Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:08): My question is to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and quarantine organisation. The shocking failings of the hotel quarantine system were revealed again by recent infection control lapses and the latest statewide lockdown. The lockdown will not be the last unless we stop patching up a failed model, nor can we pull our weight in receiving returning Australians and farm workers. We need a long-term, high-capacity solution fit for purpose for the months international quarantine is likely to continue. Avalon Airport is a secure, segregated environment large enough to operate a safe and isolated quarantine facility. It could receive international arrivals, with guests walking to outside cabins on the site, which is 10 kilometres distance from the nearest housing but in easy reach of Melbourne and necessary medical facilities, and using fly-in fly-out staff on shift patterns that could prevent new community infection even where transmission occurs in the facility. So my question for the minister is: will you commit to investigating and implementing this serious quarantine solution immediately?