Chris Eccles’ lack of responsibility at hotel quarantine inquiry lets down locked-up Victorians
After a procession of senior public servants struggled to recall meetings, emails and phone calls at the hotel quarantine inquiry, their disgraces were finally being called out, but still no one — not even their top dog — has taken responsibility.
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The moment arrived shortly after 11am.
For more than an hour barrister Rachel Ellyard had been gently leading the state’s most powerful public servant through his evidence about how the catastrophic public policy disaster came to unfold, when she got to the question at the heart of the hotel quarantine inquiry.
Did Chris Eccles, Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, know how private security came to be the front tier of the hotel quarantine program? “No, I’m not aware,” was the reply.
Ellyard’s manner exuded sweet reasonableness as she went in for the kill: “The decision to engage private security ended up employing thousands of people and costing tens of millions of dollars. Shouldn’t we be able to say who made it, as a matter of proper governance?” Eureka!
After watching the procession of senior public servants blinking like dementia patients as they struggled to recall meetings, emails and phone calls or deny the meaning of their words on the pages in front of them, someone was finally calling this out this disgrace.
Millions of us locked in our houses 22 hours a day deserve to know who made the decisions that put us here.
And what was the reply from Daniel Andrews’ man?
“I have a strong view that the concept of collective governance, where you are bringing together the specialist skills of different actors to deal with complex problems, is an important part of how we operate. So you’ve asked for my response as the head of the public service, I can see some legitimacy, legitimacy in the idea of there being collective governance around a matter such as this.”
In other words, everyone is responsible. Everyone and no one.
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Originally published as Chris Eccles’ lack of responsibility at hotel quarantine inquiry lets down locked-up Victorians