Cost of Victoria’s botched COVID-19 hotel quarantine program revealed in Coate’s interim report

Victoria’s botched COVID-19 quarantine system has set taxpayers back almost $200 million, while ankle bracelets and phone tracking could mark the way forward.

Victoria’s fatally flawed hotel quarantine program cost $195m and may have actually increased the community’s exposure to COVID-19, an inquiry has found.

The board of inquiry examining the failed program made 69 interim findings on Friday, including that consideration be given to travellers returning from overseas quarantining for 14 days at home instead of in a hotel.

Inquiry chair Jennifer Coate found the Victorian government had the power to require people to quarantine at home and that the national expert committee of chief health officers had never endorsed hotel quarantine before it was enacted, following a decision by the national cabinet on March 27.

She said the evidence led her to believe that quarantining at home would be “more consistent with, and successful” in preventing international arrivals bringing COVID-19 into the Victorian community and could potentially be cheaper.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews with the state’s Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

She warned that bringing people together in hotels, along with the staff required to manage such a program, might “increase risks of transmission.’’

“One only has to look at the risk of infectious outbreaks in any healthcare facility to appreciate that putting infectious or potentially infectious people together, and of necessity, then having considerable numbers of workers of all types being required to come in and out of that facility, creates considerable complexity and risk,’’ she found.

“If one adds to this the increased risks of transmission by having people escorted in and out of the facility to provide for fresh air, smoking breaks and some exercise in order to address health and welfare needs, the case for an option for home quarantining in certain cases becomes stronger.’’

Ms Coate recommended two future models for quarantine — home-based and facility-based, saying hotels were suitable facilities.

However, she said they needed to have appropriate space and staffing for fresh air breaks and exercise.

The Honourable Jennifer Coate’s interim report has 69 recommendations. Picture: James Ross/Getty

She recommended major changes to the way the program was run from March to July, saying there needed to be a site manager at each facility, salaried employees working at just one site, contact tracers embedded at each facility, and appropriate PPE supplies and face-to-face training provided.

Each person quarantined there should be considered to be potentially infectious until proven not to be.

Victoria Police should be asked to provide a 24/7 presence at each facility, Ms Coate said. Victoria’s deadly second wave was seeded when subcontracted security guards caught COVID-19 from detained guests and spread it across Victoria in May and June, resulting in the deaths of 800 people.

Ms Coate called for the program to be under the control of one departmental agency and reporting to one minister. A governance body should be set up to provide oversight and proper record-keeping and reporting lines established.

She said there needed to be clear control and accountability structures in place at both the departmental and ministerial levels, with one Cabinet-approved department operating the program.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was recalled to the inquiry after leaked emails showed he had potentially lied. Mr Sutton strongly denies any wrongdoing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

The interim findings come after no one in the Andrews government owned up to deciding to hire private security, and the Department of Health and Human Services argued it was not in overall control of the program. Ms Coate found the direct financial cost of the program was $195m, with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, which let the contracts for hotel rooms, cleaning and private security, spending $133.4m to June 30.

The DHHS spent approximately $51.3m to September 16, while the Department of Justice and Community Safety spent approximately $10.9m to September 30.

She said it was not possible to compare the costs of home and hotel quarantine without proper modelling, but that she raised it “for consideration’’.

She also recommended the government consider electronic wrist or ankle bands and smart phone technology to track the movements of those isolating at home.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the government would carefully consider all 69 recommendations and provide a comprehensive response “in due course”.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the report was “deeply disappointing as it fails to identify what mistakes were made by the Premier, his Labor ministers, ministerial staff and top public servants”.

Originally published as Cost of Victoria’s botched COVID-19 hotel quarantine program revealed in Coate’s interim report