Andrews government backs hotel quarantine boss Emma Cassar as pressure mounts

The acting premier has leapt to defend Victoria’s troubled hotel quarantine program, despite revelations from a bombshell report.

The opposition has called for the head of Victoria’s troubled hotel quarantine program to be sacked.

Opposition leader Michael O’Brien on Thursday said there hadn’t been enough sackings in hotel quarantine.

“There should be a lot more and Emma Cassar, who is just really a political public servant, she should go,” he said.

“She’s more interested acting as a spin doctor protecting the Labor government than she is actually delivering safe outcomes. Seriously, there have been so many stuff-ups in hotel quarantine under this governance.

“I have no confidence in Emma Cassar and I don’t think any Victorians would have any confidence. For that matter, I don’t have any confidence in the government either.”

Quarantine boss Emma Cassar.

Minister Danny Pearson has backed Ms Cassar.

Mr O’Brien accused the state government of covering up the most recent revelations out of the doomed hotel quarantine program, as exposed by secret documents obtained by The Australian.

Dozens of confidential reports, written between January to April, were revealed on Wednesday, detailing a litany of breaches, failings and issues in the state’s hotel quarantine system.

These included a nurse trying to give a returned traveller a banned nebuliser and a frontline medical officer defiantly vaping inside a quarantine hotel despite being warned by health staff the e-cigarette mist could promote “viral spread”.

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria’s general manager for infection control, Matiu Bush, was stood down with pay, after the reports found Bush refused to be tested after a tour of the Intercontinental Hotel.

Bush was alleged to have told workers “I’m the head of IPC and I override that protocol”.

In another instance, Bush left the Pullman Hotel to buy a coffee, but refused to replace his face mask upon return.

He said the only reason Matiu Bush was stood down on Wednesday was because of the media breaking the story.

“The government knew about this, Emma Cassar knew about this, and they swept it under the carpet, they hid it, they covered it up,” he said.

But the acting premier and the minister responsible for the hotel quarantine program both backed the bureaucrat — and the greater program.

Victoria’s hotel quarantine system has been plagued with problems. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

Acting minister for COVID Quarantine Victoria, Danny Pearson, said Emma Cassar was an “outstanding public servant”.

“She’s working tirelessly and I think she’s doing a fantastic job,” Mr Pearson said.

Acting premier James Merlino said he had full confidence in Ms Cassar’s abilities to lead the program.

“She’s doing an incredible job,” he said.

“This is a very difficult environment. Hotel quarantine, thousands of workers, we’ve got very strict protocols in place. Any breach, any mistake, anyone doing the wrong thing, it’s immediately reported and actioned.

When questioned by the Herald Sun about whether any more quarantine workers would be stood down in the coming days or weeks, Mr Pearson said: “I would anticipate that everyone in the program behaves properly and appropriately at all times.

“But this is about making sure that we get the right culture. It’s about making sure that corrective action is undertaken when there are problems and when there are issues, the people continue to have the confidence to speak out if they think something’s going wrong.”

‘F--- RISK’: BUREAUCRAT STOOD DOWN

A former Victorian chief infection officer claimed Australia had “become obsessed with risk” less than a year before being appointed to manage the state’s failed hotel quarantine program.

Matiu Bush, who the general manager of infection control at the agency overseeing the state’s hotel quarantine program throughout the height of the pandemic, created the “f---risk” hashtag on social media, telling an interviewer in 2019 the movement “highlights that in healthcare we have become obsessed with risk, and in doing so, stifled creativity.”

“We found this often when people wanted to donate equipment to us … When someone said ‘I have a scooter or an electric wheelchair or a whole lot of supplies, dressing supplies’, and hospitals said ‘Don’t touch it’, infection control risk, etc,” Mr Bush, who at the time managed the community organisation One Good Street, said.

“Even though the evidence actually says an unopened packet of equipment in a house is no risk.”

While working for the government, Mr Bush was reported to the authorities on at least two occasions for refusing mandatory COVID-19 testing requests from the Defence Force and breaching infection control protocols, according to The Australian.

On Wednesday, the government announced Mr Bush had been stood down on full pay while a review is carried out.

Meanwhile, a former frontline worker in the same hotel quarantine system has blown the lid on an environment of “hostile and intimidating” behaviour.

Matiu Bush has been forced to step down.

Mr Bush was general manager of infection control.

“In all my working life, I have never been met with this kind of behaviour or had to write such an email. It makes me sad that I have to do it now,” the woman wrote in an incident report on April 22, The Australian reports.

“I believe that it is not healthy or fair for me to remain in that toxic and hostile environment,” the report continued.

The woman alleged the behaviour began after she refused to sign a letter that she believed covered up safety breaches by a supervisor.

Earlier in the week, it was also revealed a manager and the head of infection control at the Novotel Melbourne Central were fired after 51 incidents were reported regarding their conduct, and a further 15 complaints were made amid fears their behaviour could have sparked another outbreak.

— Read the full story in The Australian here

Originally published as Andrews government backs hotel quarantine boss Emma Cassar as pressure mounts