$7m for state’s lone repatriation flight

TASMANIA received $7m in 2020-21 to repatriate returning Australians, but only one such flight came into the state.

The federal funding was allocated for a period ending March 31, 2021, which had provision for up to 450 returning Australians aboard four flights and covered their health and quarantine service costs.

The only mercy flight to take place in December last year carried 120 passengers and a family from India, of whom four tested positive for COVID-19 during their quarantine at the Best Western Hotel in Hobart.

On March 31, $2.3m was allocated in the state government’s pre-election financial outlook report towards quarantine and hotel funding.

The Tasmanian government made a deal with the Victorian government to take on its 1500 Pacific Island seasonal workers in exchange for Victoria providing accommodation and quarantine services for Tasmanians returning from overseas.

No further quarantine arrangement funding has been promised for Tasmania in the latest federal budget, though the $7m from last year came under the “other health national partnership payments” budget totalling $501.3 for

2020-21.

Tasmania has secured a further $3m towards essential vaccines; the state received $700,000 this financial year and will receive another $800,000 annually until 2024-25 under the $97.4m national essential vaccines funding. An additional $3.4m in public dental services for adults will also be delivered in Tasmania in 2021-22.