Flood evacuees who have been housed in the Howard Springs quarantine centre for almost two months could face fines if they're found to have committed criminal damage to the facility, according to the Northern Territory government.
Around seven hundred people were taken to the facility, just south of Darwin, after they were forced to flee their homes in the remote communities of Kalkarindji, Daguragu and Pigeon Hole on March 1.
Work has been underway for weeks to return people home, with hundreds already being taken back to communities.
At a press conference on Monday morning, NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles confirmed the facility had been damaged by flood evacuees.
"Sadly, [there have been] some domestic violence incidents that has seen damage," she said.
"There's not millions of dollars' worth of damage, but absolutely, there has been some incidents where there has been more than wear and tear."
A statement from Secure NT from early this month said damage to infrastructure and facilities included "broken windows and chattels".
Deputy leader of the Country Liberal Party Gerard Maley said on Monday he had heard of significant damage to the centre, and said if the claims were true, people needed to be held to account.
"If there's been a criminal act and someone is criminally responsible, well then those people should be responsible," he said.
"It just depends who did the damage and what the damage is, which we don't know."
'The government is the victim of crime'
The chief minister said people could face fines over damage at the facility.
"Absolutely, if someone's done criminal damage, they will absolutely have to go through that process and the government is essentially the victim of crime there."
But she went on to acknowledge the facilities aren't completely fit for purpose.
"But I think part of the learnings from this is that those single quarters are perhaps not ideal when you've got lots of families trying to live together and it was a pretty extended period of time," Ms Fyles said.
"One incident was alcohol-related domestic violence, it's alleged. It's under investigation by police."
As of April 13, 299 of the evacuees had been repatriated or had otherwise left the facility of their own accord, according to Secure NT.
Ms Fyles said once everyone had left, a full assessment would be done of the facility.
