CORONAVIRUS — PACIFIC ISLANDER SEASONAL WORKERS
3. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
I refer to the Premier's
quoted comments in relation to the state government's COVID quarantine
program in an ABC online article published on 20 April, 2021, which states —
Premier Mark McGowan said the
government would not be employing a two-tiered system for low and high-risk
arrivals as flagged by Ms MacTiernan.
(1) Does the
government classify Pacific Islander seasonal workers as falling within the
COVID quarantine program?
(2) If no to (1), why not?
(3) If yes to
(1), why is the government proposing to quarantine Pacific Islander seasonal
workers at either the Four Points by Sheridan Perth, Mercure Perth or Novatel
Perth Langley hotels, given that these hotels do not meet ventilation
standards?
(4) On what basis was this decision
made; and will the minister please table any advice?
(5) What options is the government investigating for
quarantining important Pacific Islander seasonal workers other than
inner-city hotels such as the Four Points, Mercure or Novatel Langley hotels?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question
and congratulate him on his appointment as the shadow Minister for Agriculture and
Food. I look forward to years of useful engagement with him in this place.
(1)–(5) I know the member strongly supports the work that
we have been doing to bring out Pacific Islander workers to help with workforce shortages in the
agricultural and horticultural sector. I am very pleased that 786 workers
have arrived in WA since December. That has been a massive boost, particularly
for horticulture.
Let
me make it clear that all international arrivals are managed by the Department
of Health through the quarantine process, but within that process there is an
assessment of different risk factors. There is no doubt that the risk
from people coming in from the South Pacific—from Tonga and Vanuatu,
where there is virtually zero community transmission of the virus—is
very different from those coming in from places like India, Germany and the
United States of America, where there is a very high degree of risk. Whilst all
of this is being managed by the Department of Health under a unified program,
there is always an assessment of risk differential, and when making a determination
that hotels may not be suitable for people coming in from very high-risk areas,
they nevertheless remain perfectly safe for people coming from virtually
zero-risk areas. To date, about 3 500 Pacific Islander workers have been
brought in under this scheme across Australia and not one of them has tested
positive in hotel quarantine.