Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed what the state's new-look hotel quarantine program will look like when international travellers begin arriving at Tullamarine airport next Monday.
Frontline staff will work in "bubbles" to ensure they only have contact with a limited number of other staff during their shift, allowing for the bubble to be "taken offline" with minimal impact if one staff member becomes unwell.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Joe Armao
A dedicated agency, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV), has been established to oversee the program – including the Frontline Worker Accommodation program (formerly known as Hotels for Heroes), mandatory quarantine for people entering Australia (including health hotels for positive and suspected cases or close contacts) and Emergency Accommodation for local residents who need a safe place to quarantine.
Significantly, Mr Andrews revealed there would be no private security used at all in the new scheme."There are no private security engaged, only Victoria Police performing those roles as well as ADF,” he said.
"No moonlighting, no second jobs, no subcontracting of a subcontract because there are no subcontracts, it is all direct and obvious and clear."
Police Minister Lisa Neville said the new-look program had improved security and infection control – with 300 police officers and 220 ADF personnel embedded in hotels per day – as well as better welfare standards for those undergoing quarantine.
"[Although] people will not be able to ... leave the room for exercise, we will be providing a range of entertainment throughout the day for children and for adults," she said.
"Also the food quality has been improved. Some of the issues that people raised during the board of inquiry and complaint during the first part of this program."
"In addition to that we will have infection prevention and control embedded into every aspect of the program, whether from training, the PP, training standards, spotters on-site, healthcare services on-site, it is a critical part of the program which was a recommendation of the Board of inquiry."
The revamped quarantine progam will be led by Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar, who has been appointed as interim Commissioner of CQV and will report directly to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services.
Ms Cassar explained the new rigorous infection screening protocols would begin at the airport with returned travellers.
"Those who are symptomatic or have temperatures will be taken directly to the health hotel," she said. "This is about protecting the rest of the travellers and our staff at the airport."
"Once they arrive at the hotels, we have completely reset all the cleaning and hotel functions. All the contracts have been reset and we have done that deliberately so we know and have set the standard for all requirements including cleaning, food, waste, linen and staffing arrangements.
"All staff are suitably screened into hotels, including temperature testing and the questionnaire about where they have been in the last 14 days. If they have come in contact with other high-risk industries. This will protect people from the outset."
International arrivals in Melbourne will initially be capped at 1120 people a week, lifting Australia's weekly cap to almost 8000 people.
On December 21, the chair of the hotel quarantine inquiry, Jennifer Coate, is set to hand down her final report into the failed first scheme that seeded Victoria's second wave of coronavirus.
The failure of Victoria's original hotel quarantine program to contain the coronavirus was responsible for the deaths of 768 people and the infection of 18,000 others, the inquiry heard.
The details of the new scheme come after the Victorian government began advertising roles paying up to $85,000 a year for people to work in its retooled hotel quarantine scheme.
Duties for the 12-month fixed-term roles would include escorting returned travellers to their hotels, conducting temperature screening and checking passenger identification, according to the position description posted by the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
Rachael Dexter is a breaking news reporter at The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvcHJlbWllci1yZXZlYWxzLXJldmFtcGVkLWhvdGVsLXF1YXJhbnRpbmUtMjAyMDExMzAtcDU2ajMyLmh0bWzSAWpodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ByZW1pZXItcmV2ZWFscy1yZXZhbXBlZC1ob3RlbC1xdWFyYW50aW5lLTIwMjAxMTMwLXA1NmozMi5odG1s?oc=5
2020-11-30 00:43:00Z
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