Analysis Coronavirus - The Impact IV “Phasing into the New Normal”

[Jezzza]

Will be interesting to see who is at stuffed up as the Federal Minister for Agriculture claims teh WA Health Department was notified via email on Friday the 22nd of May.

Littleproud disputes WA wasn't told of sick crew as six test positive for coronavirus aboard Fremantle livestock vessel

The ship was cleared to dock at Fremantle Port by the Federal Department of Agriculture despite the ship's master reporting some crew members had high temperatures.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[Forward Press]

wrong - WA health infomed and acted - Border force dont do health (visas etc) Port Authority just park boats. Healthg do Health (Complex isnt it)
Restructions 4000km away dont impact me - surprised are you?

All we have is the word of the Department of Agriculture minister who understandably (like McGowan) don't think they are in the wrong and believes the protocol was followed (even he is admitting they are going back to double and triple check of who was informed).

But if the first communication to the federal Dept of Ag on the 20th May (which we all know happened, no one disputes that) - a communication explicitly stating that there were unwell crew members on board - was indeed passed onto the WA Department of Health promptly - do you think permission would have been given by the relevant WA authorities? After all, as you correctly pointed out, Border Force don't do health checks - and there is no indication the ship was in communication at any time with the WA authorities.

I'm not siding with Canberra here, at least at first.

 

[SloppyJoe]

wrong - WA health infomed and acted - Border force dont do health (visas etc) Port Authority just park boats. Healthg do Health (Complex isnt it)
Restructions 4000km away dont impact me - surprised are you?

McGowan says the feds were told by the ship of the elevated temps/COVID symptoms on 22 May when the ship was cleared to berth.

Littleproud (Fed Minister) says the feds weren't told of these symptoms until after clearance was given. Littleproud admits the feds were told by the ship 2 days earlier, on 20 May, that 3 crew were sick and the feds chose to not tell WA but monitor it themselves.

I suppose it depends on what if any further detail they got beyond the description of 'sick', but you'd at least be asking lots of questions and err on the side of caution in these times.

 

[Forward Press]

McGowan says the feds were told by the ship of the elevated temps/COVID symptoms on 22 May when the ship was cleared to berth.

Littleproud (Fed Minister) says the feds weren't told of these symptoms until after clearance was given. Littleproud admits the feds were told by the ship 2 days earlier, on 20 May, that 3 crew were sick and the feds chose to not tell WA but monitor it themselves.

I suppose it depends on what if any further detail they got beyond the description of 'sick', but you'd at least be asking lots of questions and err on the side of caution in these times.

There is no way the Premier, WA Department of Health and Freo Port Authority would let them berth - with no restrictions - if they indeed knew that members were displaying symptoms. After Artania every arrival in WA especially by boat would have been scrutinised closely.

 

[avishka5]

What worries me is that half a dozen Freo port workers unwittingly boarded that vessel and it could potentially be more.

 

[ziad]

There is no way the Premier, WA Department of Health and Freo Port Authority would let them berth - with no restrictions - if they indeed knew that members were displaying symptoms. After Artania every arrival in WA especially by boat would have been scrutinised closely.

Well they did - and this was the right way to treat mariners.

 

[Forward Press]

Well they did - and this was the right way to treat mariners.

I said with no restrictions. Zero chance the Premier or anyone else in WA would let a boat with crew displaying COVID symptoms arrive unchallenged into port, at least not since Artania.

You seem to have a bizarre fixation with trying to undermine McGowan every step of the way. It's a good thing the vast majority of West Australians do not share your viewpoint.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

someones lying here.

Either the feds ****ed up and trying to cover their arses

or mcgowan knew and used this as an example in why he should keep the borders close. as an example

 

[ep2018]

You seem to have a bizarre fixation with trying to undermine McGowan every step of the way. It's a good thing the vast majority of West Australians do not share your viewpoint.

With the world opening up at a faster pace than we are right now, despite us being in a better position than most, his popularity wont stay for long imo.

