Hotel quarantine company Unified Security folds, owing staff $500k

Beleaguered hotel quarantine security provider Unified Security will close, blaming the NSW and Victorian governments for not paying $11 million in outstanding invoices.

Controversial Sydney company Unified Security will fold next week — leaving employees owed hundreds of thousands of dollars — after a dispute with the NSW government over the state’s $1.5 million debt to the hotel quarantine guard provider.

In an email sent to workers just after 2pm on Friday, Unified CEO Matt Conway said the Sydney-based business would shut from Tuesday to “avoid trading while insolvent”.

The Daily Telegraph has confirmed the company is shutting.

A Unified Security guard outside the Adina Apartment Hotel near Town Hall in Sydney. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mr Conway told staff the decision was “necessary” because the NSW and Victorian governments had not paid outstanding invoices totalling more than $11 million.

The Telegraph understands NSW owes about $1.5 million and Victoria $10 million.

Unified provided 30 per cent of the guards in the NSW hotel quarantine program until last month, when the state government told the company its services were no longer required. Unified was also a major provider to the disastrous Melbourne hotel quarantine program.

The Berejiklian government booted Unified after a specialist unit of the NSW Police moved to strip the company’s master security licence, alleging unlawful subcontracting and undisclosed changes of ownership.

Dave Millward Court who until recently owned 51 per cent of Unified Security’s parent company USG Holdings.

A Unified Security guard whiles away the hours while on duty. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Unified has been fighting the police action, but it is unclear whether it will continue to do so.

No charges have been laid against anyone involved in the company.

It’s believed that workers’ salaries will be paid in full but that other entitlements won’t be. These entitlements are understood to be in the order of $500,000.

The Telegraph has been told that the NSW government had insisted that all workers’ entitlements be paid before it handed over the $1.5 million. But Unified had argued it was unable to pay the entitlements unless the state government coughed up first.

A spokesman the NSW government’s Public Works Advisory unit said it was “committed to providing prompt payments to its suppliers for the provision of goods and services”.

“For PWA to make payments, suppliers must first comply with any pre-conditions to payment and relevant legislation,” the spokesman said.

“Public Works Advisory does not agree with the claims made ... by Unified Security Group regarding payment arrangements.”

A NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing into the licence revocation decision was last month told Unified’s revenue surged from $16 million in 2018-19 to $68 million last financial year after it began providing quarantine security in NSW and Victoria in April 2020.

The tribunal heard claims by police that Unified had provided loans of between $5 million and $15 million without repayment terms to its parent company, USG Holdings, and paid a dividend of $5m.

USG Holdings was until recently 51 per cent owned by David Millward — who trained rugby league bad boy John Hopoate to the Australian heavyweight boxing title — and 49 per cent owned by his long-time business partner Luigi Trunzo.