Overseas workers bound for WA to quarantine in the NT

Bladin Village, which now serves as workforce accommodation, is privately owned and able to accommodate up to 750 people, making it an ideal option to quarantine the about 1000 experienced workers that are needed to harvest WA's estimated 20 million tonne crop.

Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan first discussed the Bladin Village quarantine option with the NT Government about three weeks ago.

There were a number of issues that needed to be worked through, mainly around staffing the facility, before the proposal could move forward, however it is now hoped a decision will be reached by the end of last week.

Ms MacTiernan said the NT Government had been looking at the facility themselves, but were in a similar position to WA in the sense that they're very stressed in terms of personnel.

"We already have four quarantine hotels operating in WA which are very demanding and they have Howard Springs," Ms MacTiernan said.

"What we're doing now is trying to get quotes on how much it would cost to stand-up the facility as it's a very expensive and complex exercise - you need to have 24-hour security guards, medical staff on call, as well as catering, etc.

"The facility is quite close to Darwin so logistically it is quite simple, but we're putting together the cost and trying to find a private operator that could stand it up as we obviously won't be releasing doctors from our public health system."

The option of using Bladin Village as a quarantine facility for international workers was originally raised with the Federal government by the NT Farmers Association back in May, but according to chief executive officer Paul Burke, the response from the Commonwealth had always been that quarantine is a State-based responsibility.

"The NT Government has been really supportive of us getting workers in, however they have been clear they don't have the resources to run a second large-scale facility, which is fair as we are a small jurisdiction," Mr Burke said.

"Bladin Village is ready to go now and it's accredited so it could be used tomorrow - there is a medical centre within the facility and it's within a reasonable distance of better medical facilities, so it ticks all of the boxes.

"It makes logical sense, we just need political leadership to make it happen - at the end of the day, someone has to stand it up and that responsibility can't fall back to just the Territory, so what that model looks like will require a bit of give and take from everyone involved."

Under the proposal, experienced machinery operators from Northern Europe and the United Kingdom who are fully vaccinated would be flown to Australia via a charter flight.

There would be a cost to industry involved in that, but exactly what that cost would be and what the path forward could be is still being quantified by the State government.

WAFarmers grains section president Mic Fels said they have their fingers and toes crossed that an in-principle agreement will be signed by the end of this week.

"There's no denying that it is already too late for some, but when you see a glimmer of light on the horizon you cling to it, so I'm hopeful that if we can get an in-principle agreement in place by the end of the week, it will still be of benefit to some farmers," Mr Fels said.

"Farmers are reconciled with the idea of having to co-contribute to the cost of quarantine, so we now need the State government to cough up the funds to bring a contractor onboard to get this going.

"We're a rich State, there's a lot at stake, it's a known problem with a known solution, so let's just get on with it."

While the WA Government is looking into the cost of bringing in a contractor to man the facility, they have also asked Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to consider utilising defence personnel to staff Bladin Village.

"We have asked the Federal government to provide personnel as both the NT and ourselves and are very concerned particularly about being able to access medical staff," Ms MacTiernan said.

"We have flagged with minister Littleproud that we would like the Commonwealth to play a role using their defence force, which they have done before.

"It would only be for a period of about six weeks which we thought that would potentially be a contribution they could make."

However, Mr Littleproud's response to that has been that it's up to the WA Government to provide quarantine arrangements for agricultural workers.

"This is what they signed up to at National Cabinet in December," Mr Littleproud said.

"Despite this we have had to help them find a solution because they refuse to quarantine in WA so it's now up to them to finalise arrangements with the NT."

Mr Fels said that if the idea was going to happen, it needed to be resourced by a collective of the willing.

"There's been this whole tit for tat thing around whose idea it was and that really doesn't interest me," Mr Fels said.

"The blame game is a real distraction and we need to focus on getting on with the possible solutions."