Documents have revealed that Dannii Minogue’s successful bid to quarantine at a private home instead of a hotel provoked backlash.
The Masked Singer judge was allowed to quarantine at a private home after coming back to the country from California and this unsurprisingly provoked ire aimed at the Queensland Premier’s office from fellow returning Australians who were forced to pay for hotel quarantine.
The correspondence also highlight that the Queensland government’s decision caused confusion among the police officers who were supposed to be enforcing the tough quarantine rules.
The exemption process to complete mandatory quarantine at home for 14 days, instead of in a hotel, came to light back in July when Minogue and her young son, Ethan, were allowed to quarantine at home on the Gold Coast.
Under Right to Information, more than 460 pages of documents were released to the Brisbane Times, providing insight into the approval process for the star’s request.
They show that Queensland Health was approached in late June by an “independent third party”, requesting approval to manage Minogue’s quarantine at a private residence.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said that other people in the film and TV industry at the time had also been allowed to avoid mandatory hotel quarantine if they had a suitable alternative place.
The initial request for Minogue to quarantine at home was put to Queensland Health on June 23rd. Details of the third party’s proposal were redacted in the documents. Then a few weeks later, on July 3rd, a senior Queensland Health medical adviser recommended Dr. Young approve the exemption for Minogue “as a proof of concept private international quarantine arrangement”.
The adviser’s email to Dr. Young stated that the proposal would “facilitate entry of key individuals travelling internationally for the entertainment, film and sporting industries particularly to the Gold Coast film and entertainment industry.”
“There is potential to support the re-establishment of a significant industry in Queensland,” the email also said, citing the successful transfer of Melbourne AFL teams to Queensland.
Minogue wasn’t the only celebrity to be given leeway with the rules. Hollywood royalty Tom Hanks was allowed to stay in a chosen hotel rather than a designated one when he came to the Gold Coast in September.
After news of Minogue’s special treatment was revealed, backlash towards the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was inevitable.
“Why is everyone else being denied and a famous and/or wealthy Australians allowed to be at home?” one person wrote to the Premier.
“This morning the Health Minister confirmed in the media that Ms Danielle Minogue has been granted a ‘special exemption’ from hotel quarantine and that she is currently in self-quarantine on the Gold Coast,” the email said.
“The attached document shows QPS records of Ms Minogue transiting through the Brisbane Airport on 11th July 2020, however details of the ‘special exemption’ haven’t been provided to Task Force Sierra Linnet.
“This responsibility has traditionally rested with Task Force Sierra Linnet where people are in self-quarantine in the community however we are currently unaware of the arrangements made between Q-Health and Ms Minogue.”
A staffer in the office of the Chief Health Officer responded two days later forwarding an email with those details: “Ms Minogue’s quarantine is being managed by (redacted) in accordance with a detailed health and security plan, including 24/7 onsite private security maintaining a log of activity which is provided to the (Gold Coast) Public Health Unit. Due to the confidentiality of this plan, it will not be shared at this time,” the staffer wrote.
