Coronavirus NSW: NSW Port Authority official thought Ruby Princess was 'low risk'
A NSW Port Authority official thought the Ruby Princess cruise ship was deemed 'low risk' when a port worker boarded, an inquiry into the handling of the fiasco has heard.
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A NSW Port Authority official has admitted he thought the Ruby Princess was deemed “low risk” when he dispatched a port worker to bring the ship into dock.
That’s despite receiving an email a day earlier stating it was Port Authority policy to treat a ship as if it had a positive COVID-19 result if tests had been taken off the vessel, pending a result.
The Port Authority is responsible for dispatching ‘pilots’ onto large vessels to bring them into port. The inquiry heard the pilot who sailed the Ruby Princess into port was not informed of any COVID-19 risks on board.
In an email from a Port Authority official, Mr Butchart had been told that results for COVID-19 tests taken off the ship were not yet known.
However the email also noted that the Ruby Princess was deemed “low risk” by NSW Health.
“Once you received this email… were you going to approach the Ruby Princess as if it had a positive result for COVID-19 and alert your pilot to that risk?” lawyers appearing on behalf of Carnival Australia asked Mr Butchart.
“No, I wasn’t,” Mr Butchart replied.“The message I took from the email is that it was low risk, (NSW Health) won’t be attending, great, NSW Health have got this in hand,” he said.
“Could you explain whether you treated the Ruby Princess as if it had a positive result, and alerted your pilot accordingly, and if you didn’t, why didn’t you?” commissioner Bret Walker SC asked.
“I didn’t alert the pilot to that risk, no,” Mr Butchart said.
“I don’t know if it's an error on my part, if I misread the email, but I looked at that email very quickly, and … I thought ‘terrific, NSW health have got this in hand’.”
Mr Butchart agreed with the suggestion from Mr Walker that “the public health label 'low risk' … introduced an unfortunate element in your decision making”.
Counsel assisting the commission Richard Beasley said it should be noted Mr Butchart had enough concern about the Ruby Princess to cancel its booking to dock in Sydney, before that decision was reversed.
Updates
Port agent expected health authorities to take stricter precautions
Jessica McSweeney
A Ruby Princess port agent expected government health authorities to enforce stricter coronavirus screening precautions before passengers were allowed to get off the cruise ship in Sydney on March 19, an inquiry heard.
Carnival Australia port agent Valerie Burrows said she thought NSW Health would follow a similar procedure to an earlier docking of the ship on March 8, where workers delayed disembarkation in Circular Quay while travellers and crew with fever and respiratory symptoms were assessed.
“I was fully expecting them to board,” Ms Burrows said.
“Simply because they boarded on the 8th and I expected them to do the same on the 19th. Because of the number of guests that were on board, in particular with influenza like symptoms.”
–Lucy Hughes Jones
Best Rock Album
David Aidone
The decision to reverse a cancellation of the Ruby Princess’ booking to dock in Sydney was based on “hearsay” about coronavirus risks, an inquiry heard.
A senior Carnival Australia manager told the NSW Ports Authority that NSW Health had not said there was any COVID-19 on board when questioned the night before the cruise ship berthed on March 19.
The Authority had initially denied the ship permission to dock late on March 18 following a call from a senior ambulance officer who said two passengers on board needed “COVID beds” in hospital, the public inquiry heard.
However in the early hours of March 19 the Authority reversed its decision following a call from senior Carnival Australia manager Paul Mifsud.
The Authority’s acting chief operating officer Emma Fensom told the inquiry Mr Mifsud assured her the ambulance bookings weren’t linked to coronavirus, which influenced her decision to let the liner dock.
The Port Authority is responsible for dispatching ‘pilots’ onto large vessels to bring them into port but Mr Mifsud said NSW Health had already deemed the vessel a low biosecurity risk.
“Did you consider how NSW Health would know whether or not there was COVID-19 on board?” counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC asked.
“No,” Ms Fensom replied.
“I think everything Mr Mifsud said was… hearsay,” Commissioner Bret Walker SC said.
“He wasn’t a doctor, let alone the ship's doctor. And he’s not an ambulance officer. So… it stood to reason that all he was doing was, at best, passing on something somebody else had told him.”
“Yes,” Ms Fensom agreed.
“So what was the purpose of you talking to him? How could that increase your confidence in the accuracy of what he was saying?” Mr Walker asked.
