All borders to reopen.
I feel the same - in practice that you should be able to go, but you join last place on the list.
My gut feeling, however, is that - especially as AU is such a multi cultural nation - there would be an exodus. Then once awaythere is no way of pushing them to the back of the queue. It would be the subject of legal challenges. The current inbound caps driven by quarantine are probably legal - although no-one has challenged it yet. The maintaining of the queue is broadly (and conveniently for the Govt) done through the airlines (and we hear about that repeatedly) with the odd QF repat charter thrown in.
As such, it's easier to keep the gates generally shut going outbound except for compassionate reasons and specific other reasons. And in my experience they do check.
I'd be interested to know what the person travelling to India told ABF as the reasons for travel.....I'd be surprised if permission was granted to attend a wedding.
My gut feeling, however, is that - especially as AU is such a multi cultural nation - there would be an exodus. Then once awaythere is no way of pushing them to the back of the queue. It would be the subject of legal challenges. The current inbound caps driven by quarantine are probably legal - although no-one has challenged it yet. The maintaining of the queue is broadly (and conveniently for the Govt) done through the airlines (and we hear about that repeatedly) with the odd QF repat charter thrown in.
As such, it's easier to keep the gates generally shut going outbound except for compassionate reasons and specific other reasons. And in my experience they do check.
I'd be interested to know what the person travelling to India told ABF as the reasons for travel.....I'd be surprised if permission was granted to attend a wedding.
short flights long nights
The Premier said that his information was they went for a wedding. Arrival cap into WA just been cut in half, and won’t be going back oto any higher until the Feds help with HQ.
And wow!! Is he cross about people leaving and then wanting to come back. He just said.. IT MUST STOP!!
And wow!! Is he cross about people leaving and then wanting to come back. He just said.. IT MUST STOP!!
Last edited by SOPS; 25th Apr 2021 at 05:54.
It’s extremely lame of the Labor premiers to try to blame the Feds whenever HQ goes pear-shaped. Pure politics. Nothing else.
Whether you think the Feds should be controlling this or not, it was the state premiers who insisted that they wanted to run the show in their own states.
You reap what you sow.
Whether you think the Feds should be controlling this or not, it was the state premiers who insisted that they wanted to run the show in their own states.
You reap what you sow.
short flights long nights
Explain this to me. In Jan 2021 it was reported there were about 35000 Australians overseas wanting to come home. Mark McGowan said today that WA alone had processed 45000 people through HQ. Where do all these people keep coming from? Surely we must have almost cleared the backlog by now? Or are they coming and going at will?
Explain this to me. In Jan 2021 it was reported there were about 35000 Australians overseas wanting to come home. Mark McGowan said today that WA alone had processed 45000 people through HQ. Where do all these people keep coming from? Surely we must have almost cleared the backlog by now? Or are they coming and going at will?
You don’t have to be registered to return to Australia, just complete a declaration 72 hours before you get on a plane.
https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/a...el-declaration
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I can tell you it's extremely easy to get an exemption to go overseas provided its for family reasons. And I can tell you it's extremely easy for foreigners to come to Australia provided there's a valid reason. I just met 12 university baseball players visiting a university in Australia from the US. They had been in Australia 8 weeks they said. That's 12 less seats for Australians.
most people coming into Australia are not even Australian or residents.
most people coming into Australia are not even Australian or residents.
Look how easily politicians distract you. Who cares where he was and where he went. The failing was the HQ system and not accepting the recommendations around it. This time it was a wedding, next time it might be a funeral. Same outcry? Mark has pulled the old “look over there” and run away while you all fall for it.
Look how easily politicians distract you. Who cares where he was and where he went. The failing was the HQ system and not accepting the recommendations around it. This time it was a wedding, next time it might be a funeral. Same outcry? Mark has pulled the old “look over there” and run away while you all fall for it.
I dont think for 1 moment though that the feds are innocent in the decision making,they like to sit back & watch & when something goes wrong try & come up with an excuse.
