WA government must bring nurses home to quarantine, says 'disappointed' union boss
West Australian nurses who volunteered to fly to Victoria to help with the state’s second wave of COVID-19 cases should be flown home immediately, says Australian Nursing Federation’s state secretary Mark Olsen.
The six nurses and one support worker are currently in quarantine in Melbourne after one of the nurses tested positive to coronavirus.
They claimed they were assured they would be flown home to WA if any of them became ill, but now face a month of quarantine – two weeks in Melbourne, then two weeks on their return home.
On Tuesday afternoon, WA Health Minister Roger Cook said the state government was seeking medical advice on how to bring the nurses home safely.
He said he was unaware of any offer being made to the nurses about a guaranteed flight home in the event any of them fell ill.
“I for one am disappointed,” Mr Olsen told 6PR’s Gareth Parker on Wednesday morning.
“Let’s make it very clear, they were told – nothing in writing of course – that the Health Department had a contract with RFDS to fly them out of Melbourne.
“That’s exactly what they told.”
Mr Olsen said he would be happy to pass on the name of the person who made the assurances to Mr Cook, who he accused of "hiding behind plausible deniability" in relation to the matter.
Meanwhile, a man labelled a “risk to security” by Australia’s internal spy agency will be flown from Melbourne to a detention centre in WA to keep him safe from the pandemic.
The 68-year-old Pakistani national had been trying to block his transfer to the Yongah Hill Detention Centre near Northam by arguing in the Supreme Court he had health issues and wanted to stay near family members in Victoria.
Mr Olsen said the WA nurses were not asking for special treatment, but questioned why arrangements could be made to move a national security threat, but not nurses who had volunteered to "run towards danger" to help Victoria.