Confirmation that the opening of one of Victoria’s two “hot” quarantine hotels has been delayed again due to ongoing ventilation issues until at least after Christmas is the latest stuff-up by the Andrews Labor Government.
News of this additional delay follows the Minister responsible for hotel quarantine, Lisa Neville, admitting the Holiday Inn on Flinders would be offline for at least 10 days on 8 December.
As a consequence of the Holiday Inn remaining offline, positive COVID-19 cases are being housed in the same hotel as those presenting with COVID-19 symptoms and returned travellers with complex medical needs.
The ongoing closure of this hot hotel follows the Andrews Labor Government scrambling last-minute legislation to enable the charging of fees to returned travellers and a backflip on the role and number of ADF personnel to be used in the program.
With over 1,000 returned travellers now in hotel quarantine and five months to prepare, it beggars belief that the Andrews Labor Government still has not learnt its lessons for the third time and has yet again shown it is unprepared to manage Victoria’s hotel quarantine program.
The failures by the Andrews Labor Government’s first botched hotel quarantine program led to Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus with 801 deaths, more than 20,000 infections, hundreds of thousands of Victorians losing jobs and work, and millions of Victorians facing some of the harshest lockdowns in the world.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Police and Community Safety, David Southwick:
“With one of two “hot” hotels delayed yet again, serious questions remain as to why this troubled hotel was selected in the first place.
“With up to 160 returned travellers landing every day, Labor needs to get its act together and get this hotel online and operating properly as soon as possible.
“On the back of the worst public policy failure in our history, Victorians are rapidly losing confidence in Daniel Andrews’ hotel quarantine reset and it appears he has learnt nothing from his mistakes.”