“I just wanted to hear it for myself,” Ms Fensom said.
The inquiry previously heard the liner’s chief doctor told a port agent the two patients had fever and respiratory illness symptoms, but stressed they only needed ambulances for nerve damage and a heart condition.
Both patients later tested positive for COVID-19, and one died within days.
–Lucy Hughes Jones
Decision to dock based on 'hearsay'
The decision to reverse a cancellation of the Ruby Princess’ booking to dock in Sydney was based on “hearsay” about coronavirus risks, an inquiry heard.
A senior Carnival Australia manager told the NSW Ports Authority that NSW Health had not said there was any COVID-19 on board when questioned the night before the cruise ship berthed on March 19.
The Authority had initially denied the ship permission to dock late on March 18 following a call from a senior ambulance officer who said two passengers on board needed “COVID beds” in hospital, the public inquiry heard.
However in the early hours of March 19 the Authority reversed its decision following a call from senior Carnival Australia manager Paul Mifsud.
The Authority’s acting chief operating officer Emma Fensom told the inquiry Mr Mifsud assured her the ambulance bookings weren’t linked to coronavirus, which influenced her decision to let the liner dock.
The Port Authority is responsible for dispatching ‘pilots’ onto large vessels to bring them into port but Mr Mifsud said NSW Health had already deemed the vessel a low biosecurity risk.
“Did you consider how NSW Health would know whether or not there was COVID-19 on board?” counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC asked.
“No,” Ms Fensom replied.
“I think everything Mr Mifsud said was… hearsay,” Commissioner Bret Walker SC said.
“He wasn’t a doctor, let alone the ship's doctor. And he’s not an ambulance officer. So… it stood to reason that all he was doing was, at best, passing on something somebody else had told him.”
“Yes,” Ms Fensom agreed.
“So what was the purpose of you talking to him? How could that increase your confidence in the accuracy of what he was saying?” Mr Walker asked.
“I just wanted to hear it for myself,” Ms Fensom said.
The inquiry previously heard the liner’s chief doctor told a port agent the two patients had fever and respiratory illness symptoms, but stressed they only needed ambulances for nerve damage and a heart condition.
Both patients later tested positive for COVID-19, and one died within days.
–Lucy Hughes Jones
David Aidone
A NSW Port Authority worker complained that the Ruby Princess captain lied about sick passengers on board during an earlier docking of the ship in Sydney on March 8, an inquiry heard.
A senior NSW Port Authority figure said an apology was issued after one of her marine pilots was told there were no ill guests on board despite forms being lodged with other government agencies showing some guests had acute respiratory disease or influenza-like illnesses, and some had been tested for COVID-19.
Acting chief operating officer Emma Fensom said the captain claimed there had been a misunderstanding, thinking he’d been asked specifically about confirmed coronavirus cases.
Ms Fensom said the correct information would have given rise to further inquiries with NSW Health.
NSW Health delayed disembarkation at Circular Quay while unwell travellers and crew were assessed, but when the ship berthed there again on March 19 nearly 3,000 passengers were allowed to leave without adequate checks.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC noted how rare it would be for a vessel with “enough people to constitute a large village or a small town” to be entirely free of illness.
“I’m stuck by how odd… it was to get back an answer ‘no’,” he said.
“It could be odd,” Ms Fensom replied.
The inquiry also heard state government health authorities backflipped on cruise ship COVID-19 policy one month before the Ruby Princess was allowed to disembark.
Ms Fensom said she was asked for help from NSW Health to get coronavirus test samples off liners suspected of being contaminated while still at sea on February 14.
NSW Health’s Katie Barker emailed Ms Fensom flagging a new protocol banning ships with possible “outbreaks” from berthing until swab results came back, and asked the Authority's marine pilots to collect the specimens and take them back ashore for urgent testing, the inquiry heard.
“You understood that from this email, first of all Ms Barker was saying none of these ships are going to be able to disembark until testing samples showed they were negative for coronavirus?” counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC asked.
“Correct,” Ms Fensom said.
She said while the Authority wanted to cooperate, when the department’s communicable diseases director Dr Christine Selvey also pitched the idea, she advised the plan was “operationally impossible.”
Ms Fensom said when she spoke to NSW Health physician Dr Sean Tobin about the plan on February 18 he said it’d be “very unlikely we’d have a test result before the ship berthed.”
