Last month, Fairfax released leaked emails revealing that the Victorian Government knew of problems surrounding hotel quarantine in March, but failed to take corrective action:
Top bureaucrats warned senior health officials at the beginning of the Andrews government’s botched hotel quarantine scheme that security guards were ill-equipped for the work and demanded police be called in to take control…
The first email raising concerns was sent by a senior bureaucrat at the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions within 24 hours of the March 28 launch of the program.
It was addressed to several senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which was the leading agency for the day-to-day management of hotel quarantine…
“We request that Victoria Police is present 24/7 at each hotel starting from this evening. We ask that DHHS urgently make that request as the control agency,” the email read…
Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions official sent a second email on March 30 demanding that DHHS request police support, suggesting private security companies were “not adequate” to guard the hotels.
The email recommended DHHS ban quarantined travellers from leaving their rooms for any reason, including exercise.
A top official from Emergency Management Victoria responded to the request by saying police were not required because guards could call triple zero if a situation warranted police involvement…
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed on July 3 that the Chief Health Officer was told of similar problems with the hotel quarantine system in mid-April…
Police Minister Lisa Neville said police were not the default agency for the management of the pandemic response in Victoria, as they were in other states…
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported earlier this month that at least five agencies were involved in the decision to deploy private security guards, instead of soldiers or police, at quarantine hotels: Health; Jobs; Premier and Cabinet; Emergency Management Victoria; and Victoria Police…
Yesterday, Victorian Jobs Minister, Martin Pakula, fronted a parliamentary inquiry into the bungled hotel quarantine, whereby he admitted that his department asked for police to monitor returned travellers:
The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions was instructed to hire security guards to monitor the returned travellers following a meeting at the State Control Centre on the afternoon of March 27, the day before the quarantine program began.
However, Jobs Minister Martin Pakula has told a parliamentary inquiry his department raised concerns soon after about the guards.
“There were on a couple of occasions early in the program, entreaties from officers of my department, where it was our view that police should be on-site at hotels,” Mr Pakula told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s COVID-19 Inquiry on Wednesday.
“That was a recommendation made by DJPR (Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions) early in the process.”
Victoria Police were not brought into to assist at the hotels until July, well after genomic testing linked infection control breaches by security guards to the state’s second wave of coronavirus…
Department secretary Simon Phemister said the decision to use private security guards rather than police or the Australian Defence Force was made at the March 27 meeting.
He did not attend the meeting, which was chaired by Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp.
“I don’t know what went into that decision-making process of the experts in the State Control Centre,” Mr Phemister said.
“Those experts then commissioned my department to go forth and procure private security, which we activated immediately after the meeting”…
Mr Pakula would not be drawn on which government minister was ultimately responsible for the program.
Meanwhile, Premier Daniel Andrews stood by his claims that Australian Defence Force (ADF) were not offered to assist with hotel quarantine – a claim flat out rejected by the Department of Defence:
“It has been consistently put to me that me or others have consistently said no to help. That’s simply wrong. That is simply wrong. And the notion that that has occurred – that’s just not right,’’ Mr Andrews said.
“I was asked a question — why did you do one thing and not the other? What I was saying was I’m not entirely certain that the other was on offer. And Commissioner Crisp goes to that. That shouldn’t be read as a criticism.”
Mr Andrews said it was a waste of Mr Crisp’s time to deal with the matter.
“I think Commissioner Andrew Crisp was clear today. My only regret is he’s had to take himself away from other important work to be issuing statements,’’ he said.
Earlier today, Mr Crisp issued a statement saying he did not seek ADF assistance for the hotel quarantine scheme.
Mr Crisp said the ADF was involved in discussions but did not offer to assist nor was that assistance requested.
Recall that in a press release issued by Daniel Andrews on 27 March, he explicitly stated that ADF would be engaged to assist with hotel quarantine [my emphasis]:
Following agreement by the National Cabinet, all travellers returning from overseas to Victoria will be placed in enforced quarantine for a self-isolation period of 14-days to slow the spread of coronavirus…
National Cabinet has agreed that all states and territories will put in place enforced quarantine measures…
It has also been agreed that the Australian Defence Force will be engaged to support the implementation of these arrangements.
Dan Andrews also told the ABC on 28 March that Victoria Police, health authorities and the ADF would be used to monitor hotel quarantine, before opting for private security instead:
“[These] continued, next big steps are exactly what we need if we are going to contain this virus, save lives and make sure that our health system doesn’t get overrun,” he said.
“[Returning travellers] will be housed, they will be fed, they will be transported. There will be no cost to them.
“This is the best way to ensure absolute compliance.”
Monitoring would carried out by Victoria Police, health authorities and the Australian Defence Force, the Premier added.
We are witnessing chicanery and butt covering on a grand scale by the Victorian Government.
