Coronavirus NSW Ruby Princess: Union officials locked out of Port Kembla
After spending hours trying to get in contact with crew members on-board the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship, union officials have been turned away from the Port Kembla grain terminal.
Illawarra Star
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Union officials spent hours at locked gates outside Port Kembla’s grain terminal today, waiting for the chance to speak to crew members on the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship.
But after four hours, and constant negotiations with NSW Police and Carnival Cruises, delegates from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) were turned away, unable to speak with even one of the 1200 crew members stuck on-board the ship.
The cruiseliner pulled into Port Kembla early on Monday morning, with not even local MPs aware the ship, linked to 14 deaths and more than 600 cases across the country, was set to dock in the Illawarra.
NSW Police announced the ship would berth for 10 days, in order to restock fuel and supplies, and that no one would be allowed off the ship unless they were seriously ill. There are around 1200 crew members on board, 200 of which are showing symptoms of coronavirus.
After concerns were raised about whether hospitals in the Illawarra could accommodate sick patients taken off the ship, NSW Health confirmed anyone taken off the boat would be spread among hospitals in Sydney and the wider Illawarra.
“Should anyone on board require hospitalisation, they will be allocated to a hospital
primarily in the Sydney metropolitan area to minimise the impact on any one facility,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“There are currently no patients from the Ruby Princess within the Illawarra Shoalhaven
Local Health District hospital facilities.”
All crew members have been forced into self-isolation on the boat, in an effort to control any potential spread of the virus.
National co-ordinator for the ITWF Dean Summers was hoping to speak with a crew member via phone today to ensure they were getting adequate medical care on the boat, however was only able to speak to the company’s human resources team.
Mr Summers said the cruise line’s HR department informed him not everyone on the ship was being tested for COVID-19, and only contracted cruise doctors and nurses were currently caring for all 200 ill crew members.
“(I was told) there is a medical team of five, they are on the ship all the time to look after people’s medication,” he said.
“ … It seems the job is a lot bigger than that.”
He also questioned why the ship would be docked in a regional area like Port Kembla, away from larger hospitals.
“Our call to the state government is take this ship back to the best possible terminal in the country, and that’s the overseas shipping terminal in Sydney Harbour,” he said.
“Take everybody off this ship, triage them, look after them and identify how many people have this … lets get exact numbers and see how big this problem is.”