Originally posted by Aussie Matt There are better ways....
Australian's have been very patient, and complied with authorities to the point where there is ZERO risk internally....
The ONLY reason I can come up with is it is a political 'reason'... privatised security, privatised hotels, massive govco hand outs to big companies etc etc.
We discussed this at work, bearing in mind we are all safety engineers so our aim is to eliminate the risk wherever possible and implement whatever reasonably practicable controls we can. We don't take into account politics, feelings, budgets or timescales, someone else has to make that decision against our recommendations.
Our solution, every incoming flight from overseas lands at somewhere remote, an RAAF base out in the middle of nowhere preferably but Manus Island has a 7,000 odd foot runway.
The passengers are put up in on-base accomodation for 14 days, and are tested every three days. If after 14 days no-one has tested positive then the passengers are flown back to the mainland (or a major city) and allowed to travel to their destination.
Each batch of arrivals is kept separated and isolated from each other, so if one batch contains someone who has COVID it doesn't spread. Anyone found to be infected is treated on site, and the rest of the batch is given another 14 days quarantine until it can be proved they are not infectious.
Workable? Yes. Politically acceptable, No, not remotely. Unless the politicians have the will to do it and take the flak for it. Of course there will be a lot of claims of "human rights" etc, but it would keep the rest of the country infection free.
Whether this would be good for the country in the long run is another question, the longer we keep it out then the harder it is likely to hit if and when it does get here.