CORONAVIRUS —
QUARANTINE ARRANGEMENTS —AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE PERSONNEL
1249. Hon AARON STONEHOUSE to the minister representing the
Minister for Police:
I refer the minister to the cases of
those Australian Defence Force personnel deployed to locations in the eastern
states and then returning to their homes here in Western Australia.
(1) Are ADF
personnel returning to Western Australia from interstate or overseas required
to enter the same 14-day quarantine regime as their civilian counterparts?
(2) If yes to
(1), have any exceptions to this rule been made; and, if so, can the minister
provide details of such exceptions and the basis for them?
(3) If no to (1),
why not, and what alternative arrangements have been put in place in these
instances?
(4) Is it true
that at least some returning ADF personnel have been booked on domestic flights—for
example, from Perth to Karratha—to then quarantine at home; and, if so,
what medical advice was such a decision based upon?
(5) Has any
medical advice been received to date to suggest that COVID-19 can discriminate
between soldiers, sailors and civilians?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Police.
The Western Australia Police Force
advises the following.
(1) Yes. Australian Defence Force personnel have
embarked on 14-day quarantine measures, with the exception of
security-in-confidence matters, the same as civilian counterparts.
(2) There have
been limited exceptions, for strictly confidential operational reasons. These
matters relate to security-in-confidence
and the Western Australia Police Force cannot make comment on
security-in-confidence ADF matters.
(3) See the responses to (1) and
(2).
(4) This
information is not able to be obtained in the time available and would require
a significant diversion of police resources to obtain that information.
(5) No.