CORONAVIRUS — HOTEL QUARANTINE
1. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
Madam Speaker, with your indulgence,
may I congratulate you on your elevation to the role of Speaker and thank you
for your earlier words regarding the importance and gravity of our roles in
this chamber. I note that you are the first woman to hold the title of Speaker
and that you bring 27 years of experience to the role. I am hoping there will
be some indulgence, at least in the first week, for the Leader of the
Opposition as she also steps into a new role. Thank you and congratulations.
I
refer to the shambolic press conference held last Thursday at which the Mercure
hotel was described as not one of the best, then, least best-fitted, and
finally, least good by the Premier, then his health minister, then the acting
Chief Health Officer.
(1) Can the Premier confirm that his state government
had known for weeks prior to the press conference that the Mercure hotel
was considered the highest risk of all hotels in use because of inadequate
ventilation?
(2) Can the
Premier confirm that he ignored recommendations in a report prepared by Laurie
Glossop for the health department and continued to use the Mercure hotel for
quarantine?
(3) Can the
Premier confirm that, because of this, his government is responsible for the
outbreak that put lives at risk and for the lockdown that cost businesses
millions of dollars?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
(1)–(3) Madam Speaker, can I once again congratulate you
on your ascension to the role of Speaker. I acknowledge and congratulate
the Leader of the Opposition on her ascension to the role of Leader of the
Opposition. I knew the member's
father and I am sure he would be very proud of her. I also acknowledge the
Deputy Leader of the Opposition and congratulate the member for Moore in
his role. I acknowledge the member for Cottesloe and congratulate him on
becoming the Leader of the Liberal Party after less than one term, I think, in
the house. He is just a spring chicken! I also acknowledge the member for Vasse
on becoming the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. I congratulate all the
ministers on becoming ministers in the government. It is a great honour and privilege.
I acknowledge all the members who were re-elected or elected for the first time
in particular at the state election in March. It is terrific to see new members
be elected. It is a very exciting experience and something to treasure as a great
privilege.
Now to the question, Mr Speaker —
The SPEAKER: Madam.
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN: Madam Speaker—you
might have to get used to that for a little while!
To the events of the last week, it
was obviously very regrettable. We have been through the experience of COVID
for 14 months or so now. We had a lockdown in the first half of last year, five
days of lockdown in January this year and the three-day lockdown over the
weekend. As we have always said over the course of the last year, hotel quarantine
is not a perfect solution. There is no perfect solution. The Prime Minister
said in recent days that hotel quarantine is
99.9 per cent effective and that is true; it is 99.9 per cent effective. The
problem is that if a 0.1 per cent problem arises, the consequences can
be quite severe, which is what we experienced. Other cities around Australia
have experienced exactly the same thing because hotel quarantine is not ideal.
As I recall, this has happened in Sydney on at least five occasions and in Melbourne
on many occasions, where some of the consequences have been far, far, far more
dire than those here. Brisbane and Adelaide have also had this experience.
The Mercure was adopted as a quarantine
hotel and it is an older hotel. It is one of the nine hotels that we are using
for this purpose. The ventilation system inside the rooms causes positive
pressure. That means the ventilation system pushes air, in effect, out of the
room into the corridor, or else there is no air in the corridor. Each room does
that. At the Mercure, a COVID-positive person was in one room and somehow
transmitted the air from that room through a door, across a corridor, through
another door and into a positive-pressure room. The report that was conducted
indicated that these issues could be mitigated and managed. Mitigations and
management were progressively put in place, because members have to understand
that the hotels are operational. As measures are put in place, it is while the
hotels are operational, so it is an ongoing process. We cannot clear everyone
out because we do not have anywhere to put them, so it is an ongoing process to
put in place those mitigations. A whole range of mitigations were put in place
and will continue to be put in place.
In light of what occurred, the
government has decided that three hotels will be retired—that is, the
Mercure, the Four Points by Sheraton Perth and the Novotel Perth Langley—from
hotel quarantine for returning Australians or people coming from higher risk
countries. They will be transferred to be used for what are called seasonal
workers. They are people from Tonga or Vanuatu who will come into Australia to
work in horticulture and agriculture in Western Australia. They are low risk
because they come from countries that have not had any infections. That is the
arrangement we have put in place. For 14 months, we have said it is an
imperfect solution. We have done our best in difficult circumstances.