Hotel COVID-19 quarantine rules queried as submarines boss sails through

The Marshall government is under pressure over the granting of exemptions from hotel quarantine.

Naval Group chief executive Pierre Eric Pommellet.

The Marshall government is under pressure to provide ­greater transparency over the granting of exemptions from hotel quarantine after it secretly approved a request from the French boss of defence giant Naval Group to self-isolate in a private residence in Adelaide.

The Australian understands that Naval chief executive Pierre Eric Pommellet arrived in South Australia on Sunday after securing advance approval from SA Health to head from Adelaide Airport to a private home instead of going straight to a quarantine hotel as regular travellers and ­returning expats must do.

The exemption took effect just three days before SA announced the reintroduction of a hard lockdown for Melbourne residents after the discovery of eight COVID cases in Victoria.

It prompted calls from Labor leader Peter Malinauskas for the government to be more upfront about who was being granted a quarantine exemptions and why.

“You can understand why the public thinks there are one set of rules for them and another for people who are connected,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“It is just not on that we find out through the media that an exemption has been made for a tennis player or an actor or a high-powered executive because they are somehow regarded as deserving of special treatment.”

Mr Pommellet became Naval Group chief executive last year and stated at the time that his first priority would be to visit Adelaide as work starts on the design stage of the 12 new Attack-class submarines under a $90bn government naval blueprint.

Sources close to the project said that because Naval was majority owned by the French government and that aspects of the subs design were classified, his role as chief executive was ­regarded as “quasi-military” and required a degree of protection and anonymity that could not be provided at hotel quarantine.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said that it was on this basis that Mr Pommellet had been given approval by SA Health for an exemption.

Mr Pommellet underwent a COVID-19 test before leaving France and was negative and is being tested regularly at the ­Adelaide residence where is residing alone until Sunday week.

The Australian reported on Monday that Naval Group had engaged Dragoman, an exclusive lobby firm, to repair its image.