She said NSW Health informed her that results take a minimum three hours to process, while samples would be taken off any liner when it was located just inside the headland entrance to Sydney Harbour, approximately 40 minutes from Circular Quay.
“So my understanding was that the ship would in fact berth in that 40 minutes and the specimen would at best be tested in a time period of three hours,” Ms Fensom said.
–Lucy Hughes Jones
NSW Port Authority not told of ill passengers
A NSW Port Authority worker complained that the Ruby Princess captain lied about sick passengers on board during an earlier docking of the ship in Sydney on March 8, an inquiry heard.
A senior NSW Port Authority figure said an apology was issued after one of her marine pilots was told there were no ill guests on board despite forms being lodged with other government agencies showing some guests had acute respiratory disease or influenza-like illnesses, and some had been tested for COVID-19.
Acting chief operating officer Emma Fensom said the captain claimed there had been a misunderstanding, thinking he’d been asked specifically about confirmed coronavirus cases.
Ms Fensom said the correct information would have given rise to further inquiries with NSW Health.
NSW Health delayed disembarkation at Circular Quay while unwell travellers and crew were assessed, but when the ship berthed there again on March 19 nearly 3,000 passengers were allowed to leave without adequate checks.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC noted how rare it would be for a vessel with “enough people to constitute a large village or a small town” to be entirely free of illness.
“I’m stuck by how odd… it was to get back an answer ‘no’,” he said.
“It could be odd,” Ms Fensom replied.
The inquiry also heard state government health authorities backflipped on cruise ship COVID-19 policy one month before the Ruby Princess was allowed to disembark.
Ms Fensom said she was asked for help from NSW Health to get coronavirus test samples off liners suspected of being contaminated while still at sea on February 14.
NSW Health’s Katie Barker emailed Ms Fensom flagging a new protocol banning ships with possible “outbreaks” from berthing until swab results came back, and asked the Authority's marine pilots to collect the specimens and take them back ashore for urgent testing, the inquiry heard.
“You understood that from this email, first of all Ms Barker was saying none of these ships are going to be able to disembark until testing samples showed they were negative for coronavirus?” counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC asked.
“Correct,” Ms Fensom said.
She said while the Authority wanted to cooperate, when the department’s communicable diseases director Dr Christine Selvey also pitched the idea, she advised the plan was “operationally impossible.”
Ms Fensom said when she spoke to NSW Health physician Dr Sean Tobin about the plan on February 18 he said it’d be “very unlikely we’d have a test result before the ship berthed.”
She said NSW Health informed her that results take a minimum three hours to process, while samples would be taken off any liner when it was located just inside the headland entrance to Sydney Harbour, approximately 40 minutes from Circular Quay.
“So my understanding was that the ship would in fact berth in that 40 minutes and the specimen would at best be tested in a time period of three hours,” Ms Fensom said.
–Lucy Hughes Jones
NSW Port Authority official thought Ruby Princess to be 'low risk'
Jessica McSweeney
A NSW Port Authority official has admitted he thought the Ruby Princess was deemed “low risk” when he dispatched a port worker to bring the ship into dock.
That’s despite receiving an email a day earlier stating it was Port Authority policy to treat a ship as if it had a positive COVID-19 result if tests had been taken off the vessel, pending a result.
The Port Authority is responsible for dispatching ‘pilots’ onto large vessels to bring them into port. The inquiry heard the pilot who sailed the Ruby Princess into port was not informed of any COVID-19 risks on board.
In an email from a Port Authority official, Mr Butchart had been told that results for COVID-19 tests taken off the ship were not yet known.
However the email also noted that the Ruby Princess was deemed “low risk” by NSW Health.
“Once you received this email… were you going to approach the Ruby Princess as if it had a positive result for COVID-19 and alert your pilot to that risk?” lawyers appearing on behalf of Carnival Australia asked Mr Butchart.
“No, I wasn’t,” Mr Butchart replied. “The message I took from the email is that it was low risk, (NSW Health) won’t be attending, great, NSW Health have got this in hand,” he said.
“Could you explain whether you treated the Ruby Princess as if it had a positive result, and alerted your pilot accordingly, and if you didn’t, why didn’t you?” commissioner Bret Walker SC asked.
“I didn’t alert the pilot to that risk, no,” Mr Butchart said.
“I don’t know if it's an error on my part, if I misread the email, but I looked at that email very quickly, and … I thought ‘terrific, NSW health have got this in hand’.”
