Hotel quarantine inquiry: Defence snubbed because they would have been too ‘daunting’ for guests
The inquiry into Victoria’s botched quarantine hotel program has heard the DHHS snubbed the ADF so it wouldn’t scare overseas arrivals, especially those from war-torn countries.
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The Department of Health and Human Services commander feared using Australian Defence Force troops for security at quarantine hotels because it would be “daunting’’ for those arriving back into Australia.
Pam Williams told the inquiry into the botched program that while she didn’t know why the ADF hadn’t been used for security, many arriving passengers had difficult trips back into Australia and “an ADF presence upon their arrival at the hotels may have been a daunting experience, particularly for people from war-torn countries”.
Using private security instead of the ADF or police is a key issue for the inquiry, which announced it would call former chief commissioner of police Graham Ashton and his replacement, Shane Patton, to give evidence next week.
Andrew Crisp, the Emergency Management Commissioner, will also front the board, as will Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, as the inquiry seeks to find who decided to use private security.
At least 29 guards caught COVID-19 from guests and spread it across Melbourne’s suburbs, sparking Victoria’s deadly second wave.
Other incident reports released by the inquiry revealed a returned traveller tried to smuggle drugs into their room, and security guards wore personal protective equipment in the toilets.
A drunk pulled a TV off a wall and threatened to harm staff and a guard knocked on a hotel door to pursue a woman.
The drug-smuggling incident happened in the early days of the scheme, when guards intercepted what they believed was marijuana and a smoking device.
“The items were delivered to a traveller under isolation inside a computer sent to the hotel via taxi. Unified Security has confiscated the items and have notified police,” the report said.
One report tells of a woman smoking a cigarette who fell off a loading dock and security guards didn’t want to touch her, so waited for paramedics. The woman had a broken jaw and needed surgery.
Another report from June 14 noted: “The security have been observed to wear full PPE to the toilet, gloves in the bathroom, not wash hands after toileting (women and men), wearing gloves all day, touching their clothes, phones, faces etc.’’
There were also trivial disputes over food that threatened to become police incidents.
The inquiry was told that only one per cent of the 20,000 people detained in compulsory quarantine had been diagnosed as COVID-positive.
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