The NT Government has rushed extraordinary amendments through Parliament Thursday night to retrospectively “validate” the Chief Health Officer’s vaccine mandate directions, raising suspicions the government had not properly enacted the orders the first time, which one legal expert said has “demolished the rule of law in the NT” and would most likely draw the attention of the Federal Government.
Territorians will no longer have to show proof of vaccination in order to attend licenced venues across the NT in a surprise announcement by the Gunner Government.
NT public servants had until Wednesday to prove they had received their third COVID-19 vaccination, would get it, or had an exemption, despite the chief health officer’s direction allowing until April 22 for boosters, and came on the same day as South Australia announced unvaccinated teachers, public transport workers and taxi drivers could return to work.
The chief health officer has revoked the vaccine passport requirement for people going to sporting events as long as people are not drinking, which allows un-vaccinted people to go the Parramatta Eels versus North Queensland Cowboys game next month.
The head of Hospitality NT has called on the Gunner Government to stop making hospitality staff the frontline ‘COVID-19 cops’, as the chief health officer continues to require checking of vaccine status certificates to get into pubs, bars, and cafes.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has said the Territory could be in a COVID-19 “emergency” for a further four years in a confusing explanation for the need for his government’s controversial legislation giving the chief health officer special powers for two years after the end of the health emergency declaration.
The Gunner Government will continue the unelected chief health officer’s extraordinary powers for the next two years without having to prove there is a public health emergency, as part of new legislation introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.
Wastewater samples for COVID-19 testing in the NT will no longer be sent to South Australia for analysis, after a team of microbiologists at Charles Darwin University recently started carrying out the tests in Darwin.
The Gunner Government has announced it will introduce a bill giving the chief health officer extraordinary power to make laws in a pandemic for two years following the end of a public health emergency declaration period, taking the end of COVID-19 control measures close to the next election.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner removed his mask for an indoor political photo opportunity while holding his arm around an elderly woman, in the latest example of NT politicians posing for pictures that appear to contravene the chief health officer’s COVID-19 directions, and follows Victorian politicians being fined by police for doing the same thing.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner is expected to extend the public health emergency declaration for another 90 days later this month – and the extraordinary powers that come with it – without needing to prove there is a current ‘serious’ public health emergency, a move the Opposition says could continue unchecked for another few years.
The NT’s indoor mask mandate in most places will be lifted on Monday, the Chief Minister has declared, with the check-in app only to be used at venues that require proof of vaccination from today.