Obviously India is a huge problem right now but what decisive steps have they made to protect us?
Something Packer-esque would suffice.
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Repatriate Australians from Covid19 hotspots around the world including Third world countries with no possibility of pre departure quarantine and/or dodgy screening or testing. A non - zero percentage will be infected.
Use airliners for repatriation. Cram infected and non infected people and crews in an aluminium tube for 20+ hours.
On arrival, assume none of the crews and passengers are infected with Covid19.
Transport passengers, assumed to be uninfected mind you, to central city hotels that are not purpose built quarantine facilities and inform them they must stay there for 14 days.
Tend to the passengers needs - food, cleaning, laundry, etc. in the hotels using normal hotel staff and procedures - the staff go home to their families every night.
What could possibly go wrong?
Use airliners for repatriation. Cram infected and non infected people and crews in an aluminium tube for 20+ hours.
On arrival, assume none of the crews and passengers are infected with Covid19.
Transport passengers, assumed to be uninfected mind you, to central city hotels that are not purpose built quarantine facilities and inform them they must stay there for 14 days.
Tend to the passengers needs - food, cleaning, laundry, etc. in the hotels using normal hotel staff and procedures - the staff go home to their families every night.
What could possibly go wrong?
Repatriate Australians from Covid19 hotspots around the world including Third world countries with no possibility of pre departure quarantine and/or dodgy screening or testing. A non - zero percentage will be infected.
Use airliners for repatriation. Cram infected and non infected people and crews in an aluminium tube for 20+ hours.
On arrival, assume none of the crews and passengers are infected with Covid19.
Transport passengers, assumed to be uninfected mind you, to central city hotels that are not purpose built quarantine facilities and inform them they must stay there for 14 days.
Tend to the passengers needs - food, cleaning, laundry, etc. in the hotels using normal hotel staff and procedures - the staff go home to their families every night.
What could possibly go wrong?
Use airliners for repatriation. Cram infected and non infected people and crews in an aluminium tube for 20+ hours.
On arrival, assume none of the crews and passengers are infected with Covid19.
Transport passengers, assumed to be uninfected mind you, to central city hotels that are not purpose built quarantine facilities and inform them they must stay there for 14 days.
Tend to the passengers needs - food, cleaning, laundry, etc. in the hotels using normal hotel staff and procedures - the staff go home to their families every night.
What could possibly go wrong?
Meanwhile all the politicians, their staff and hundreds of departments have their lives go on, no loss of jobs, no loss of income or houses. They simply do not care as it doesnt affect them directly.
On arrival, assume none of the crews and passengers are infected with Covid19.
All arrivals are treated as infected. Why else do you think they are put in quarantine?
All staff wear PPE including face masks and gowns, even cabin crew.
Apparently the guy went to India to get married in January. People are allowed to leave provided they have a "compelling reason" and will be gone for three months or more so he hasn't done anything "wrong". The problem is this three month loophole. I believe this is why the number of Australians wanting to return has stayed pretty static..
I've said all along that putting infected people in the middle of a city in hotels is complete madness, as well as leaving people there when they test positive instead of putting them in a negative pressure room.
Time McGowan realises the feds aren't going to step up and uses the budget surplus to refurbish some abandoned mining camps with nice big sealed runways. The hundreds of millions of dollars lost by businesses here, including mine, would have paid for it and the FIFO wages many many times over. The excuse about being away from medical facilities doesn't make sense when there are two PC24s parked outside RFDS.
I've said all along that putting infected people in the middle of a city in hotels is complete madness, as well as leaving people there when they test positive instead of putting them in a negative pressure room.
Time McGowan realises the feds aren't going to step up and uses the budget surplus to refurbish some abandoned mining camps with nice big sealed runways. The hundreds of millions of dollars lost by businesses here, including mine, would have paid for it and the FIFO wages many many times over. The excuse about being away from medical facilities doesn't make sense when there are two PC24s parked outside RFDS.
