We looked at the issue of broader expansion of facilities like Howard Springs earlier in the year. I mean, if you want to get at least 5,000 people into Australia a week, which is what we had been achieving, then the idea that you can build some sort of national set of camps that can accommodate that – well, that’s not a practical way to achieve it.
The advice was, and I think it was right, and it was agreed to by the states and territories, that the best and most effective and safest way to do that is to take advantage of the accommodation capacity that sits through the hotel quarantine system that has been used. And that was the advice and the other options were considered.
I mean, if people are suggesting that we rebuild all the detention facilities that were built under the previous government in relation to the border crisis – well, we all know how much that cost, and we all know how that worked. So this has been a very effective way, and successful way of doing it. I mean, almost 80,000 Australians have come home since mid-September. And that’s been done very effectively by the states and territories.
Of course, there have been some instances where quarantine hasn’t been perfect, but to expect perfection on that, I think in a global pandemic, is unrealistic.
