Outrage as celebrities avoid hotel quarantine to isolate at home

By MiNDFOOD

Nicole Kidman says her life in Nashville is "boring". And that suits her and her family just fine. REUTERS
Nicole Kidman says her life in Nashville is "boring". And that suits her and her family just fine. REUTERS
Australian governments have come under fire after it was revealed several celebrities were not subjected to the same quarantine rules as everyone else.

It’s been reported Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and Dannii Minogue were granted exemptions allowing them to self-isolate in their homes rather than enter Australia’s hotel quarantine system after they returned to the country from the United States.

A-listers Urban and Kidman recently arrived in Sydney from COVID hotspot Tennessee on a private jet ahead of Kidman filming her new mini-series Nine Perfect Strangers.

According to Inside Film Magazine, Kidman was granted permission by the NSW Government to establish “an isolated production hub under police-supervised quarantine” at her Southern Highlands property, to allow pre-production to start remotely.

Meanwhile, Minogue was permitted to self-isolate at a private residence in the Gold Coast when she returned to Australia to film a reality TV show.

It’s prompted outrage from citizens who have been denied hotel quarantine exemptions themselves, even when they have come from countries that have no community transmission.

“Money obviously talks a lot louder than the average taxpaying citizen in Australia,” Queenslander Nicola Ferguson told 9 News, after her request to self-isolate at home was denied when she returned home from visiting her dying mother in New Zealand. “Nobody disputes that quarantine is necessary. It is not necessary from a COVID-free country.”

Under the Queensland and NSW governments’ rules, travellers entering the states now have to pay towards the cost of their hotel quarantine – $2800 per adult for Queensland and $3000 for NSW.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has said there are “no exemptions” from quarantine, but the Nine Perfect Strangers cast and crew were allowed to isolate at a separate location from the hotels used for other people returning from abroad.

“Apparently there is strict quarantine, it’s just a question of where you have the quarantine, and the whole film crew is all in one hotel,” Berejiklian said.

“The only issue there was the location of the quarantine but please know that everybody, it doesn’t matter who they are – can I be very clear on this – there is no exemption for anybody from quarantine and that’s why NSW has been so successful.”

Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young denied Minogue was given special treatment, saying an exemption was granted because she had a “a COVID-safe plan managed by a third party”.

“There’s no special treatment for anyone,” Young said.

“The default arrangement in Queensland is if you don’t have a COVID-safe plan or an industry plan or an exemption to hotel quarantine, then you go into hotel quarantine.

“There are a large number of different groups that have exemptions to hotel quarantine.

“For instance, consular officials, ADF personnel, people who work in the oil and gas industry … people who work in specific film and entertainment industries.”

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