Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under fire for attending a five-hour barbecue at the seaside estate of one of Australia’s wealthiest businessmen with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews over the weekend.
The Morrison government will release vaccine reserves, is hopeful the AstraZeneca vaccine will be allowed for under-50s, and is set to approve a quarantine facility for Melbourne.
May 28, 2021 â 5.55pm
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The Morrison government is set to formally approve a $200 million-plus, purpose built quarantine facility for Melbourne to supplement hotel quarantine, with Lindsay Foxâs Avalon Airport site firming as the frontrunner for a model that could be expanded across the country.
But the federal government is resisting a Queensland proposal for a privately-funded camp in Toowoomba, insisting that any purpose-built state site needs to meet three strict criteria.
Lindsay Fox.Â
Alex Ellinghausen
Victoriaâs latest outbreak stems from the leak of the virus from a hotel in South Australia. It represents the 17th such leak across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in the past six months, sparking criticism that a federal overhaul of the hotel quarantine system has been too slow.
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The Victorian government has sought to push the quarantine quandary onto Scott Morrison, announcing plans for a 500-bed, purpose-built facility north of Melbourne and calling on the federal government to pick up the $200 million-plus bill.
Acting Premier James Merlino said $15 million would be spent to immediately begin the design, but the final go-ahead would wait until September and was dependent on agreement with the Prime Minister.
The proposed cabin-style outdoor accommodation located more than 40 kilometres north of Melbourneâs CBD at Donnybrook Road, Mickleham would be on federal government land, next door to an existing pet quarantine facility.