501s to be quarantined at Ramada hotel

Charter deportation flights are due to recommence from Australia as it reopens its borders. Police spokeswoman

Australia’s latest “501” deportees will be quarantined in a dedicated central Auckland hotel when charter flights resume next month.

A police spokeswoman said the 501 deportations were put on hold three months ago.

“Charter deportation flights are due to recommence from Australia as it reopens its borders. These flights . . . have been suspended since late March. Deportations continued through commercial flights until late July when the travel bubble with Australia burst.”

Police refused to say what date the first cohort would arrive or how many deportees were expected, citing privacy and security concerns.

Australia has been deporting New Zealand-born criminals, even those who have spent most their lives there, in a controversial policy that has strained transtasman relations.

Hundreds have been sent back under Section 501 of the Australian Migration Act, many of them gang members who have gone on to reoffend here.

Managed Isolation and Quarantine associate deputy secretary Andrew Milne confirmed the Ramada Suites on Federal St had been contracted to quarantine the deportees for their mandatory 14-day MIQ stay after they arrive in New Zealand.

The facility was previously used for 501 deportees before repatriation flights were put on hold.

Milne said any deportations from Australia were a decision for the Australian government, and as was the case before the transtasman bubble was opened, New Zealand needed to accommodate deportees who were repatriated.

“MIQ will be standing up the Ramada managed isolation facility again. This facility was an excellent one for these returnees . . .”

Additional security measures would be put in place, including more security staff and protective fencing. Extra wraparound, rehabilitative and reintegration services were also available for the returnees through government agencies and NGOs.

A review of the hotel’s ventilation system had been undertaken “to ensure it is operating optimally, but ideally to MIQ preferred conditions – which includes negative pressure in returnees’ rooms. There has also been a lead-in period to stand up the necessary staffing for the facility”.

The Ramada was not suitable as a general-purpose MIQ facility, Milne said, as it had just 42 rooms and little space for the services required to support a larger number of returnees.

All MIQ facilities operated in a level 4 environment and all workers followed strict infection prevention controls developed by the Ministry of Health to manage the risks of spreading Covid-19, Milne said.

The Ramada has been approached for comment.