Dean Summers, national co-ordinator for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), was in Port Kembla on Tuesday to speak with a representative of the Ruby Princess crew to ensure they are being properly treated and that they have access to free WiFi to get in touch with their families.

After waiting outside the gates near the grain terminal for four hours, Mr Summers was escorted through by police, thinking he was about to speak to a crew member.

However, he was handed a mobile phone and on the other end was a member of the Carnival HR team from Sydney, who said they would pass around Mr Summers' number and see if anyone wanted to call him- tomorrow.

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Mr Summers said the ship was in Port Kembla for up to 10 days and the NSW Government needed to figure out what happened when that time-frame had passed,

"They cannot send it out to sea," Mr Summers said.

"There has to be a process to start sending some of this crew home. It's just a no-brainer - there's no cost to the public, the company's going to pay it all.

"Let's find out who is completely free of this virus and has been isolated and get them home to their families."

The national co-ordinator said the ship had been sent to Port Kembla to hide it, pointing out it was concealed from the land side by a row of nine grain silos.

"The ship is down here being hidden away from the public eye because of political expediency in the case of the Berejiklian government," Mr Summers said.

Like other critics of the decision to let it dock at Port Kembla, Mr Summers believed it made more sense to send it to Sydney, which has an international cruise ship terminal.

"That is a state-of-the-art terminal and completely empty now," he said.

"It is in a maritime secured zone so it would be the highest security of any particular geographical position in the country - up there with an airport.

"We know that these seafarers would have been much better served being in Sydney at that terminal than being stuck behind coal stockpiles and wheat silos."

NSW Police said there had been no changes since Monday, when it was announced there were no patients from the Ruby Princess within Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District hospital facilities.

It is understood as many as one in five of the 1100 people on board the ship have coronavirus-like symptoms.

On Sunday, NSW Police announced it would investigate the circumstances surrounding the docking and disembarkation of passengers from the Ruby Princess in Sydney last month.

The move led to eleven deaths and more than 600 cases of COVID-19.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said it was helpful to have the Ruby Princess in port as part of that investigation.

"From an investigative perspective, the fact the Ruby is here is a positive in terms of the evidence we need on that ship," Commissioner Fuller said.

"We will probably use a third provider like [private medical company] Aspen so police don't have to go on the ship.

"We certainly need to move quickly in gaining that evidence before the ship is allowed to leave."

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