Hotel quarantine inquiry may be sitting on secret submissions
The rejection of a 500-page submission to the hotel quarantine inquiry has raised questions over how many submissions it has received, and rejected.
Victoria
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Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry has refused to detail how many submissions it is keeping secret from the public.
The inquiry has been rocked by revelations a 500-page submission by Andrew McLean, whose company Elite Protection Services ran security at Rydges on Swanston, was not accepted as evidence.
Mr McLean provided the lengthy submission to the inquiry headed by former judge Jennifer Coate but was never called to give evidence or have his submission tendered as evidence.
Now the state opposition has called on the inquiry to make public every submission it received.
But the inquiry has refused to detail how many other submissions were received but not made public, by who, or why they have been kept secret.
The inquiry also refused to answer questions about why Mr McLean’s submission was not made public or why he wasn’t called to give evidence.
“The Board’s position is that it would be inappropriate to comment,” a spokesman said.
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said it made no sense for the inquiry to refuse to release submissions it had received.
“Surely, every single submission the quarantine inquiry received should be made public, so that we know what’s out there,” he said.
“You don’t put a 500 page submission into the hotel quarantine inquiry unless you’ve got something important to say.
“Why is the inquiry keeping this from the public? Why weren’t they calling these people as witnesses? Do they want to find the truth or not,” he said.
Since being established in July the inquiry issued 152 notices to appear or to produce documents and called evidence from 63 witnesses.
A further 27 statements were tendered directly.
It is understood other material was received by the board but not considered central to its work.
Mr O’Brien said without full disclosure of all materials received, the inquiry could not properly fulfil its job.
“We need to find what really went on,” he said.
“We can’t have this garbage about creeping assumptions and nobody really made the decision, you know.
“Victorians know that we only have a second wave, because of the hotel quarantine failures and Victorians must get the truth.
“And if the Coate inquiry doesn’t give us the truth and doesn’t give us accountability, then it will have failed in its job.”
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan refused to be drawn on the work of the inquiry on Monday, saying the government would await the findings of the interim report due on Friday.
“This inquiry was established from the very beginning as an independent inquiry into COVID quarantine arrangements,” she said.
“It’s very much a matter for the inquiry as to how it’s handled the calling of witnesses, the handling of submissions.
“We now do really need to wait until that first report comes out on Friday,” she said.
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