While about 39,000 Australians wait to return from overseas,Mr Andrews has indefinitely blocked international arrivals in Melbourne to reduce stress on ahotel quarantine system that was reset in December but has allowed workers to become infected in three separate outbreaks over the past month.
Avalon Airport in particular has spruiked its suitability for a permanent facility on its more than 1000 hectares of free land. Airport chief executive Justin Giddings said that after the pandemic the hub could be used toquarantine international students and seasonal workers,as well as emergency accommodation during bushfires or other health crises.
Jack Kerlin,AECOM’s health sector leader,said while a link to a local health service for serious coronavirus cases would be crucial,his company could renovate demountables to act as on-site medical facilities.
Mr Kerlin said the quarantine facility could be built in four to six months if the government,contractors and builders worked together,as happened early last year during the conversion of the old Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in East Melbourne into a coronavirus-specific hospital,which AECOM worked on.
“That would have taken nine months normally. We had it up and going in 12 weeks,” Mr Kerlin said. “People were working 24/7 – the trades were doing two shifts,night and day,and my people were working to send out documents at 2am. The urgency of the situation pushed us along.”
Mr Andrews said on Wednesday the funding model for Victoria’s new quarantine site was still to be decided and could involve taxpayer money,the private sector,and payments by returning Australians.
“The mix has not been settled,” Mr Andrews said.
“There are a lot of different options. There might even be a contribution from the Commonwealth government who have responsibility for these matters after all,” he said in an apparent jab at Prime Minister Scott Morrison,who has said the federal government will not take control of international quarantine.
Mr Andrews’ push for alternative forms of quarantine accommodation comes after an outbreak in the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport leaked into the community and resulted in Melbourne being locked down for five days to stem the spread.
Loading
It also follows the suspension of hotel quarantine in Victoria for several months last year after the second wave of COVID-19 infections,sparked by hotel leaks,left Melbourne locked down for months and resulted in 768 deaths.
Hotel quarantine resumed after a board of inquiry,commissioned by Mr Andrews,in December made a series of findings regarding the system’s failure,and recommendations to improvethe scheme.
Mr Clark said any timelines and costs depended on variables including infrastructure such as water and electricity plus the availability of local building materials.
Victoria could benefit from a drastic drop in demand for mining camp accommodation that has lowered the price of demountable units,he said.
“There’s an opportunity to standardise the international quarantine facilities across every state,” he said. “We never considered we would need a COVID facility in 2019. There will be a market for these types of accommodation into the future.”
Get our Coronavirus Update newsletter
Stay across the news you need to know related to the pandemic. Sent Monday and Thursday.Sign up here.