Cost of inquiry into hotel quarantine to soar to $10m
The inquiry into the bungled execution of Victoria’s hotel quarantine has already blown out by millions, and now taxpayers could be stung even more thanks to the legal fees incurred by the departments and ministers at the centre of the scandal.
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THE state government is on track to spend $10m on the inquiry into Victoria’s bungled hotel quarantine scheme.
The cost of running the hotel quarantine inquiry has already blown out from $3m to $5.7m.
Analysis of the legal representation used by departments and ministers suggests taxpayers could foot a bill of up to $4m for legal fees alone.
At least 12 separate legal teams have represented departments, government agencies and individual ministers during the inquiry.
They included 10 senior counsel and 21 other lawyers.
Both the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions each had legal teams attend 24 days of hearings.
Their individual ministers, Jenny Mikakos and Martin Pakula, were separately represented by teams estimated to cost more than $10,000 a day.
The inquiry heard it was unusual for different government departments to each require separate representation.
An analysis by Shadow Attorney-General Ed O’Donohue has estimated total legal costs for representation exceeded $1.9m.
The figure is based on estimates of $7000 per day for senior counsel and $3000 per day for junior counsel.
Legal sources say those figures are conservative and many senior counsel charge closer to $10,000 per day.
And they say it could be twice the $1.9m figure once preparatory work is counted, including proofing witness statements, and preparing and proofing exhibits.
Legal sources said much of the cost incurred by departments to date would have been used in preparing for the hearing and claiming privilege over documents.
More than 220 exhibits were tendered and 300,000 pages of documents submitted during the inquiry.