Apparently the guy went to India to get married in January. People are allowed to leave provided they have a "compelling reason" and will be gone for three months or more so he hasn't done anything "wrong". The problem is this three month loophole. I believe this is why the number of Australians wanting to return has stayed pretty static..
I've said all along that putting infected people in the middle of a city in hotels is complete madness, as well as leaving people there when they test positive instead of putting them in a negative pressure room.
Time McGowan realises the feds aren't going to step up and uses the budget surplus to refurbish some abandoned mining camps with nice big sealed runways. The hundreds of millions of dollars lost by businesses here, including mine, would have paid for it and the FIFO wages many many times over. The excuse about being away from medical facilities doesn't make sense when there are two PC24s parked outside RFDS.
I've said all along that putting infected people in the middle of a city in hotels is complete madness, as well as leaving people there when they test positive instead of putting them in a negative pressure room.
Time McGowan realises the feds aren't going to step up and uses the budget surplus to refurbish some abandoned mining camps with nice big sealed runways. The hundreds of millions of dollars lost by businesses here, including mine, would have paid for it and the FIFO wages many many times over. The excuse about being away from medical facilities doesn't make sense when there are two PC24s parked outside RFDS.
Dutton says "Curtin & Xmas Island are not fit for purpose". In what way are they not fit for purpose?
I suspect that the problem would just be the need to spend money.
Xmas Island was going to need $400 million spent on it which made it "totally unsuitable for immigration purposes" .... until they needed it as a staging post for deporting bikie boofheads.
And suddenly it was quite acceptable.
But which "dis-used W.A. mining camp" did you have in mind? I can't think of any, off hand.
We don’t need to use abandoned mining camps. Also, Military facilities are deemed unsuitable due to their dormitory style accommodation... shared bathrooms, mess facilities, plus, 14 days confined to something smaller than a modern jail cell wouldn’t last long before people had human rights lawyers up the wazoo... (asylum seekers can wander around facilities fairly freely, so it’s not the same- and no I don’t think 14 days confined to a standard hotel room is much better).
It would have to be $50-100 million for a brand new Howard Springs style facility within 100km of each capital city (or toowoomba or Avalon as previously proposed). 1 bedroom with en-suite and kitchen granny flat demountables... Space for an aeromed chopper to land on site will have people at capital city hospitals in short time. Could be completed in 3-4 months if we’re truly on a ‘war footing’.
There’s still a bus trip between the airport and hotel... just same bus a little further in this case.
Far less expensive than rolling lockdowns and the losses to businesses and individuals and the resulting loss to the overall potential of the economy, and a fraction of the cost of the kind of bonus payments thrown at pensioners and dole recipients over the last 12 months.
Some of These facilities could be mothballed relatively inexpensively after COVID Incase of another event in the future, the rest perhaps sold off if transportable demountables are used.
It should have been commenced 9-12 months ago. IMO, it Now it appears the feds are trying to ‘make do’ with what was originally a ‘temporary measure’ of hotel quarantine because they seem to think this will be over by the time any kind of above mentioned type facility is finished.
... oh and I in no way think McGowan and his pack of professional stuff ups are in any way absolved from using a hotel that was deemed not fit for purpose!
It would have to be $50-100 million for a brand new Howard Springs style facility within 100km of each capital city (or toowoomba or Avalon as previously proposed). 1 bedroom with en-suite and kitchen granny flat demountables... Space for an aeromed chopper to land on site will have people at capital city hospitals in short time. Could be completed in 3-4 months if we’re truly on a ‘war footing’.
There’s still a bus trip between the airport and hotel... just same bus a little further in this case.
Far less expensive than rolling lockdowns and the losses to businesses and individuals and the resulting loss to the overall potential of the economy, and a fraction of the cost of the kind of bonus payments thrown at pensioners and dole recipients over the last 12 months.
Some of These facilities could be mothballed relatively inexpensively after COVID Incase of another event in the future, the rest perhaps sold off if transportable demountables are used.