 

[DanWCE]

I don't think the political pot shotting adds anything of value to this thread. My understanding is you can wade into those waters in the lizard thread.

 

[ziad]

I don't think the political pot shotting adds anything of value to this thread. My understanding is you can wade into those waters in the lizard thread.

Its a direct impact on the Eagles season.

 

[guero]

I don't think the political pot shotting adds anything of value to this thread. My understanding is you can wade into those waters in the lizard thread.

Yeah I agree.

Unless of course I’ve contributed to the potshotting, in which case I disagree.

 

[SloppyJoe]

It seems Littleproud has now found an earlier email from the feds to WA: https://www.watoday.com.au/national...heep-ship-claims-refuted-20200527-p54wrl.html

EDIT: Scratch that, I thought the email was sent on the 20th, but it was sent on the 22nd. Still 2 days after the feds first found out about illness on the ship. But I suppose they would say that what difference would it have made if they had told WA on the 20th or the 22nd when WA didnt do anything anyway.

I don't think WA has repsonded yet.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

It seems Littleproud has now found an earlier email from the feds to WA: https://www.watoday.com.au/national...heep-ship-claims-refuted-20200527-p54wrl.html

looks like it was mcgowan telling lies.

for his sake he better hope cases dont skyrocket from the ship

also morrison has now placed the attack on borders. starting to feel they may put a gun to mcgowans head to open up

 

[DanWCE]

looks like it was mcgowan telling lies.

for his sake he better hope cases dont skyrocket from the ship

also morrison has now placed the attack on borders. starting to feel they may put a gun to mcgowans head to open up

If McGowan is at fault I think he'd be equally concerned about the return fire headed his way from NSW. He took every opportunity to pump up his own tires and tear others down over the Ruby Princess. If it's happened in his own back yard he'd want to tread lightly.

I find it hard to believe it's even possible this could happen. Complacency maybe? At least the locals had their PPE on. You would think any correspondence citing fever, unwell, flu like symptoms, boat from overseas would ring alarm bells through multiple departments.

 

[Forward Press]

It seems Littleproud has now found an earlier email from the feds to WA: https://www.watoday.com.au/national...heep-ship-claims-refuted-20200527-p54wrl.html

We do need to know however who saw the email, who sent it to who, and the email itself is confusing. Reports of elevated temperatures but a confident declaration of no COVID on board, and of no respiratory illness. I notice they released no details of the parties involved.

Either way looks like a miscommunication and the protocol needs reviewing.

 

[SloppyJoe]

looks like it was mcgowan telling lies.

for his sake he better hope cases dont skyrocket from the ship

also morrison has now placed the attack on borders. starting to feel they may put a gun to mcgowans head to open up

Yeah, sounds like McGowan was maybe shooting from the hip a bit on this one. But he can only rely on the information he receives from those down the chain - it's not like the email went to his inbox.

We do need to know however who saw the email, who sent it to who, and the email itself is confusing. Reports of elevated temperatures but a confident declaration of no COVID on board, and of no respiratory illness. I notice they released no details of the parties involved.

Either way looks like a miscommunication and the protocol needs reviewing.

I heard Littleproud on ABC this morning saying the email was sent to some emergency WA health dept address they are given. You are right it is totally confusing. I'm guessing either the email was overlooked (it was a Friday after all ) or scanned briefly and all the person took in was "no concern for COVID-19". But if you read it in full you would be doing something.

What is not clear to me is the timing between this email being sent and the feds clearing the ship to berth and allowing our dock pilot to board (which happened the same day). It may be that even if the WA health dept had read the email straightaway they wouldn't have had sufficient time to stop this.

What's the point in informing WA health at all if the feds dont have to wait on a response/clearance before allowing the ship to berth? Protocol definitely needs reviewing.

Thankfully all crew stayed on the ship, so we are limiting the contact tracing exercise to those few port workers who boarded.

 

[Forward Press]

Yeah, sounds like McGowan was maybe shooting from the hip a bit on this one. But he can only rely on the information he receives from those down the chain - it's not like the email went to his inbox.


