Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner has rejected claims he has talked tough on coronavirus border controls in a bid to win votes.

August 13, 2020

The Northern Territory chief minister has batted away claims he’s scared off tourists and politicised the coronavirus in a bid to win votes.

Michael Gunner made national news on Tuesday when he announced the NT’s coronavirus border controls would remain in place for at least 18 months.

He was slammed by opposition parties and the Top End’s peak tourism body, who say the chief minister’s comments have caused confusion among potential interstate tourists.

The NT currently remains open to all visitors, with those arriving from or through a hotspot required to undertake 14 days mandatory supervised quarantine at a cost of $2500.

But Mr Gunner hit back on Thursday, saying his government has been clear on borders.

“We have hard borders for hotspots and hard border controls in place,” he told reporters.

“I am not going to mollycoddle or bulls*** people, this is our policy.

“This crisis is going to be around for a while and (Territorians) have to choose who they want to take charge of it.”

Mr Gunner’s comments come amid a tight Top End election, with the threat posed by the coronavirus and the NT’s ailing economy key issues on voters’ minds.

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills says Mr Gunner’s comments sent shockwaves through the tourism industry “in the midst of an economic crisis”.

He said the chief minister’s actions would lead to job losses and further erode business confidence.

Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro said Mr Gunner was “talking tough” for voters and his comments were irresponsible.

“This made international and national news. It’s not a small error,” she told reporters.

“This has done untold damage to our fragile tourism industry.”