Coronavirus Australia: Retirement villages ‘can’t properly protect residents’, lawyers warn

Law firm pleads for government to step in to assist with restricting visitors and gatherings as crucial gap in legislation found.

Retirement villages don’t have the same rights to restrict visitors as aged care centres, it’s been revealed. Picture: File

Leading law firm Minter Ellison is warning the Queensland government that retirement villages are unable to properly protect their elderly residents from coronavirus, unless urgent legislation is passed to beef-up their powers.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would not say yesterday whether state parliament would sit as scheduled next week, with Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath previously flagging that the session could be delayed if the coronavirus outbreak worsened.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP

MinterEllison partner Robin Lyons, leader of the firm’s national retirement villages practice, warned retirement villages did not have the same powers as aged care centres to block visitors or restrict residents from gathering in common areas.

“Ideally, the Queensland government will step in to assist retirement village operators to implement and enforce similar types of restrictions in their communities that now apply to aged care facilities, including the introduction of mandatory temperature testing, restrictions on large gatherings in community facilities, the closing of restaurants, controls on visitor access to villages and enforced self-isolation for infected residents,” Mr Lyons wrote, in a letter tabled in state parliament last week.

“In the absence of enabling legislation or regulations by the state government, retirement village operators are effectively limited to requesting support from residents to introduce the restrictions and tighter controls required to limit the spread of the virus.”

“Securing that support from all residents in any particular retirement village is unlikely, which significantly limits operators’ ability to respond appropriately to the unfolding health crisis.”

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath. Picture: AAP

Ms D’Ath’s office declined to comment on the concerns raised by Mr Lyons, and Ms Palaszczuk said she would address the issue of parliament on Thursday.

Federal parliament has been suspended until August.

Queensland crossbencher Robbie Katter, who represents the enormous western Queensland electorate of Traeger and is based in Mount Isa, said he would not be travelling to Brisbane for parliament, even if it went ahead next week.

“It’s just not a good message to be sending to the people of western Queensland, where there are no confirmed coronavirus cases yet,” Mr Katter said. “I have no intention of going at this point, I think it would be irresponsible.”

Ms D’Ath told The Australian last week that she was considering telling all regional MPs to stay away from parliament, and drastically reducing the number of MPs required, if parliament did go ahead.

A spokesman for the Speaker Curtis Pitt said there had been no advice from the government “in support of changing the next sitting date of parliament”.