#strandedAussies fact check @MarkMcGowanMP statement: "'purpose built for quarantine...Curtin Airbase has capacity for around 1500 people...it's available". False. It's a dismantled immigration detention centre, used to consist of dongas and is now mostly dirt #auspol #covid19aus

Nearest tertiary hospital to Curtin airbase is Darwin @MarkMcGowanMP, which is struggling with Howard Springs. Next is Perth a 2 hour flight away (2,400km). Derby & Broome hospitals have no ICUs & struggle with day to day regional demand. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/nt-covid-active-cases-surge-at-howard-springs-india-outbreak/100083886

Even if close enough to tertiary hospital, constructing quarantine near Derby for 1500 (bigger than $1b Howard Springs) would take years & mean relocating hundreds of hcws, construction & border staff. Not an option @MarkMcGowanMP #strandedAussies #auspol https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/immigration-detention-curtin-photos

#strandedAussies Fact check 'available purpose built' Christmas Island @MarkMcGowanMP. 243 arrivals from Wuhan quarantined Feb 2020 accommodated in groups (unsuitable). Again no tertiary medical facilities. 4.5 hours flight from Perth(2,600 km) #covid19Aus https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-18/coronavirus-quarantine-binney-family-home-sunshine-coast/11975244

#auspol needs to accommodate 25k at a time in quarantine. (30 x Howard Springs). Facilities are partial solution at best. Logistical issues include proximity to airports, tertiary medical facilities, huge costs, deployment of thousands of staff #COVID19Aus https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/nt-covid-active-cases-surge-at-howard-springs-india-outbreak/100083886

See link below. Q facilities are only one alternative. Real solutions require bipartisan cooperation between both levels of gov - not this infernal, unproductive #auspol buckpassing that does nothing for #strandedAussies https://strandedaussies.com/get-informed/why-not-build-a-national-facility/

Even if facilities (or any regime) were funded & established by C'wealth, #auslaw Biosecurity Act stipulates that state health depts run them. @MarkMcGowanMP would still need to provide proper infection control & TTI #strandedAussies #COVID19Aus
https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/

The line that 'quarantine is a federal responsibility' is an @AustralianLabor half truth. Constitution does not confer responsibility, only power, with states, to legislate re quarantine. States remain responsible for delivery of health services #auspol https://estherrockett.com/2021/04/23/stranded-aussies-and-insular-australias-makeshift-pandemic-safety/

In case anyone missed the photos of Curtin Detention centre prior to being dismantled. This is where @MarkMcGowanMP thinks he can stick 1500 #strandedAussies, 1700 km from tertiary medical facilities, in what? Tents? Dongas? https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/immigration-detention-curtin-photos

If you care to know what #auslaw constitution actually says re quarantine see this @LegalReckoning explainer. Don't just swallow what politicians and their PR mobs say. Politicians are not your friends. #auspol #strandedAussies