When ADF troops were offered to assist with hotel quarantine in Victoria revealed
An explosive email has revealed when ADF troops were offered to Victoria. It is the latest piece of evidence contradicting Daniel Andrews’ claims Defence Force assistance wasn’t available to the state.
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Troops were offered to support hotel quarantine in every state in an email sent by a senior federal official just hours after the scheme was agreed by the national cabinet.
The email, obtained by the Herald Sun, is the latest piece of evidence contradicting Daniel Andrews’ repeated claim that he did not believe Defence Force support was on offer for Victoria.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet acting deputy secretary Cath Patterson contacted government representatives in all states at 3.57pm on March 27, after the nation’s leaders agreed to quarantine all overseas arrivals in hotels for two weeks.
In the email, released under freedom of information laws, she said it had been agreed that the commonwealth would provide Defence Force and Australian Border Force support.
“Bespoke arrangements based on need will be negotiated with each jurisdiction,” Ms Patterson said.
The email mirrored a statement released by Scott Morrison after the critical national cabinet meeting, but the Prime Minister’s department redacted most of it, arguing it would otherwise divulge information communicated in confidence between the commonwealth and state governments.
The Premier had told a state parliamentary committee in August: “I think it is fundamentally incorrect to assert that there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no.”
That sparked a war of words with the federal government, as the Defence Force confirmed it put 100 personnel on standby to support Victoria’s hotel quarantine system on March 27, and that hundreds of troops assisted in other states.
Last month, Mr Andrews told the hotel quarantine inquiry that he thought New South Wales had a “greater need” for ADF help, and that he had “no expectation” that troops would have “any extensive involvement” in Victoria’s system.
In early April, his chief public servant Chris Eccles — who resigned this week — received another emailed offer of ADF support from Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Philip Gaetjans.
Mr Andrews told the inquiry he was not made aware of this email but that he would have ordinarily expected to be told of such an offer.
“I think it would have very significant to me,” he said.
“I certainly would have wanted to know, because it would have presented us with options that we otherwise didn’t have, in a good faith interpretation, very clear interpretation, of what had been decided at national cabinet.”
Ms Patterson, who sent the email obtained by the Herald Sun, played a key role in the federal government’s COVID-19 response and the operation of the national cabinet.
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