New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard has defended his team’s handling of the Ruby Princess cruise ship fiasco – as politicians call for his resignation over what’s been described the ‘worst public health disasters in recent history’.
Mr Hazzard’s staff – including four of the state’s leading medical professionals – allowed 2,700 passengers to disembark the cruise liner in Sydney Harbour on March 19 without testing them for coronavirus.
In the days and weeks to follow, at least 612 people linked to the ship have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 11 passengers are dead.
The death toll from the ship makes up almost a third of the nation’s 35 fatalities.
While the saga has been labelled one of the biggest health bungles in NSW history, Mr Hazzard on Sunday defended the decision to allow the ship to dock.
The Health Minister told Sky News his office did the best they could with the information they had at the time.
Mr Fuller said there was clear evidence COVID-19 has come off the Ruby Princess (pictured off coast of Sydney on Sunday) and at least 10 passengers have died in Australia because of it
Some 5,688 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 across Australia. Almost half of the nation’s total are from NSW, making it the nation’s epicentre for the virus
These ships have sadly become crucibles of this disease
Brad Hazzard, NSW Health Minister
‘The community should be satisfied that we had the best of the best making the decision,’ Mr Hazzard said.
A team of four medical professionals – including a consultant for the World Health Organisation – reportedly gave the green light for the ship to dock, despite port authorities initially disallowing it due to concerns over COVID-19.
But Mr Hazzard said about 40 passengers were swabbed for influenza – not coronavirus – before disembarking.
He said his team followed federal government protocols in allowing passengers to leave the ship, and utilized all information they had access to at the time.
‘They made the decision on the basis of what they considered appropriate and if you’ve got the best of the best making decisions it’s a bit hard for us all to be challenging that decision,’ he said.
Mr Hazzard did, however, note ‘these cruise ships have sadly become crucibles of disease, of this disease.’
He said there was no question of incompetence among his team, but said he ‘would’ve preferred it not happen’.
The testing process for coronavirus includes a swab of each nostril and the back of the throat
A patient from the Ruby Princess cruise liner is transported by a team of medical professionals in full protective equipment following the ship’s return to Sydney on March 19
The state’s Labor party officials have called for Mr Hazzard’s resignation in response to the crisis.
One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham appeared on Sky News following the interview, and agreed that ordinarily a bungle of this scale would result in enough pressure for a resignation.
‘In normal circumstances the health minister would have been forced to resign by now,’ he said, before describing Mr Hazzard as a ‘weak minister defending the indefensible.’
‘He is ultimately responsible for what is the worst public health disaster in recent history.’
Globally, more than 1.2million people have been infected with coronavirus and 66,000 people have died.
There are currently 5,688 known cases of the virus in Australia, including 35 deaths.
The Ruby Princess currently sits off the coast of Sydney after 2,700 passengers were allowed to disembark. Pictured: A shirtless man getting a photo of himself taken with the ship in the background
Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young agreed, describing the entire situation as a ‘fiasco’.
[Brad Hazzard] is ultimately responsible for the worst public health disaster in recent history
NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham
‘A quarter of cases all the way across in South Australia came from the ship… From the very dangerous, deadly stuff up in NSW,’ she said.
‘There is a lot of the blame game going on… It is an absolute debacle and it is costing people’s lives.’
Ms Hanson-Young said Peter Dutton should have been responsible for the borders but had gone ‘MIA’.
‘He’s taken no responsibility for this… If this was another type of boat and if these boats had other types of people on them, Mr Dutton would’ve been out there every day. This is one boat I would’ve liked him to stop, and he failed,’ she said.
Hospital staff wear protective gear while testing patients with symptoms of coronavirus in northeast Adelaide
Ruby Princess is pictured docked at Circular Quay as passengers disembarked in Sydney on March 19
The Ruby Princess remains at sea, but NSW police confirmed the cruise liner would arrive at Port Kembla on Monday ‘to allow for safer access for medical assessments, treatment, or emergency extractions of her crew’.
