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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-22 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:36): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about COVID-19 medi-hotels.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: My office has received information about the extent of damage caused by and fines issued to people undertaking the two weeks of isolation in Adelaide's medi-hotels. This includes holes being punched and kicked in hotel walls, windows and furniture being broken and/or damaged, and hotel room appliances and equipment being destroyed. My office has also been told of hotel guests being fined up to $1,000 for a range of offences committed, including merely stepping outside their rooms to collect their meals. The guests are then ordered to pay their fines and their quarantine bill before being discharged from quarantine.

My questions to the Minister for Health—and I expect that perhaps it would be more appropriate that they be taken on notice—are:

1. What is the total cost and extent of damages caused by guests being quarantined inside medi-hotels since they were established last year?

2. Are the offending occupiers billed for the damage, and what happens if they cannot pay?

3. What is the total dollar value of infringement notices and fines issued to guests being quarantined inside medi-hotels since they were established last year?

4. Can the minister also provide details, again on notice, since the start of the medi-hotels program until 30 May this year for the following:

all the costings for the provision of services at medi-hotels;

the cost for the provision of Tom's hotel as a medi-hotel;

details of additional work and infrastructure required for all medi-hotels to meet the required health standards that were paid for by the state government;

details of all damage caused by occupiers of rooms in medi-hotels, costs of repairs and/or replacement, and have they billed the offending occupiers;

how much money is still outstanding to the government from the occupiers of rooms at medi-hotels, and what methods are being used recover those funds, including prosecution;

has the state government received bills from other states for accommodating South Australian residents in their medi-hotels, what is the amount, and will those amounts be paid;

is the state government billing other states for their residents' accommodation in medi-hotels and, if so, what is the amount outstanding; and

what is the full cost to the state government for the provision of private security at medi-hotels?

The PRESIDENT: There are a multitude of questions there. I will call the minister.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: As I said, I'm happy for them to be taken on notice.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:40): Obviously, I am going to take them on notice. That information is not with me. But I do want to pick up on a couple of points the honourable member made. The reference to people being fined merely for stepping outside of their room: I would just remind honourable members that we are learning more and more about this pandemic, and one thing we are finding is that in hotels there is transmission through airborne means. Therefore, I do not think it is 'merely'. I think the public health team should be respected and supported in maintaining appropriate infection control measures within the medi-hotels.

In that regard, I am very respectful of the sterling effort made by not only the SA Health team but also SA Police and their partners in delivering medi-hotels. Just as the enforcement activities in the broader community have been balanced, I believe that has been the case within our medi-hotel process.

Above and beyond the questions the honourable member has given, I will certainly ask the medi-hotel team to include a reference to their general approach to fines. SA Health has been doggedly determined that these quarantine facilities will not be punitive. There is a wellness model maintained within the facilities. Of course, there are people within the facilities who find the quarantining process extremely challenging, and I think most of us would.

So there is, from time to time, behaviour which is not acceptable and leads to damage. But my understanding, from the feedback I have from both the medi-hotel teams and even guests who write letters of thanks, having returned home to their own jurisdictions, is that overwhelmingly the guests are appreciative of the care they receive and are not disruptive.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you, minister. I would point out to the Hon. Mr Pangallo that there were probably a number of those questions that you asked that could have been put on notice with the same effect—to get the minister's response in due course.

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