Quarantine fiasco health boss scores plum new job

Victoria’s former health boss, who quit amid fallout from the deadly hotel quarantine bungle, has scored a prime job in Western Australia.

Kym Peake appearing at the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry.

The former boss of the state’s health department, who resigned amid the fallout from the deadly hotel quarantine bungle, has been hired to review Western Australia’s health system.

Former Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kym Peake will lead an expert panel tasked with reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Western Australian health system’s governance framework.

Ms Peake resigned from her health department position in November 2020 after she testified before the state’s hotel quarantine inquiry.

The inquiry by retired judge Jennifer Coate found the bungled program – which controversially used private security guards – was behind Victoria’s second wave which resulted in 800 deaths and a strict three-and-a-half month lockdown.

During the inquiry Ms Peake was accused of failing to pass on critical information about the program to former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.

Kym Peake.

Her evidence that the quarantine program was managed by several departments also clashed with that given by Premier Daniel Andrews who said the health department was accountable.

Ms Peake’s departure followed the resignations of Ms Mikakos and public service chief Chris Eccles.

The Coates’s inquiry did not find any single person responsible for the decision to use poorly trained private security guards, hearing it was a “creeping assumption”.

WorkSafe has charged the states’ health department with 58 breaches of health and safety laws which could result in fines of up to $95m.

Announcing the appointment of Ms Peake, Western Australia health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the veteran bureaucrat had “led significant governance changes within Victoria’s public health system”.

These included the creation of statewide quality and safety entities, amalgamation of regional health services and creation of a new public entity to manage the purchasing, supply and distribution of medical consumables, Ms Sanderson said.

The appointment was one of four made to the Western Australian governance panel.

“We are extremely fortunate to have four highly skilled and experienced experts in their fields,” Ms Sanderson said.