Today’s announcement to overhaul and relaunch hotel quarantine is yet another admission of failure by the Andrews Labor Government to run a safe and effective quarantine program.
The issues within hotel quarantine identified today by the Andrews Labor Government are not new problems, but old ones that were failed to be addressed during the first reset by Daniel Andrews, including;
- Victoria’s hotel quarantine program did not follow healthcare infection control standards;
- Detailed ventilation assessments were not completed prior to the relaunch of hotel quarantine following Victoria’s catastrophic second wave in December 2020;
- Facility breaches by members of the public including the delivery of a PlayStation to a hotel quarantine guest.
Rather than addressing these issues the first time around, Labor has yet again failed to deliver a safe and effective quarantine system and has relied on other states to bring stranded Victorians home.
Daniel Andrews can’t continue to point the finger at the same old problems and must guarantee there will be no further outbreaks from hotel quarantine.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Police and Crime Prevention, David Southwick:
“Victorians deserve a safe and effective hotel quarantine system, just like every other state has managed to deliver.
“After three failed quarantine programs resulting in two disastrous lockdowns, what confidence can Victorians have that Daniel Andrews will ever get hotel quarantine right?
“Yet again we hear the same old problems with hotel quarantine and for Labor to point the finger again at issues with ventilation, PPE and testing, it simply isn’t good enough.”