Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
NSW man hikes in desert to dodge NT COVID check point
Northern Territory police have charged a NSW man after he hiked across the outback to avoid mandatory COVID-19 quarantining.
September 15, 2020
A NSW man has dumped his car in outback South Australia and hiked across the Northern Territory border in a bid to dodge COVID-19 quarantining.
NT police found the 23-year-old in a remote town about 450km south of Alice Springs on Tuesday.
He has been charged with contravening an emergency declaration and making a false statutory declaration after allegedly illegally crossing the NT border.
A day earlier, officers found the man’s car abandoned in a culvert about two kilometres south of the Kulgera Border Control Point on the Stuart Highway.
Police say the man crossed the border into the NT on foot and then hitchhiked to Yulara, just outside Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
The man had approached the border crossing after driving from Sydney, which has been declared a virus hotspot by NT Health.
Officers told the man he’d have to quarantine for 14 days if he wanted to enter the Territory.
The man declined before driving back toward South Australia, police said.
He has since been placed in hotel isolation in Alice Springs where he tested negative for COVID-19.
The man will appear in Alice Springs Local Court on September 28.
All travellers to the NT from COVID-19 hotspots must undergo 14 days’ mandatory quarantine at their own expense.