Legislative Council, Tuesday 31 August 2021

Ms FORREST - to LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Mrs HISCUTT

With regard to the two AFL finals matches played in Tasmania the weekend the 28 and 29 August;

(1) how many players and AFL officials and other support staff were permitted entry into the state;

(2) were all players AFL officials and other support staff required to stay in hotel quarantine if they were not flying in and out on the same day;

(3) how many players, AFL officials and other support staff were accommodated in hotel quarantine and what hotel facilities were used for this purpose;

(4) how were the costs of hotel quarantine met;

(5) were Tasmanians displaced from these facilities to enable the hotel/facility to be used and if so how many people had bookings cancelled or cut short and were these people compensated and if so by whom;

(6) were any non-essential spectators permitted entry to the games, if so on what basis was entry to Tasmania permitted;

(7) with regard to essential players and support staff what interaction if any occurred with staff and other attendees at the ground;

(8) were all who entered Tasmania for these games required to have a negative COVID-19 test prior to entry into Tasmania;(9) were all who entered the state for this purpose vaccinated and if not, how many were unvaccinated?

ANSWER

I thank the member for her question. I did have a fairly generic answer which I will read in a moment. You put your more particular questions in later and I am waiting on responses to that.

In relation to AFL footballers and support staff coming to Tasmania, they are not being housed in hotel quarantine facilities that are currently being used for hotel quarantine, they are being housed in separate, additional facilities. It is incorrect to suggest that the existing hotel quarantine facilities had been utilised that weekend for AFL footballers and their support crew. I was going to leave that answer in abeyance, since you had submitted a more detailed question.

Mr President, I alert members that there may be a delay in questions this week with the Premier's position; the Deputy Premier, and Treasury. They have been allocated to other members so they have a fairly high level of work at the moment, and Budget Estimates are coming up. I apologise if I cannot get all your answers to you in a timely manner but I am trying my best.