Hotel Quarantine Fees

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:09): My question is to the Premier. How many South Australians returning from overseas have sought and been approved for and subsequently received a waiver of hotel quarantine fees? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: Since July 2020, the government has required returning residents to bear the cost of hotel quarantine, some $3,000 per individual and an additional $1,000 per adult and $500 for each child. Returning South Australians, already under financial stress from enormous return airfare prices, are struggling to meet this additional cost and have applied for compassionate relief on hardship grounds. I understand a large number of these applications are yet to even be processed.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:10): I thank the member for Florey for her question. She's quite right: in the early days of the repatriation program Australians were not required to pay for the hotel quarantine. They were asked to pay for their own air flight back, but there was some assistance that was provided, not by state governments but by the federal government. A decision was made at national cabinet for the states to pass on, if you like, a uniform cost to bringing people back that would meet most of the cost, or certainly some of the cost, of the full repatriation cost borne by the individual states. We think that this was fair.

When we consider people coming back into South Australia, for example, probably 93 per cent of the people who come into our quarantine hotels are coming from another state, and so we think it's only fair that we should bill people coming from other states into South Australia. I'm sure other states feel the same way about having South Australians go into their jurisdiction. I'm not au fait with exactly how many people have applied for an exemption to this money.

I do know that there are some generous payment terms which have been offered. Some people want to pay that money up-front, or some people want to pay the money that is due when they leave the quarantine hotel, and some people go on to a payment plan, recognising that it is a significant expense. I am happy to get further details for the member and to come back to the house.