Victoria will build new cabin-style quarantine facility, Premier Daniel Andrews says

Victoria wants to urgently build a quarantine camp outside Melbourne CBD to house returned travellers, abandoning the city hotel model.

Premier Daniel Andrews says Victoria is “actively pursuing” the construction of a purpose-built quarantine centre, potentially near Avalon or Melbourne airports.

The facility will be a cabin-style, village-style environment, based on the Howard Springs model in the Northern Territory.

Mr Andrews told reporters on Tuesday that a delegation will be sent to Howard Springs to see how the facility is set-up.

“We are going to get on and build a facility,” he said.

“It’s just a matter of how big it is and the more precise details of where, but Avalon and Melbourne Airports are stand-out candidates and I’m very grateful to them for the partnership and work they’ve already done with us.”

He said the new purpose-built facility would serve to replace, although maybe not entirely, the work of inner city hotels.

“I think there is a compelling argument for this, not just in Melbourne, not just in the Northern Territory,” he said.

“I know the Queensland Government are working in partnership with the around a facility of similar structure.”

It comes after experts called for Australia’s hotel quarantine program to be reformed after coronavirus leaks from facilities in several states, and ahead of the country’s vaccine roll-out.

RELATED: Victoria records two new cases linked to Holiday Inn cluster

Victoria will base its new centre on the Howard Springs quarantine facility on the outskirts of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Picture: Glenn Campbell

University of New South Wales Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, who is a member of a World Health Organisation advisory panel on COVID-19, told news.com.au that if the coronavirus was circulating while vaccines were being rolled out in Australia, it could lead to “escape mutation”.

Prof McLaws said because it took a while for first dose of the vaccine to work, it was possible someone could be infected by the virus before their second dose, and this could see the virus mutate to get around the vaccine’s antibody response.

“If you have somebody who hasn’t developed a really good immune response to their first dose of the vaccine, the virus will see the antibodies and learn how to respond,” Prof McLaws said.

“We don’t want that to happen.”

In the past week Victoria has been feeling the heat over its hotel quarantine program due to its Holiday Inn cluster that saw the state go into a five-day lockdown.

Mr Andrews said Victoria’s new facility may also be used to accommodate flight crew and said its location would be discussed with the Federal Government and commercial flight operators.

He said the prefabrication of the dwellings could be done relatively quickly and off-site but the issue would be around connecting services, such as water, power and sewage.

“It’s not a small undertaking. It’s not a zero risk undertaking. But it has a letter risk than what shared facilities in the centre of Melbourne where even if people are separated, they’re still sharing the same space.

“That’s not to say it’s unsafe in any way, but it’s at one risk level.

“We think by building this purpose-built facility, we can get the risk level down further.

“We’ll have some conversations with the Commonwealth and the private sector about how this can be a partnership and a joint venture, whatever you want to call.”

RELATED: Melbourne quarantine hotel evacuated after water damage

The leakage of the coronavirus from holiday quarantine at the Holiday Inn has sparked a five-day lockdown in Victoria. Picture: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Mr Andrews said that hotel quarantine costs a lot, not matter where it was located.

“The real issue here is getting this done safely, getting as many people home as we can safely, acknowledging it’s not the 2020 virus,” he said.

“It’s different, whether it’s a South African, or UK strain or whatever the next strain will be, and particularly given that we’re so close to the vaccine being rolled out.

Even if the facility was very large, Mr Andrews said he expected it would serve a purpose for a long time, and would hopefully be a part of a national network of these types of facilities.

“When we have a bushfire, for instance, and other emergency accommodation needs, when we confront whatever circumstances, (they) are there for us in the years to come,” he said.

One reporter asked Mr Andrews whether the facility would be viable given thousands of units would be required to make it work.

“I think it is,” the Premier said.

“If you can do it in hotel rooms, you can do it in family-based cabins.

“I’m not for a moment pretending it’s easy and can happen in a week — it’s a significant thing. But we think it’s feasible and we think that we can do it at some scale.”

He said exactly how many people could be accommodated would have to be worked through.

“But we think it can be a significant facility,” he said.

“Probably the best example to answer your question, is that the Federal Government and the NT Government are currently in partnership to boost quite significantly the Howard Springs set-up so it absolutely can be done and, again, my advice – and I’m not a builder – my advice is that the prefabricated nature of these dwellings could mean that that could be done while other work was done around services and road networks and those things.”

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Originally published as Victoria will build new cabin-style quarantine facility, Premier Daniel Andrews says