Hotel quarantine inquiry: Brett Sutton blocked from taking control of COVID response
The inquiry into Victoria’s botched hotel quarantine program has heard Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was sidelined from the position of state controller of the COVID response.
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Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was rolled by a senior health bureaucrat who refused to appoint him to the position of state controller of the COVID-19 crisis.
The hotel quarantine inquiry has heard explosive evidence that Professor Sutton disagreed with the decision to sideline him from the job — explicitly laid out for him under Victoria’s emergency health plans.
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck said her decision to appoint someone other than Prof Sutton was made because of “the significant demands on the time of the CHO’’ and the requirement for him to lead “public health communications with the Victorian community.’’
She instead appointed a number of different people to revolve through the position.
Asked by counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle if Prof Sutton was in agreement with the decision, Ms Skilbeck replied: “No, he was not.’’
“Would it be fair to say that he was against that decision?’’ Mr Ihle asked.
“He was, initially. He referred to the presumption in the (emergency plan),’’ Ms Skilbeck said.
She agreed the emergency plan presumed that Victoria’s Chief Health Officer would be appointed to the state controller position, as a “starting position’’ or “normally’’ but said the CHO’s decisions could not be overruled, regardless of who was state controller.
Finn Romanes, deputy public health commander at DHHS, told the inquiry it was possible that if Prof Sutton had been in charge, there may have been a greater opportunity to “embed” public health expertise in the doomed hotel quarantine program.
Dr Romanes lobbied for a “public health approach’’ but in a statement to the inquiry said: “from what I could see, the program was characterised and managed predominantly as an accommodation or logistics program.’’
The inquiry also heard that Ms Skilbeck had on June 24 discussed with DHHS secretary Kym Peake the possible use of ADF personnel to assist with transporting quarantined passengers.
She said Ms Peake had forwarded to her an email she sent to Chris Eccles, the Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary, in which she requested additional ADF personnel for contact tracing, expanded community testing and to support entry and exit arrangement for hotel detention.
Mr Ihle asked if she knew that, a “few days prior’’, the then-Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy had made an offer of “ADF assistance in lieu of private security guards?’’
“I don’t believe I was,’’ Ms Skilbeck replied.
She also worked up an “options paper’’ in which the “preferred option was for Victoria Police to lead the rostering of staff to replace contracted security guards’’ using police, Protective Service Officers and potentially sheriff personnel.
“The key implication of this preferred option was a requirement for Victoria Police to source on average, approximately 400 police officers per day,’’ Ms Skilbeck said in her statement.
“Ultimately, the Victorian Government made the decision to utilise Corrections Victoria personnel, supported by Victoria Police, in delivery of security functions for hotel quarantine operations.’’
The inquiry was also told DHHS considered allowing people to finish their quarantine in their own homes if they tested negative to COVID-19 on the third day of their detention, but the plan was abandoned due to lack of speedy test results, and concerns that people were not complying with isolation orders.
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Originally published as Hotel quarantine inquiry: Brett Sutton blocked from taking control of COVID response