Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Keneally for the question. The national hotel quarantine system is operating based on the decision of national cabinet and the agreements of national cabinet to manage hotel quarantine for Australians returning to Australia.

I am as concerned as Senator Keneally and anyone else in this chamber that the driver was not vaccinated, but the responsibility for those frontline workers managing hotel quarantine are based with the states, based on the decisions of national cabinet. As we heard from the Chief Medical Officer, the recommendations of the Halton review have been implemented across the states. Ms Halton has made a number of recommendations and public comments, urging states to ensure that their hotel quarantine systems are complying with those processes.

As the CMO indicated to us at estimates, recently, the management of hotel quarantine and the national system for managing returning travellers is a standing agenda item at every AHPPC meeting, which is attended by the chief health officers of each state, to ensure that they continue to implement all of the learnings that have occurred even since the Halton review comments over the last 12 months, to ensure that the hotel quarantine system does perform in the best possible way, to ensure Australians remain safe from the virus.