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COVID-19 DEVELOPMENTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA – CREW CHANGES
Published: 12 May 2021
Our correspondent (Cocks Macnish) in Perth advise Western Australia is currently operating under a vast number of different directions in relation to controlling its border, isolation and quarantine and associated matters to combat the COVID-19 threat. The Western Australian Government is preparing to reintroduce State of Emergency Legislation to enforce COVID-19 restrictions for at least the next six months. This will be achieved by amending the Emergency Management Amendment (COVID-19 Response) Act 2020 (WA) and the Criminal Code Amendment (COVID-19 Response) Act 2020 (WA).
This will enable the Government to continue to implement its hard border arrangements, hotel quarantine, mask wearing, contact tracing and physical distancing measures and various other matters in line with the advice of the Health Department.
It is anticipated that the State of Emergency Legislation will be extended until at least January next year.
It is therefore not anticipated that there will be any relaxation in the near future in the existing rules which apply in relation to crew change arrangements, which make it difficult and expensive (although not impossible) to arrange crew changes here.
Indeed, whilst the Maritime Crew Directions which have applied since 11 March 2020 have been replaced, the Government has brought in an almost identical set of directions (Maritime Crew Directions (No 2) which are the same but have particular provisions in relation to New Zealand.
The above said, and even with all the restrictions in place, we are finding that, although more expensive (largely due to charter airline flight requirements), landing crew for essential medical treatment is largely unaffected (although there are a number of government agencies and departments that must approve arrangements on an individual basis).