Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The government is supporting the setting up of private luxury resort-style quarantine but has failed to establish a single purpose-built quarantine facility almost two years into the pandemic. Why?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to directly address—

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister for health will wait one moment. The member for Wills is warned. The minister for health is entitled to give his response. Members might want to check standing order 65(b).

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to directly address the question in relation to quarantine facilities. Firstly, 471,000 Australians have come back on red-zone flights. That 471,000 puts into perspective the task the nation has had in order to keep people safe. In so doing, a series of elements were set up. Firstly, hotel quarantine was established, and that has led to one of the four rings of containment to protect Australia, in terms of borders, testing, tracing and distancing. That in turn has led to one of the lowest rates of COVID and one of the lowest rates of loss of life in the world. That is the first line of protection.

The second thing is that we set up a national resilience centre, specifically focused and run by the Commonwealth, at Howard Springs. I will read the advice I've received, which reflects that which has been put forward, as I understand it, through Jane Halton, the former secretary of Finance and of Health: 'Howard Springs maintains the highest standards of infection prevention control practices, and to date there have been no reported instances of transmission between cohorts of international arrivals in quarantine at the centre and no instances of transmission into the Australian community.'

The third element that has been set up is the establishment of purpose-built facilities—as opposed to Howard Springs, which already existed and which was adapted and used in a way which has not seen a single case transmitted between cohorts or a single case escape. It is a functioning, highly effective system which has now been taken over by the Northern Territory at their request, as they saw it as their responsibility. In addition to that, there is now the facility being developed in Melbourne as well as facilities in Brisbane and Perth which are at different stages of advancement.

Those three layers have been established, and that is why, perhaps above all the other elements we have taken amongst those rings of containment, we have had one of the lowest rates of loss of life in the world. We have had one of the three lowest rates amongst the 38 OECD countries. That means that we have saved over 30,000 lives by comparison with the OECD average. We have saved over 45,000 lives by comparison with the rates in the United Kingdom and the United States. These three steps—quarantine within hotels, the dedicated Howard Springs national resilience facility and the establishment of new dedicated facilities—are the things which have helped keep Australians safe and will keep us safe, going forward.