Darwin is turning into the Morrison governmentâs dumping ground Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss By Stephanie Dowrick Save Normal text size Advertisement It is increasingly obvious that hotels â built for tourists or temporary stays by non-infectious residents â are unsuitable and unsustainable as a quarantine solution. The answer now increasingly argued for is that of Howard Springs, near Darwin, in the Northern Territory. There is much to be said for that: overseas arrivals (detained for their and our safety) stay in huts where open air circulates in ways that are impossible in high rise buildings in densely populated cities. However, and isnât there always a âhoweverâ, little or no discussion seems to be taking place anywhere south of Darwin about how this âsolutionâ may be affecting residents of the smallest and most isolated capital city in the nation, those who already work to capacity at the single large hospital, and the 30 per cent of the 250,000 Northern Territory population who are Indigenous and particularly vulnerable.