Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Those border closures have served Australia well. The quarantine arrangements that have been associated with those border closures have, overwhelmingly, also worked effectively and served Australians well. In the vast majority of cases, hundreds of thousands of Australians have been able to move back into our country safely and securely. Part of that has been the crucial role that the Howard Springs facility has played in the Northern Territory; it received a significant expansion to a capacity of 2,000 during this time frame.

In addition to the work at the Howard Springs facility, work is underway on additional quarantine facilities in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth following the encouragement and partnership agreements struck by state governments in each of those jurisdictions. The first of those is scheduled to see beds handed over to the Victorian government by the end of this year. That remains on track and remains the case to provide longer term capabilities to respond to COVID or other emergencies into the future.