I heard Littleproud on ABC this morning saying the email was sent to some emergency WA health dept address they are given. You are right it is totally confusing. I'm guessing either the email was overlooked (it was a Friday after all ) or scanned briefly and all the person took in was "no concern for COVID-19". But if you read it in full you would be doing something.

What is not clear to me is the timing between this email being sent and the feds clearing the ship to berth and allowing our dock pilot to board (which happened the same day). It may be that even if the WA health dept had read the email straightaway they wouldn't have had sufficient time to stop this.

What's the point in informing WA health at all if the feds dont have to wait on a response/clearance before allowing the ship to berth? Protocol definitely needs reviewing.

Thankfully all crew stayed on the ship, so we are limiting the contact tracing exercise to those few port workers who boarded.

If someone at the WA Dept of Health saw it and didn't action it properly then they're getting in lots of trouble.

Also - why do they simply not pick up the phone to ensure someone actually receives the information? Thought this was something that warrants more than a single email to some low level bureaucrat.

Also x 2 - in the end Australian Border Force gave approval and they claimed they had no idea about any illness on board. I am assuming the Dept of Ag didn't communicate this email to ABF based on the approval, so what was it based on then?

 

[Seadog]

A spokeswoman for the McGowan Government said it was now aware they had been notified by the federal government about the sick crew, but said it was "not responsible for providing any approvals or advice regarding vessels berthing at Fremantle Port".

"This is the responsibility of the federal government, through Australian Border Force and the federal Department of Agriculture."

But the Australian Border Force said in a statement it had "received no reports of illness on board the vessel on the day of or prior to its arrival in port"

Sounds like more than one instance of miscommunication.

 

[arfadunger]

No matter what, surely no-one was going to stop the boat from docking. What, do we send the boat away for the crew to be left to their own devices? While lots are disappointed that our run of zeros have stopped, we've got the structure and support in place to deal with those that are crook. The query IMO is whether any of the crew were allowed off the boat, and the potential exposure to those that went on board.

 

[guero]

You’d think such an important issue warrants a phone call. How could anyone be certain the email would actually reach the intended recipient? Or even be read?

I get emails and letters from the feds all the time - I just bin them unread.

 

[Forward Press]

No matter what, surely no-one was going to stop the boat from docking. What, do we send the boat away for the crew to be left to their own devices? While lots are disappointed that our run of zeros have stopped, we've got the structure and support in place to deal with those that are crook. The query IMO is whether any of the crew were allowed off the boat, and the potential exposure to those that went on board.

If there was clear knowledge it would be dealt with like Artania. No crew allowed to leave whatsoever unless medically required, stringent PPE protocols and police involved, deep cleaning, the whole works.

Think it was more sheer luck that none of the crew had left the boat by the time it was discovered, but the FPA had staff on board and they are going to have to be tested and isolated.

 

[Seadog]

If there was clear knowledge it would be dealt with like Artania. No crew allowed to leave whatsoever unless medically required, stringent PPE protocols and police involved, deep cleaning, the whole works.

Think it was more sheer luck that none of the crew had left the boat by the time it was discovered, but the FPA had staff on board and they are going to have to be tested and isolated.

According to Littleproud no one left the ship, protocols were followed, much ado about nothing really, the system worked, kinda.

"The first two important facts, no-one has left the boat without medical attention being provided them. Beforehand. We have undertaken all the quarantine protocols and isolation. No-one went onto the boat unless they were wearing protective equipment.
Everyone who has come into contact with the Al Kuwait has undertaken that."

 

[ziad]

All has worked as it should. Only the premier sought to sensationalise it. There are too many premiers looking to grandstand for local votes.

 

[Rowan18]

All has worked as it should. Only the premier sought to sensationalise it. There are too many premiers looking to grandstand for local votes.

I agree with this. McGowan has been mouthing off and went to far. Now he has everyone scrambling to put blame on the feds.

Take the blame game away and it appears that a ship docked, WA Health did tests, found a positive and is now dealing with it. Risk of further transmission is low. End of story.