Spirit of Tasmania issues highlight need for hard lockdown

Tasmanian Labor
  • Serious holes in Tasmania’s biosecurity measures
  • Interstate travellers putting Tasmanians at risk
  • More sailings needed to get people off the island
  • Concerns about the number of people still entering Tasmania on the Spirit of Tasmania ferries highlight the need for a broader lock down of non-essential services.

    Labor Leader Rebecca White said Tasmania’s tough border control measures were being undermined by the inability to monitor the number of people still coming into the State on the Spirit of Tasmania ferries and ensure they are complying with mandatory quarantine measures.

    “A broader lock down would send a strong and consistent message for people not to come to Tasmania at this time. It would also end the confusion for Tasmanians who aren’t sure whether they should go to work, send their children to school or if everyone is meant to stay home,” Ms White said.

    “Tasmania still has an opportunity to contain the spread of the virus, but only if we act quickly and decisively.

    “We don’t underestimate the serious impact a hard lockdown of non-essential services would have in the short term, but if we act now to test, trace and treat all cases of coronavirus we will not only save lives but we will be able to move to economic recovery a lot sooner.

    “No government has regretted taking decisive action early, but they have regretted not acting when they had the chance.”

    Ms White said she was still hearing reports of caravaners who could not get a booking on the Spirits before the new Wednesday deadline.

    “The Government should have acted a lot sooner to ensure that TT-Line was not allowing caravans to enter the state and that there was adequate capacity to get people off the island.”

    Rebecca White

    Labor Leader

    /Public Release. View in full here.