Scott Morrison’s deal for 500-bed quarantine in Victoria

Scott Morrison will commit $200 million to the construction of a 500-bed Victorian quarantine facility at Avalon.

Scott Morrison’s government wants the facility to be used for extra capacity to accommodate returning travellers from overseas on top of hotel quarantine. Picture: Martin Ollman

Scott Morrison will commit $200 million to the construction of a 500-bed Victorian quarantine facility at Avalon under a plan close to finalisation ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

But under a memorandum of understanding sent to the Victorian government, the state would be required to pay for the costs of operating the centre. Construction of the facility would commence by September, with an opening expected in January.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has been negotiating on key principles for the memorandum with the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, although there remained sticking points on Thursday night.

The Australian understands the Morrison government wants the facility to be used for extra capacity to accommodate returning travellers from overseas on top of hotel quarantine, while Victoria is arguing it should be used to house high-risk people from hotel quarantine.

Once the risk presented by the pandemic has passed, the facility would be returned to the commonwealth.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino says the nation needs a safer quarantine program to supplement the existing hotel program. Picture: David Crosling

Josh Frydenberg said on Thursday a decision on the new site was imminent and that positive and constructive conversations were had with his Victorian counterpart, Tim Pallas.

“Avalon does have some very positive characteristics to it, obviously being near an airport, and that’s relevant in this case,” the federal Treasurer said.

“We have been working through the details of that proposal and we’ve said publicly that we’re favourably disposed.”

Mr Frydenberg said the proposed centre was “over and above the existing hotel quarantine facility”.

He warned that the “quarantine disaster” last year in Victoria had “cost lives and livelihoods” and argued that the subsequent review “quite bizarrely, unacceptably, found nobody was to blame”.

“The most powerful statistic is that, if you take out the initial nationwide lockdown, Victorians have been subject to 140 days of lockdown, whereas the average across the other five states and two territories is just six days — 140 days versus six days,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“Now you can’t blame the Indian variant for that. You can’t blame the federal government for that. You can’t blame vaccination strategies for that. You can’t blame quarantine facilities that haven’t yet been built for that.”

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said on Thursday the decision to fund the new facility in Avalon was not an admission that hotel quarantine was insufficient.

He added that more than 99 per cent of people who had passed through hotel quarantine had done so safely.

“It’s about creating additional capacity,” Senator Birmingham told the Ten Network.

“We’ve said from the very day in which Victoria released it that we welcome the fact that it was a detailed proposal, that we were engaging with them, working with them through it.

“And what we’ve provided now is a memorandum of understanding for Victoria to enter into with the commonwealth government where we will work through that, fund the construction of it as a federal facility.

“Victoria will operate it … It will provide additional places on top of hotel quarantine for returning Australians and essential travellers into our country.”

Avalon has emerged as the Morrison government’s preferred site over an existing quarantine facility for pets in Mickleham due to the comparatively shorter distance from an airport.

Arrivals would be able to walk to the Avalon facility and the short distance could reduce the risk of infection-control errors.

The Mickleham facility is about a 15-minute drive from Tullamarine, Melbourne’s main airport, and there is also concern around the quarantining animals spreading disease to returning travellers.

Part of the pitch around the Avalon site is that training facilities could be established for athletes travelling to Melbourne for international sporting events such as the Australian Open, returning vital income to Victoria’s capital.

Acting Premier James Merlino said on Thursday the nation needed a safer quarantine program to supplement the existing hotel program, adding that the highest-risk individuals would be lodged at the new site.

“This is all about making our state and our nation safer (and) that is the key thing in terms of the negotiations and the discussions between state and federal officials,” Mr Merlino said.

“In terms of discussions with the PM and others, we need to lower the risk in hotel quarantine. We need to have the highest-risk individuals going to a purpose-built facility.”

Victoria is in its fourth lockdown of the pandemic after a man contracted the virus in hotel quarantine in South Australia.

In February, infection control breaches at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport triggered a five-day lockdown.

In 2020, poor infection control among private security guards working on the hotel quarantine program sparked the state’s devastating second wave that killed 801 people and forced Melbourne into almost four months in lockdown.

One of the key issues that has emerged in hotel quarantine is poor ventilation, allowing the virus to spread between guests.

During Victoria’s February lockdown, billionaire businessmen Lindsay Fox said he was in talks with the federal and the Victorian governments to accommodate up to 1000 international arrivals in a low-risk rural setting near Geelong.

Under the then proposal, Avalon airport would build and manage a temporary town near Geelong within walking distance of the arrivals terminal.

That accommodation would give returnees their own cabins and the opportunity to move outside for fresh air, similar to the Howard Springs facility operated by the commonwealth in the Northern Territory.

In April the Victorian government publicly asked for $200 million to build a 500-bed quarantine facility at Mickleham, which could be expanded to 3000 beds for the cost of $700 million.

It is understood representatives from the federal government last week held meetings on both the Mickleham and Avalon sites.

Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale