the requirements, there must be many people in my position."
COVID-19 hotline delays improving
Mr Horrocks wants the NT Government to pay for his forced hotel stay and says it is unfair that only a few days' notice was given about the changes.
He says he has called both the national COVID-19 hotline and the local NT office to explain his situation, but has not received help.
Mr Gunner said the NT's remote travel hotline had answered about 4,000 calls and emails over the past few weeks and received 1,200 calls on Monday, the day of the forced quarantine announcement.
He said the hotline wait time was about an hour over the weekend, but had now reduced to about 12 minutes.
A spokeswoman for the Chief Minister's department said exemptions to forced quarantine could be made for people who may experience negative health outcomes from staying in a hotel instead of at home and for people who had booked and paid for accommodation in the NT prior to the announcement.
She said the new measures were in place "to protect the health and wellbeing of Territorians by slowing the spread of COVID-19".
