Victorian government’s missed opportunities contributed to deadly second wave

The second wave could’ve been avoided if warnings about public health being understaffed and underfunded were taken seriously.

Too little, too late.

That’s the damning assessment of a parliamentary probe into Victoria’s contact tracing failures.

The bottom line: Victoria’s deadly second wave and crippling lockdown could have been avoided.

Indeed, it should have been avoided, if the government took seriously warnings about its underfunded, understaffed and outdated public health unit.

Until now much of the focus over the state’s coronavirus debacle has been on the failed hotel quarantine program.

And rightly so.

Genomic sequencing has since linked 99 per cent of our second wave cases to overseas travellers during the period they were forced into hotel quarantine.

It led to 801 deaths and the spread of COVID-19 to more than 18,000 Victorians.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: David Geraghty

By this time next week a $10 million independent inquiry into the program will have delivered its much anticipated final report.

Whatever it finds the government will likely continue to hide behind the fact that the rapid rise of the pandemic forced a rapid fire response.

The program was ostensibly set up in under 36 hours, and mistakes within it have often been blamed on this fact.

But the contact tracing report, published on Monday by the Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee, offers the government nowhere to hide.

It is explicit in its condemnation of the government’s failure to accept warnings that it was woefully underprepared for a pandemic of this sort.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews. Picture: Ian Currie

Specifically it rubbishes repeated protestations that the pandemic was a one in 100 year event that couldn’t be foreshadowed.

Reports conducted in 2016, 2018 and 2019 called for an increase in the number of Victoria’s Public Health Officers.

They were ignored.

Not only were just 57 people working in the state’s public health team when the coronavirus pandemic began, the government was sending less money their way.

And until October 2020, nine months after our first recorded coronavirus case, Victoria remained “significantly underprepared” to deal with the collection and management of testing data.

In March, the government rejected an offer to use the high-tech Salesforce client management system.

Instead it opted for a manual, pen and paper, contact tracing program.

Another opportunity missed.

The state government says it is now running a gold standard contact tracing system.

But until it is put to the test Victorians have the right to be dubious about the claim.

The report found the same government that was so reluctant to act to build a line of defence and keep us safe had finally learned lessons needed to avoid a third wave.

Let’s hope they’re right.