A police spokeswoman said the vessel will likely remain docked for up to 10 days, but no crew will disembark unless in an emergency and approved by the state’s police commissioner, Mick Fuller.
‘The berthing will be conducted under strict health and biosecurity guidelines and will not pose a risk to employees at the port or the broader community,’ the spokeswoman said in a statement.
‘She will also be refuelling and restocking provisions, as required for her home journey.’
Mr Fuller held a press conference on Sunday where he confirmed a criminal investigation will look into the handling of the fiasco.
The commissioner said it was ‘too early to tell’ whether a crime was committed, but said there was ‘no doubt’ coronavirus was brought off the ship.
The investigation – led by the NSW police homicide squad – aims to identity how passengers were allowed to disembark the Ruby Princess in Sydney, resulting in several deaths and COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the country.
‘The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation,’ Mr Fuller said.
He told reporters transparency regarding patient health on board the cruise ship was a key question for the investigation.
Police officer wearing protective gear looks on as Australian passengers from Italian cruise liners arrive at the Duxton Hotel in Perth
A patient waiting to be tested for coronavirus receives hand sanitiser from a nurse in full protective gear at a pop up testing clinic in Bondi
‘From my perspective there are many unanswered questions,’ he said.
‘There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see is the benchmark for the laws of the federal and state government.’
Mr Fuller believes there is clear evidence COVID-19 came off the Ruby Princess, leading to the deaths of at least 11 passengers so far.
The investigation will cover the actions of the port authority, ambulance, police, the NSW Health department and Carnival Australia.
Carnival Australia responded to Mr Fuller’s announcement on Sunday, offering full cooperation with the investigation.
‘In addition to willingly participating in the investigation, Carnival Australia will vigorously respond to any allegations of which there must now be full disclosure and the basis for them,’ a statement regarding the investigation read.
The NSW Port Authority initially told the ship’s captain not to dock as planned because of concerns passengers had COVID-19, before a midnight phone call that changed everything, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
Logs from that night by NSW Port Authority officials – who oversee the entrance of all ships to Sydney Harbour – reveal they refused the Ruby Princess entry about 11.30pm on March 18.
That decision was made after emails between the ship’s doctor and NSW Health that outlined concerns over 110 sick passengers onboard.
Among the sick were 17 with ‘temperatures over 38C’ and six who had ‘muscle aches and diarrhoea, severe vomiting or headaches’ – all common coronavirus symptoms.
In a conversation between a Ruby Princess official and a NSW Ambulance officer just before 9pm that night, there were concerns that some passengers may be suffering from the virus.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard (pictured) believes people should be satisfied with how his department handled the cruise ship fiasco
Pictured: A woman waiting at a tram stop while wearing a protective face mask due to the spread of COVID-19 in the community
Scott Morrison mounts extraordinary comeback in the polls amid the coronavirus pandemic – after bushfire crisis and THAT trip to Hawaii saw his popularity plummet
Australians have thrown their support behind Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his handling of the coronavirus crisis – three months after his popularity plummeted following a series of blunders during the bushfire crisis.
The latest Newspoll figures show Mr Morrison’s response to the health pandemic has been well received by voters.
The Liberal leader recorded the highest approval rating for a prime minister in more than a decade, since Kevin Rudd during the 2009 global financial crisis.
Mr Morrison leads Anthony Albanese by 53 to 29 as preferred prime minister and his party leads Labor in the two-party preferred split at 51-49.
Just three months ago, the polls told a staggeringly different tale.
Mr Morrison’s popularity in the polls plunged after he returned from a family vacation to Hawaii during the bushfire crisis. Pictured: Mr Morrison during a trip to the Pacific Islands
Mr Morrison had just returned from a family getaway to Hawaii as the nation he was chosen to lead sizzled through the worst bushfire crisis on record.
