Quarantine in Australia

Prior to the creation of Federation individual Australian States and territories were responsible for quarantine.  Upon Federation the States recognised the need for an unambiguous need for disease management based in a singular authority.  The States therefore transferred responsibility for their quarantine stations to the Federal government under the 1908 Quarantine Act.

This changed in the 1990’s when the federal government was seeking to reduce costs and develop a “shared arrangement” with the States.  The States were also keen to assume responsibility for quarantine in an effort to “claw back” some of their powers which had been seceded to the Federal Government.  The current situation is the Federal government is responsible for managing Australia’s international borders whilst the States are responsible for human quarantine.

The problems with a state based quarantine systems is they are financially inefficient with significant amount of duplication.  Moreover the last permanent and operational quarantine station closed in 1984.

Some of the more COVID affected States would now like the Federal government to be responsible for human quarantine whilst the Federal government is resisting.  One assume this is because it carries huge political risk and the funding was transferred back to the States in 1984.  Moreover the Federal government has decline all requests from the States to use Federal facilities as temporary quarantine stations.

If one looks at the history of quarantine stations you quickly realise they were; for obvious reasons; established in isolated locations (eg, Soames Island, NZ and Point Nepean, Melbourne).  Today’s COVID temporary quarantine facilities are located in the centre of major cities (ie, hotels); precisely where you DON’T want them.  Moreover some hotels have a mixture of people in quarantine and normal patrons separated by floors.  It’s hardly surprising that COVID is leaking into the general community.

The obvious solution is for the Federal government to accept responsibility for human quarantine and proportionally cut the fund to the States to fund it.  Then use some of the existing remote defence facilities to accommodate returnees.   locations that immediately spring to mind are:

• RAAF Base Scherger near Weipa, Queensland.
• RAAF Base Curtin near Derby, Western Australia.
• RAAF Base Learmonth near Exmouth, Western Australia

All these bases have runways capable of accepting large wide-body aircraft.

To this list could be added the defence facility at Woomera previously used to temporarily accommodate detained illegal arrivals and the former Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre located near Port Augusta in South Australia.

In summary;  many western governments have long discarded their human quarantine capability and COVID-19 has been a wake-up call.  No doubt the old cliché “Lessons have been learned” will be heard as the dust starts to settle.  Hotel quarantine may have been a quick and available solution, however as the virus mutates and becomes more virulent hotel quarantine located in major population centres isn’t the solution.

I note with interest that as I have been writing this the Victorian State Premier has announced he is looking at establishing a dedicated “cabin style” quarantine facility adjacent to a major airport.  It’s only taken a year!!!!