International travellers have flown into Melbourne for the first time in months

Source:-abc

The first international flight to land in Melbourne since June has touched down at Melbourne Airport.

The flight, from Colombo, is one of eight international flights due to land in Melbourne today.

Passengers arriving from overseas will go straight into Victoria’s revamped hotel quarantine system.

More than 170 Australian Defence Force personnel are now involved in the scheme, temperature checking staff and helping to manage the entry and exit of travellers into hotels.

Victoria Police will be in charge of all aspects of security within quarantine hotels.

Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville, who is ultimately responsible for overseeing the scheme, said the chances of another hotel quarantine breach were minimal.

“You can’t say 100 per cent that you’re not going to get an infection out of it, these are people that are coming back from countries that have infections,” she said.

“But what we’ve got are robust systems in the hotels with the staff to minimise the risk, then there’s a strong and revamped contact tracing system that will immediately get into action.

“This is our number one priority, it is the number one priority for Victorians, we’ll continue to assess this program as we go through, we’ll continue to upgrade it if necessary.”

Key points:

• A flight from Sri Lanka is the first international arrival at Melbourne Airport since June
• Eight overseas flights will land in Melbourne today
• Victoria’s Health Minister is confident the revamped hotel quarantine system will work

The arrival of international flights comes after New South Wales Police admitted wrongly allowing two German travellers to go from Sydney to Melbourne over the weekend.

The 53-year-old woman and 15-year-old boy tested negative to coronavirus and are now in mandatory quarantine.

Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley said some exemptions potentially allow for people to bypass quarantine, but this was not one of those instances.

“For instance, if you fly into Sydney today and you’ve got a relative who is very ill and perhaps about to die, then there is a system in place where you can, under really strict controls, get an exemption,” he said.

“When they’re random events like we saw over the weekend, that’s a concern, but I am pleased that New South Wales Police fronted up and owned the issue and that we won’t see that occur again.”

Melbourne Airport chief ‘not scared’ about international arrivals

The State Government says 253 international passengers will arrive in Melbourne today across the eight flights.

There is a weekly cap of 1,120 passengers, which Melbourne Airport chief of aviation, Shane O’Hare, thinks is a manageable number.

“We’re not scared, we’ve been practising since early this year,” he said

“I think some people would be surprised to understand how many different agencies are involved to make sure this runs smoothly.

“We’re in really, really good shape for today and it will run extremely well.”

Mr O’Hare believes the chances of a repeat of the situation involving the two German passengers in Sydney bypassing hotel quarantine won’t be possible in Melbourne.

“The chances of this happening at Melbourne Airport are extremely, extremely low,” he said.

“After you get your bags and you’re cleared you actually go back out literally onto the tarmac, get onto a bus and then you’re driven out through the security area of the airport itself.”

Travellers in hotel quarantine to be charged for their stay

The State Government will introduce legislation tomorrow to introduce a quarantine contribution fee for returned travellers.

The fee will be set at $3,000 per adult, $1,000 for each additional adult in a room, and $500 for children aged between three and 18.

These costs are the same as those charged in New South Wales and South Australia.

Originally it was thought that passengers who arrived today could not be charged until the new legislation becomes law, angering Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien.

“We are going to be paying more now because this Government — with months’ notice — couldn’t even get legislation in place to charge travellers for their mandatory quarantine,” Mr O’Brien said.

The Government has received updated legal advice which said the charge could be applied retrospectively.

That means from today, all returned travellers will have to pay for their quarantine.

Ms Neville said the Government had to wait until the hotel quarantine inquiry’s interim report was delivered before it could move to introduce the fees.

“We moved as quickly as we could after that board of inquiry report to bring this legislation in and this is the first opportunity,” she said.

Ms Neville says there will be hardship considerations, including fee waivers, reductions and payment plan options.