The idea of setting up remote quarantine facilities, whilst great in theory, I imagine would be impossible in practice. At the current cap (6000), they would need to accommodate 12 000 people (2 weeks) + maybe hundreds of staff. Even if you split this over many facilities, the logistics would be a nightmare. Many regional towns struggle to attract Doctors during normal times, the ability to find medical and other specialist staff to run these camps would be a challenge. Imagine the NIMBY brigade wherever it would be located. Foreign airlines are unlikely to be prepared to detour to places like ASP (cargo not going there).
The government could charter flights from the capitals to take the great unwashed to these regional places.. but then they would have to get them back again. The cost would be enormous. I think for now the focus should be on closing loopholes and throwing everything at the rapid emergency response. Immediate SMS to everyone in a region where an outbreak has occurred. Ringfencing of outbreak areas (like the northern beaches). No country has successfully 'eliminated' the virus, the vaccine is unlikely to be a smoking gun and we need to learn to adapt to this for at least the next 12 months.

I have seen AFP, NSW state police, army reservists assisting quarantine passengers onto buses with no mask or gloves. And we think the virus is coming from quarantine hotels....or flight crew.....really? There are so many ways this virus can get out.

30 new cases today.

Partial city lockdown, cases still going up- many similarities with the Melbourne outbreak.

I seriously hope it doesn’t continue to mirror it for the whole country’s sake.

Not even close to ML, of those 30 28 are already linked and contained two under investigation. Victoria didn’t have a clue form day dot what or where was occurring.

Shutting down just the Northern Beaches was a joke.

What is that a max of around 40km - any cluster needs an immediate decent shut down 200km radius for 3 or 4 days. We know one of the new cluster got to the Gold Coast and back.

So, if they arrived in-country on December 01, how is it they were not in the 2 weeks mandatory detention given it was detected on what, December 11? Yet another case of money talk$ and bull$hit walk$? "We'll quarantine at our multi-million dollar property at Palm Beach...We promise! :hmm:"

You lot surprise me, outraged that wealthy have a different set of rules. c'mon, get a grip. Outraged a boomer didn't isolate while waiting for a test result, outrage, outrage, outrage. You live in a western democracy with freedom of movement, usually, now you're expecting people to 'do the right thing.' Short of declaring marshal law nothing will change and this **** will go on for years. Your outrage is worthless.

Victoria closing to Sydney and central coast pax from tonight.

Same as SA. Open close open close the standard has been set. Appears no one is prepared to live with it. This is how life will be for the next few yrs get used to it.

Bodie: How about a mandatory year in the slammer for a first offence. Think that might provide some attitude adjustment?

How is a public health order can be breached and no penalty! What’s the point as these two elderly demonstrated.

And get used to being stood up, stood down, stood up, stood down. I feel a great deal of empathy for anybody employed in the airline, hospitality industries etc. Thank christ 'We're all in this together'

Good Idea Sunny, but some guy with a wig will fall for the bleeding heart story that the (insert bull**** sob story here) and wholly suspend the sentence and not record a conviction.

And what chance of getting it through parliament when Minister breaches earlier quarantine and the Premier continued business as usual while waiting for test results.

At no stage do I advocate or brush off the breaching of isolation orders, I've done two of them myself. I merely point out that human behaviour, especially in our type of democracy will always favour self interest. Always. And sometimes that self interest is necessary for survival, like putting food on the table or paying the rent.

Your friend Daniel Andrews has set the precedent when it comes to not charging people for intentional breaches, something about wanting them to be honest about contact they've had with others.

7.30 understands the 13 airline crew fined landed in Sydney on a flight repatriating Australians from South America on Saturday, December 5.

A source told 7.30 that a group of airline staff were caught out and about at a variety of different venues in Mascot when they should have been self-isolating in their hotel rooms.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-...ation/12997524

Totally understand this point however, if there was a serious & definitive consequence for the breach then perhaps the breach wouldn't happen at all.

Maybe the Govt. can say they won't fine people, but they'll make all the necessary information available to anyone who wants to start a civil action for damages. I can think of a Truck Driver & the cafe's in Regional Victoria he affected. The Cafe's could do with some financial compensation.

A good example of why pilots aren't public health experts and public health experts shouldn't fly planes.

You have a society with no known recent community transmission. You have a choice.

1. Let anybody and everybody freely get tested if asymptomatic or for the most minor nasal tickle or hay fever or other symptoms and allow them to continue on with their lives uninterrupted until their results come back. This way you have a greater chance of picking up something that is unknown circulating, OR
2. Enforce / mandate people to self isolate after every test. The natural consequence of this is that fewer people will submit themselves to testing as it will come at a financial cost (missed work shifts) or inconvenience for up to 36 hours. This allows the virus gets deeper into the community before it is eventually detected.

Which way do you go?

[Note truck drivers intentionally breaking their directions not to enter public places is a different story].

Sorry Compressor Stall, that is a false dichotomy. The first scenario is only true if there is no vector into the community, which isn’t true given the token restrictions on crews and, apparently, wealthy luminaries. The cost to the country far far outweighs the needs of individuals, and there should be proportional (draconian) penalties for non-compliance.

It is absolutely ludicrous to think that you can control human behaviours in a western democracy. Especially when certain groups are disadvantaged more than others. A financial services worker, working from home with no loss of income over the last year as opposed to a casualised security worker relying on every single shift for survival. Then you have the social justice warriors harrassing anyone they feel has ruined their christmas because they were 'reckless' enough to unknowingly catch a virus from another.

Pathetic political responses. Any inbreed can close state borders when a few people catch a virus. These state leaders are lauded by their citizens for 'keeping us safe.' I would have thought that if citizens are given the right tools that they could 'keep themselves safe' but apparently personal responsibility doesn't exist as a concept anymore.

You can apologise all you like but even if there are vectors into the community every couple of months it is a given that people who will suffer financial hardship or inconvenience during the wait for a test result will not as willingly subject themselves to a test. We all know how this virus can present anywhere on the spectrum from nothing to hacking coughs and worse. Those who are asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic are the most dangerous and should have no disincentive to test.