State Seizes Money From 5,000 Accounts for Overdue Hotel Quarantine Debts

Staff inside the Stamford Hotel, Melbourne, Australia on June 25, 2020. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Australians taken to quarantine hotels during COVID-19 now face state-backed garnishing orders for overdue payments.

Revenue New South Wales (NSW) has issued orders to take money from 5,190 bank accounts of residents with hotel quarantine debts.

A mandatory 14-day COVID-19 quarantine was implemented for Australians arriving from overseas in 2020.

In the early days, no fees were charged, but from July 2020, Australian citizens were slugged, despite hotel quarantine being mandated by the government.

“The quarantine fee reduces the financial burden of COVID-19 on NSW taxpayers,” the government said in 2021.

Hotel quarantine in Australia was tougher compared to countries like the United States, European nations, and Mexico, but was similar to the approach adopted by the UK, Canada, and multiple Asian governments.

Premier Says People Have Been Warned

The fees for 17,758 out of 265,000 people who were forced into hotel quarantine under pandemic measures are now being chased up, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Speaking to reporters on Oct. 8, NSW Premier Chris Minns defended the debt collecting, claiming people were “warned many times.”

“The system was put in place so that we could allow people to come back into Australia in extremely difficult circumstances, and the quarantine payment issue could be sorted at a later date,” he said.

“Well, that date is today, and unfortunately the government needs that money to run essential services in the state.”

The NSW government is pursuing nearly $40 million in fees for the program which ended on April 30, 2022.

NSW was not the only state to charge for quarantine accommodation.

Queensland charged a fee of $3,220 for one adult in a room and $4,130 for two adults in a room during COVID-19.

Victoria charged $3,000 (pdf) per adult, $1,000 for each extra adult in the room, and another $500 for every child between 3 and 18 years.

Quarantine Camps

To cope with international arrivals, the state governments of Victoria and Queensland spent millions on quarantine camps.

The Mickleham quarantine facility in Victoria closed in October 2022 after taking in 2,168 people. The quarantine hub cost $580 million to build with federal funding.

In Queensland, the Wellcamp quarantine facility housing 1,000 people cost taxpayers $223 million.

An independent audit report into the camp found future quarantine needs “should have been fully considered” at the time of funding the facility.

“While there was still significant uncertainty on the continuing impact of the pandemic at this time, alternates such as home and hotel quarantine were available,” the report stated.

“This should have been more fully considered at the time of entering the contract in September 2021 to better ensure value for money for taxpayers.”

Guests at the Stamford Hotel in Melbourne, Australia are seen wearing masks as they get into taxis on June 25, 2020. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images