Northern Territory MP and incumbent Member of Solomon Luke Gosling will be forced to take a week-long break from campaigning after testing positive for COVID-19.
Key points:
- Luke Gosling received a positive test result Tuesday afternoon
- He will have to isolate himself for a week as the federal election campaign enters its final weeks.
- Solomon is one of two Lower House seats in the Northern Territory and is narrowly held by Gosling.
Gosling announced the result in a post on his Facebook page tonight.
“I started feeling unwell on Sunday night and started isolating myself but got negative RATs then and Monday morning,” he wrote.
“Out of an abundance of caution, I decided to take an additional PCR test on Monday and received a positive result this afternoon.
“If you were in close contact on Friday and over the weekend, monitor for symptoms.
“I hope to recover quickly and come out of isolation early next week.”
Solomon is one of two Lower House seats in the NT, encompassing Darwin and part of Palmerston.
Gosling, a defense force veteran who was first elected in 2016, holds the seat by a narrow 3.1 percent margin.
His COVID-19 result means it is unclear what will happen to the Solomon candidates debate, which was expected to take place in Darwin on Thursday.
Mr. Gosling has been active on the campaign trail in Darwin and Palmerston over the last few weeks.
On Anzac Day, he spent much of the day visiting Deputy Leader of the Opposition Richard Marles, even playing games together in a packed Darwin Hotel. Marles tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.