The proposal, based on the successful Australian Open quarantine system, would allow 120 overseas arrivals to enter Victoria each week from May 24, including overseas students and workers needed for major events or stage and screen productions.This would be on top of the state’s existing cap for returning Australians of 1000 arrivals a week, after the state government tried to include international students in that limit and was sent back to the drawing board by Scott Morrison.Under the plan, which Acting Premier James Merlino has sent to the Prime Minister, the new arrivals would pay more than the $3000 fortnightly fee currently charged to one adult.Mr Merlino said it would “ensure critical economic activity can continue in our state”, after the university sector spent months pleading for a way to bring overseas students back.“We’ve always said that we would work to welcome back international students when it is safe and reasonable to do so,” he said.In his letter, Mr Merlino asked the federal government to approve Victoria’s plan and fast-track visas for the new arrivals.He said arrivals would come to Melbourne “where possible” on commercial flights.After repeated troubles with the state’s quarantine system, Mr Merlino assured the Prime Minister the new program would maintain “the highest levels of safety”.This means all workers in the new hotel would have to be vaccinated and subjected to testing and isolation requirements, while residents would also be tested rigorously. The hotel would only be approved after a ventilation assessment and remediation works if required.Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has said the government would approve plans to bring back international students if a state had the approval of its chief health officer, and the quarantine beds were an expansion of existing capacity.
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