It should have been commenced 9-12 months ago. IMO, it Now it appears the feds are trying to ‘make do’ with what was originally a ‘temporary measure’ of hotel quarantine because they seem to think this will be over by the time any kind of above mentioned type facility is finished.
... oh and I in no way think McGowan and his pack of professional stuff ups are in any way absolved from using a hotel that was deemed not fit for purpose!
Or maybe it’s time to say that “**** happens” occasionally. This was a freak event and a measured response is required. Instead Australia (or WA) wants to clearly become a hermit nation.
Was it a freak event? How many other travellers became unknowingly infected whilst in mandated hotel quarantine? The lockdown wouldn’t be needed if hotel quarantine was better - the AMA have been beating that drum for 12 months now - do the politicians listen?
Again....when did we decide that complete eradication was the plan? A few cases here and there for a corona virus with a 98% survival rate.
What happened to flatten the curve?
What happened to flatten the curve?
short flights long nights
I think when the politicians saw what happened OS. The ‘ curve getting flat’ was still killing a lot of people. Now, for Australia, its eradication at all costs.
Mercure cluster timeline
- January 31 – Perth goes into a five-day lockdown because of case 903 where a security guard at the Four Points Sheraton tests positive to COVID-19.
- February 4 – Professor Tarun Weeramanthri provides initial advice and calls for an immediate independent expert review of airflow and ventilation in all WA quarantine hotels.
- February 24 – Independent reviewers, Glossop Consultancy, recommend to the government that the Four Points be retained until it could be replaced by the Adnate Hotel in the quarantine system.
- March 10 – Initial ventilation review completed.
- March 31 – Final ventilation report provided to WA Health.
- April 3 – A 54-year-old Victorian man arrives in Perth from China and starts hotel quarantine at the Mecure Hotel.
- April 8 – Summary reports on hotel ventilation provided to Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson which states the Mercure is the most at-risk hotel and the Four Points and Novotel Langley are also high risk.
- April 10 – an Australian man returns from India and starts quarantining at the Mercure with his new wife after going overseas for his own wedding.
- April 13 – The man who came back from India tests positive to the virus.
- April 15 – The wife of the man who came back from India tests positive.
- April 16 – Premier Mark McGowan and Health Minister Roger Cook receive advice from the CHO on ventilation saying risks at the three high-risk hotels could be mitigated by closing them or bringing in other measures. Dr Robertson suggests transitioning the Mercure to taking low-risk international arrivals such as seasonal workers from countries with no COVID-19. A nurse and her daughter, staying at the Mercure since April 3 after returning from the United Kingdom, in quarantine in a room across from the couple who came back from India test positive to the virus.
- April 17 – The Victorian man, who was in an immediate adjacent room to the positive cases, is let out of quarantine after testing negative for the virus and not showing any symptoms. He is a tourist in Perth and visits several cafes, restaurants and sightseeing locations, while staying at St Catherine’s on Park in Crawley.
- April 21 – Genomic sequencing reveals the UK family cases are linked to the returned couple from India who are in a neighbouring room and tested positive for the virus a few days after going into quarantine on April 10. The government tells 16 other people who were staying on the same floor to self-isolate until they return a negative test. Two other people who were guests in adjacent rooms to the positive cases told to isolate for two weeks. Victorian man flies home to Melbourne on QF-778 but is immediately told to go into isolation by health authorities.
- April 23 – The Victorian man returns a positive test for COVID-19 as does a woman from Kardinya he stayed with on April 17. Mr McGowan announces a three-day lockdown from midnight.
- April 24 – A West Australian man in his 40s becomes the second community case in connection to the Victorian man after dining at the same restaurant on April 18.
- April 25 – No new cases of COVID-19 are recorded in WA in the community.
- April 26 – Mr McGowan announces Perth will come out of lockdown at 12.01am on Tuesday but there will be four days of interim restrictions before the government reassesses the situation.
Last edited by Chronic Snoozer; 26th Apr 2021 at 11:15.