More than 30 people died during the fires and swathes of land across the entire country were destroyed.
Mr Morrison’s office denied he was on vacation and his popularity plummeted as a result, earning him the title of the eighth most disliked prime minister since the poll was first established in 1985, behind both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
At his lowest, Mr Morrison had a dismal 37 per cent approval rate, while opposition leader Anthony Albanese held a comfortable lead at 43 per cent.
The PM waded his way through a series of potentially catastrophic public relations blunders following his return from Hawaii, including appearing to forget about two locals who died in a bushfire and having his handshake rejected by an exhausted firefighter.
But the latest polls show he was able to reverse public opinions – and reveal just 29 per cent of Australians still hope for Mr Albanese to lead the nation.
Mr Morrison’s increased public support comes as he injected a total of $320 billion – or 16.4 per cent of GDP – back into the economy to support Australians during the coronavirus crisis.
The money will be rolled out across multiple different stimulus packages, designed to keep money in the pockets of hardworking Australians who have been impacted due to the pandemic.
Mr Morrison’s popularity has increased even within the last month as the Australian public responds to his handling of the coronavirus crisis
The cruise official requested two ambulances upon docking.
It came two days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a 30-day ban on all cruise ships arriving in Australia.
But the harbour master reversed the decision just an hour later.
Despite an expected arrival time of 6am the following morning, the ship arrived at port at 2.30am.
It led to confusion among two ambulance officers who were called to tend to the ill Ruby Princess passengers.
In another explosive phone call the two officers debated the competing advice they had received from Ruby Princess officials as to whether passengers were suspected of having the virus and whether tests had come back negative.
How a midnight phone call led to coronavirus-stricken Ruby Princess cruise being able to dock in Sydney Harbour in the dark
The doomed Ruby Princess cruise ship was set to be stopped from entering Sydney Harbour until a last minute backflip by port authorities, leaked phone calls reveal.
A total of 2,700 passengers – ten of who have since died from coronavirus – were able to disembark without health checks under the cover of darkness at 2.30am on March 19.
More than 620 of the ship’s passengers have since been confirmed to have the virus.
But explosive phone calls between Ruby Princess officials, NSW Port Authorities and NSW Ambulance officers, who were called to help ill passengers, reveal the debacle could have easily been avoided.
In fact the NSW Port Authority initially told the ship’s captain not to dock as planned because of concerns passengers had COVID-19, before a midnight phone call that changed everything, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
Logs from that night by NSW Port Authority officials – who oversee the entrance of all ships to Sydney Harbour – reveal they refused the Ruby Princess entry about 11.30pm on March 18.
That decision was made after emails between the ship’s doctor and NSW Health that outlined concerns over 110 sick passengers onboard.
Among the sick were 17 with ‘temperatures over 38C’ and six who had ‘muscle aches and diarrhoea, severe vomiting or headaches’ – all common coronavirus symptoms.
In a conversation between a Ruby Princess official and a NSW Ambulance officer just before 9pm that night, it is clear there were concerns that some passengers may be suffering from the virus.
The cruise official requested two ambulances upon docking.
It came two days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a 30-day ban on all cruise ships arriving in Australia.
But the harbour master reversed the decision just an hour later.
Despite being expected to dock at 6am the next morning, the ship arrived at port at 2.30am.
It led to confusion among two ambulance officers who were called to tend to the ill Ruby Princess passengers.
In another explosive phone call the two officers debated the competing advice they had received from Ruby Princess officials as to whether passengers were suspected of having the virus and whether tests had come back negative.
When the Ruby Princess left Sydney Harbour for a trip to New Zealand it was seen to be a medium risk of having coronavirus passengers.
By the time it was halfway through the trip, that ranking had somehow been reduced to low risk – a decision that was defended by NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant.
NSW Police have since launched an investigation into the handling of Ruby Princess’ arrival in Sydney.