Who is exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine in NSW?
Airline crews, foreign diplomats, Australian government officials and unaccompanied minors are among those who can be exempted from mandatory hotel quarantine and allowed to self-isolate at home. So too can anyone granted an exemption on other grounds – such as for medical or compassionate reasons.
So it is true that diplomats are exempt? Who makes the laws?
Yes it is true. The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, comprised of all state and territory chief health officers and chaired by the Australian chief medical officer, makes recommendations about who should be exempt from hotel quarantine, but decisions on enforcement rest with the states.
Why are foreign airline crew exempt?
Airline crew often only spend a limited time staying in cities before their next departure, so it was not viewed as feasible for them to have to spend 14 days in quarantine. They have had to self-isolate in hotels or at home, however, until they fly out again.
Who is in charge of foreign airline crew? Aren’t borders a federal government responsibility?
As mentioned, while the AHPPC makes recommendations regarding who should be exempt, it is up to each state or territory to make their own decisions about how to handle the exemptions.
Is it true that wealthy people are being given exemptions to quarantine at home?
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, can grant exemptions as he deems “appropriate”. People can also apply for an exemption on medical or compassionate grounds. There have reportedly been exemptions handed to wealthy people in NSW including Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban as well as the British billionaire Lord Alan Sugar. Hazzard told reporters on Sunday exemptions had been given to “people who have … provided thousands of jobs” but he insisted there had been no positive cases linked to them.
Is there any truth to the claim that the northern beaches cluster was started by foreign airline crew?
We do not know how the northern beaches cluster started. The NSW chief health officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has confirmed the strain appears similar to one found in the US, and is particularly similar to that found in a woman who arrived in Australia on 1 December. But that woman has been in hotel quarantine ever since she arrived. She was moved between two hotels a few days into her quarantine when she started to show symptoms.
NSW police have confirmed a foreign airline crew was fined for breaching public health orders and it’s been reported Australian airline crews are self-isolating on the northern beaches, but neither of these issues has been found to have any link to the cluster.
Are the exemptions in NSW the same as in other states?
The exemptions are largely the same nationwide, but the way they are managed varies in each jurisdiction. In WA, for example, flight crews have had to stay in a quarantine hotel for the entirety of their stay since March. The national cabinet agreed on 11 December that all states should have stricter measures for airline crews, and have started to implement them. In NSW, this will mean all airline crews have to stay in one of two police-controlled hotels near the airport, rather than being able to stay wherever they wanted.