Mr Butchart agreed with the suggestion from Mr Walker that “the public health label 'low risk' … introduced an unfortunate element in your decision making”.
Counsel assisting the commission Richard Beasley said it should be noted Mr Butchart had enough concern about the Ruby Princess to cancel its booking to dock in Sydney, before that decision was reversed.
The inquiry continues.
–James O'Doherty
Best Country Album winner
David Aidone
The probe into the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise has convened for its fourth day of public hearings.
The Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess is investigating the events which led to the bungled disembarkation of 2,700 passengers – some infected with COVID-19.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC and counsel assisting will call witnesses forward for evidence this morning.
Follow this blog for rolling updates.
Best Original Soundtrack/Music Theatre
David Aidone
The Ruby Princess inquiry has written to The Australian newspaper questioning whether a story condemning a “disgraceful” “interrogation” of a witness “might constitute a contempt.”
Counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC unloaded on the article written by David Penberthy on Thursday, which slams Commissioner Bret Walker SC’s "harrowing" grilling of a senior NSW Health worker that reduced her to tears.
Mr Penberthy wrote it was “debatable” whether senior epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler, who has been the department’s cruise ship health program coordinator for 16 years, should have appeared before the inquiry at all.
Mr Beasley said that is a debate that could only be had by someone who had “completely failed to comprehend” the inquiry’s terms of reference.
He pointed out that while Ms Ressler was not on the expert NSW Health panel which ultimately allowed nearly 3,000 passengers to disembark the cruise ship without adequate health checks, she recommended that the vessel be treated as “low risk” when it was to dock in Sydney on March 19.
Ms Ressler testified that had an up to date acute respiratory diseases log showing a higher number of guests with coronavirus-like symptoms been given to her at some time on March 18, she would have made a different recommendation to the panel
“She agreed, in her sworn evidence, that this was a “flaw” in the system,” Mr Beasley said.
“That might also be a matter of relevance to the many people infected with COVID-19 from infectious people from this ship.”
Counsel assisting the inquiry Richard Beasley SC defended the inquiry's cross-examination of Ms Ressler.
Mr Beasley said “one would rationally think” this to be a matter of interest to the community at large, considering the notorious liner has since become the single biggest source of infection nationally.
“Sometimes, organisational decision-making processes have chinks or flaws in them. If you start at the top, you can miss those flaws,” he said.
“To start at the top of a decision-making tree would be irrational, lazy, and would carry a real risk of missing something of importance.”
Mr Beasley agreed that Ms Ressler did not write what The Australian’s NSW bureau chief Yoni Bashan called the “inch-thick guidelines covering cruise ship arrivals.”
He clarified that the protocols actually only run to a few pages, but insisted that due to her important advisory role “no person, with or without legal training, could rationally take the view that Ms Ressler should not be summoned to give evidence.”
Mr Penberthy wrote that Ms Ressler wore “a day’s worth of vitriol” at the “sham inquiry”, which was little more than “state sponsored bastardy.”
Mr Beasley said the public servant “was asked questions for a day” and Mr Walker pursued a line of questioning he was obliged to under the probe’s terms of reference.
“That is hard. I did not enjoy her becoming upset, or crying,” he said.
Mr Beasley also defended the independence of the inquiry after Mr Penberthy wrote it was designed to “ensure that whatever villains are found in this affair do not inhabit NSW cabinet.”
“I know for a fact that no person within the NSW government, much less the cabinet, or the health minister, has in any way attempted to interfere with this commission’s independence,” he said.
He advised that the commission’s senior solicitor has demanded a response by 12pm on Friday from The Australian’s Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore about whether the article might interfere with or undermine the authority of the inquiry.
– Lucy Hughes Jones
News article "might constitute contempt"
Georgia Clark
The Ruby Princess inquiry has written to The Australian newspaper questioning whether a story condemning a “disgraceful” “interrogation” of a witness “might constitute a contempt.”
Counsel assisting Richard Beasley SC unloaded on the article written by David Penberthy on Thursday, which slams Commissioner Bret Walker SC’s "harrowing" grilling of a senior NSW Health worker that reduced her to tears.
Mr Penberthy wrote it was “debatable” whether senior epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler, who has been the department’s cruise ship health program coordinator for 16 years, should have appeared before the inquiry at all.
