Mark Butler

As we move through that three-week period, we will take advice from chief health officers about what arrangements should be in place for the remainder of the 42 days.

This is probably the strongest quarantine arrangement anywhere in the world because our government takes our responsibility to keep the community safe and healthy very, very seriously.

This is, albeit a relatively low risk, still a risk of transmission among passengers of this cruise ship.

They are in good health.

They have been kept informed, including through a town hall meeting last night.

about the arrangements that the Australian government is currently putting in place.

And they are now in hotel quarantine, hopefully asleep, as it's overnight in the Netherlands right now.

You know, I do make no apology for the fact that this is one of the stronger responses you will see around the world.

Many other countries are putting in place quarantine orders at a centre like this or at a hospital only for two or three days rather than three weeks.

That was Health Minister Mark Butler speaking there.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the government would consult with chief health officers and the Australian Health Protection Committee to determine next steps after the initial three-week isolation period.

The evacuated passengers are expected to arrive in Western Australia on a chartered flight from Tenerife tomorrow.

My pleasure.

I don't think we are.

The interim evaluations have demonstrated, I think, beyond any question that this model is an important addition to an otherwise terrific healthcare system that we have here.

From the time that I announced this model...

a little over four years ago in the lead into the 2022 election.

I've said this is in ways a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle for Australia.

It's a very common model in most other countries we compare ourselves to, long established in New Zealand.

Pretty prominent in the US, the UK, most European countries.