Busselton, Exmouth quarantine hubs ‘make sense’, says Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan believes fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities near “international capacity airports” in either Exmouth or Busselton would “obviously make some sense” – and has called on the Commonwealth Government to pay for them. The Premier’s comments came after it was yesterday reported that a returned traveller staying at the Pan Pacific Hotel caught COVID-19 from an infected man in the room next door. It is the second time since April that transmission of the disease has taken place within the Pan Pacific after a security guard caught the virus at work and passed it on to two of his Nollamara housemates. That same month, Perth and Peel were plunged into a three-day lockdown after several overseas travellers contracted COVID-19 while staying at the now Mercure Hotel, one of whom was inadvertently released while infectious. The WA Government has established a Quarantine Advisory Panel that is exploring options outside of CBD hotels but Mr McGowan said there were simple solutions without the Federal Government stepping in. “Unless the Commonwealth wants to go and build something in Exmouth or Busselton next to a major international airport, unless they want to open Christmas Island to international arrivals there's no easy alternatives. “There are airports there that have international capacity. “It would obviously make some sense to put a facility next to an international capacity airport. “We have one at Exmouth, we have one at Busselton. There is obviously Christmas Island, there is Pearce air base. “There's those sorts of places that are outside of the very heavily populated, inner city of Perth but the Commonwealth shows no appetite. “Obviously they don't want to do it because it's risk for them, and if they can palm it off to the States with what is a good solution (hotel quarantine), but an imperfect solution, that's what they'll do.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously argued a proposal from the Queensland Government to establish a quarantine hub near the regional town of Toowoomba was not viable because it was too far away from a major hospital. North West Central MP Vince Catania slammed the suggestion Exmouth was a viable location for a quarantine hub. “The Premier needs to stop playing politics as everyone knows that regional locations like Exmouth do not have the health facilities to cope with any COVID-19 patient,” he said. “A purpose built quarantine facility needs to be in the metropolitan area close to health services.” Mr McGowan said there was already a “big and new hospital” in Busselton that was relatively close to the city. “In Exmouth, well it's a couple hours flight from the city,” he said. “People all over regional WA fly to the city for health purposes all the time, the Royal Flying Doctor Service does that. So clearly if there was any health issues it can be resolved fairly quickly.” The Premier said approaching mining companies about utilising disused dongas to create quarantine villages presented a range of issues. “You also have to put in place all sorts of security and health measures around them,” he said. “You need to find a site and you also need to get the equipment in place (and) the mining industry is actually using them pretty heavily at the moment.” Occupational hygienist Julia Norris, chief executive of Mandurah-based Occuhealth, said the State Government should consider re-activating Rottnest as a quarantine facility. “I think maybe that's a temporary solution while another solution is sought if building a purpose built facility is going to take a lot of time,” she told ABC radio. “The beauty of Rottnest is that you don't have a lot of shared air-conditioning, you don't have a lot of shared ventilation, you can separate out families and you have a lot more access to fresh air and dilution in somewhere like Rottnest.” She said Rottnest was one of the few facilities in WA that was readily available, with detention centres already occupied an old Army barracks requiring refurbishment. “There's certainly options out there, but none of them will be ready probably as quickly as somewhere like Rottnest would be,” she said. “Rottnest has a lot of other uses and a lot of other purposes and I wouldn't like to see it become its long term use, but maybe it is an option. “It has its own issues in terms of getting people there, in terms of housing, the support staff required, access to medical care, those sorts of things. “So, there's a lot of things to consider, but you know we have to start considering and we have to start considering them as soon as possible.” Mr McGowan said Rottnest was being considered by the Quarantine Advisory Panel but was also impractical. The Premier said many of the villas were too close together and slept up to six people, which would be a waste of capacity of occupied by a single traveller or couple.