Mr Beasley said that is a debate that could only be had by someone who had “completely failed to comprehend” the inquiry’s terms of reference.
He pointed out that while Ms Ressler was not on the expert NSW Health panel which ultimately allowed nearly 3,000 passengers to disembark the cruise ship without adequate health checks, she recommended that the vessel be treated as “low risk” when it was to dock in Sydney on March 19.
Ms Ressler testified that had an up to date acute respiratory diseases log showing a higher number of guests with coronavirus-like symptoms been given to her at some time on March 18, she would have made a different recommendation to the panel
“She agreed, in her sworn evidence, that this was a “flaw” in the system,” Mr Beasley said.
“That might also be a matter of relevance to the many people infected with COVID-19 from infectious people from this ship.”
Counsel assisting the inquiry Richard Beasley SC defended the inquiry's cross-examination of Ms Ressler.
Mr Beasley said “one would rationally think” this to be a matter of interest to the community at large, considering the notorious liner has since become the single biggest source of infection nationally.
“Sometimes, organisational decision-making processes have chinks or flaws in them. If you start at the top, you can miss those flaws,” he said.
“To start at the top of a decision-making tree would be irrational, lazy, and would carry a real risk of missing something of importance.”
Mr Beasley agreed that Ms Ressler did not write what The Australian’s NSW bureau chief Yoni Bashan called the “inch-thick guidelines covering cruise ship arrivals.”
He clarified that the protocols actually only run to a few pages, but insisted that due to her important advisory role “no person, with or without legal training, could rationally take the view that Ms Ressler should not be summoned to give evidence.”
Mr Penberthy wrote that Ms Ressler wore “a day’s worth of vitriol” at the “sham inquiry”, which was little more than “state sponsored bastardy.”
Mr Beasley said the public servant “was asked questions for a day” and Mr Walker pursued a line of questioning he was obliged to under the probe’s terms of reference.
“That is hard. I did not enjoy her becoming upset, or crying,” he said.
Mr Beasley also defended the independence of the inquiry after Mr Penberthy wrote it was designed to “ensure that whatever villains are found in this affair do not inhabit NSW cabinet.”
“I know for a fact that no person within the NSW government, much less the cabinet, or the health minister, has in any way attempted to interfere with this commission’s independence,” he said.
He advised that the commission’s senior solicitor has demanded a response by 12pm on Friday from The Australian’s Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore about whether the article might interfere with or undermine the authority of the inquiry.
– Lucy Hughes Jones
Best World Music Album champion
David Aidone
The Ruby Princess inquiry’s chief says the prime minister did not try to influence the way he ran the independent probe into the cruise ship’s coronavirus fiasco by making direct comments on his questioning of a witness.
This week Scott Morrison urged the Commissioner Bret Walker SC to "reflect" on his "aggressive" grilling of a senior NSW Health worker that left her in tears.
On Friday Mr Walker said commentary may have created “an unfortunate misunderstanding that the prime minister intended to make representations, submissions or suggestions to me about the conduct of this independent inquiry without meaning in any way to be charitable."
“I couldn’t possibly take seriously the suggestion that the prime minister intended to do that,” he said.
Mr Walker asked senior epidemiologist Kelly-Anne Ressler why he shouldn’t rule there had been a “reprehensible shortcoming” in letting 2,700 passengers disembark the vessel without adequate checks, a move now linked to 21 deaths and more than 700 infections across the country.
Commissioner Bret Walker SC questioned Ms Ressler over NSW Health's dealing with the cruise ship.
Ms Ressler burst into tears apologising, which Mr Morrison found "distressing,” saying public health workers were "doing their best".
"They have been working day and night for months and months," he told radio shock jock Ray Hadley.
"I know we've got to get to the truth on this sort of stuff, but my first blush on that one — and that's not to call into question the independence of the (special) commission or anything like that — but I found that a bit out of line."
Mr Walker moved to throw cold water on the issue by stating Mr Morrison clearly did not intend “to make suggestions as to how I conduct this inquiry.”
“He made it clear, I think, that he did not know of the evidence of the witness to whom he was referring, that he had not seen, as members of the public have been able to see, the proceedings that led up to the unfortunate upset of the witness,” Mr Walker said.
“And of course, it is clear I think from the prime minister’s reported comments that to no extent at all was he suggesting that he had knowledge of, or a view based on, evidence about the conduct of any NSW public servant, let alone the witness in question.”
