Levelling with the public must be the new normal

The figures tell a deadly story that cannot be swept under the carpet by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian or anybody else. After the national death toll from COVID-19 reached 21 on Wednesday, Brad Norington revealed on Thursday that close to a quarter of the deceased had been passengers on the cruise ship Ruby Princess. Five passengers, all in their 70s and 80s, died in hospitals in Sydney, Caboolture north of Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and northwest Tasmania. A sixth passenger died overnight on Wednesday in Toowoomba on the Darling Downs and a woman who died in Orange in NSW was the seventh. Her husband is also in hospital, fighting for his life. The cruise that docked at Sydney’s international passenger terminal on March 19 was also the source of 340 of Australia’s cases of the virus. The question Ms Berejiklian needs to answer is simple. When the liner arrived, who was responsible for letting 2700 passengers disembark without being tested for COVID-19? The public is entitled to know. Whatever responsibility, if any, rests with ship operator Carnival Cruises, governments, primarily at state level, are responsible for community health.

Last week Yoni Bashan revealed that Ms Berejiklian told a confidential partyroom meeting that Australian Border Force officials were ­responsible for the catastrophic decision to release the passengers into the community and that the agency should wear the blame for the risk of contagion. A day later, Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram declared the NSW government was responsible. This was after the ship’s agent reportedly told the NSW Health Department the day before the vessel came into port that 13 of its passengers had been isolated with flu-like symptoms. Yet the state government deemed the vessel “low risk”. Ms Berejiklian has deflected questions about the matter. But she and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard owe the nation an explanation.

In the battle against coronavirus, the public is being told to accept unprecedented restrictions as “the new normal”, as politicians like to tell us. But the new normal must be a two-way street, with authorities taking responsibility for decisions good and bad and being open. The Ruby Princess episode has been painful; the public knows someone is culpable, be it politician, bureaucrat or law enforcement officer. Thorough inquiries cannot be put off until the COVID-19 crisis passes. In the interests of the public’s confidence in the protective health measures in place, the matter needs to be cleared up as soon as possible. Until it is, the mystery will continue to cause public disquiet.

At least NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, in addition to his already hefty workload in a time of crisis, has lent some leadership to tackling the problem of cruise ships. The Ruby Princess is one of eight vessels stranded off the Australian coast. And with 200 of its 1056 crew reporting respiratory symptoms, police and medical staff are on board, testing all crew members for the virus. Once the extent of any new outbreak is established, authorities will face difficult decisions.

As Norington’s report showed, clusters are life-and-death problems, with three-quarters of all deaths in Australia from COVID-19 linked to only three sources of infection. These are the Ruby Princess and three other returning cruise ships; the Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged-care facility at Macquarie Park in Sydney’s northwest where five elderly people have died; and the haematology and oncology ward of Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital where three people have now died.

Adelaide Airport, where Qantas baggage handlers have tested positive to COVID-19 from an unknown source, also has emerged as a cluster, with 17 people infected. Another 100 staff are in quarantine. The ability of the virus to last for several days on some surfaces is a worry for travellers. Extensive contact tracing is under way and SA Health says the first baggage handler became infected about the “first week of March”, indicating the need for searching inquiries. The penchant of governments, companies and other bodies for secrecy over openness is well entrenched. Amid a deadly pandemic that approach is unconscionable, as the Ruby Princess debacle shows.