Labor slams Prime Minister on Victorian outbreak saying the federal government is playing ‘catch-up footy’ on virus

Labor warns lockdowns will still occur while hotel quarantine is littered with failures and the vaccine rollout remains sluggish.

Labor has slammed the Morrison government, warning lockdowns will still occur while hotel quarantine is littered with failures and the vaccine rollout remains sluggish.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said the federal government was playing “catch-up footy” with the virus and should be focused on the vaccine rollout to prevent major lockdowns.

He said hotel quarantine was inadequate and specialised facilities were needed to ensure virus leaks from returned travellers did not occur.

“These are facilities are not fit for purpose,” Mr Marles said on ABC’s Insiders.

“They should have been accepting their responsibility for the level (of) quarantine; instead, we have seen them play catch-up footy.”

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles says the federal government is playing ‘catch-up footy’ with the virus. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Mr Marles said no Covid-19 outbreaks had occurred in the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs facility, with the majority of outbreaks being a result of inadequate ventilation in hotels.

“These are facilities (that) have a single ventilation system in one building, which is leading to people contracting the disease in those hotels and leading to the outbreaks that we have been experiencing,” he said.

“All roads lead back to a failure in managing quarantine in this country.”

The federal government has signed a memorandum of understanding for a purpose-built quarantine facility in Victoria that will hold 500 people at once.

New South Wales takes the largest number of returned travellers through its hotel quarantine system and is able to process up to 3000 people at once.

Mr Marles said vaccinations remained the only way for the country to overcome shutdown threats.

He also noted the country had been too complacent, particularly in vaccinating vulnerable people and workers in aged care facilities.

Melbourne is entering its second week of lockdown. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

The federal government had promised all aged care workers would be vaccinated by Easter.

“This government has failed in terms of getting even the start of the vaccine rollout properly going in relation to aged-care workers,” Mr Marles said.

The deputy leader of the opposition also bashed the government on its souring relationship with China, saying Scott Morrison was the first leader since Gough Whitlam to have zero relations with the major economy.

The relationship between the two counties headed south at the beginning of the pandemic when Australia led calls for a worldwide investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.

China has since slapped Australian exports with crippling tariffs impacting industries such agriculture, wine and resources.

“This is our largest trading partner,” Mr Marles said.

“Japan manages to have relationships with the Chinese Government in circumstances where its set of issues with China are a lot more complex than ours.

“You make the effort to reach out and you do the diplomacy right.”