Victorian government should have known the risk when it gambled on private contractors, says expert

When it came to a critical decision that has created a coronavirus nightmare, the State Government should have seen the warning signs.

When it came to a critical decision that has ultimately plunged Victoria into a coronavirus nightmare, the State Government should have seen the writing on the wall.

The senior bureaucrats who decided to go ahead with using private security contractors to oversee the state’s failed hotel quarantine system should have known there were grave shortcomings with the industry, according to one industry expert.

Months after the rushed 24-hour decision to use private guards over trained ADF members, virus outbreaks continue to spread across Melbourne after serious breaches in the hotel quarantine system.

Among a catalogue of alleged incidents in the city’s hotels, guards have been accused of having sex with guests and sharing cigarette lighters.

Now an expert has said the issues should not have come as a surprise to the Victorian government — when they elected to use the private companies to carry out a crucial job in the midst of a global pandemic.

An inquiry into a breakdown of the hotel quanatine system is underway. Picture Jay Town

Emmanuel Josserand, a Professor of Management at UTS, told news.com.au authorities should have known they were taking a risk as it was no secret there were systemic shortcomings in the private security industry.

The Victorian government themselves had set up an ongoing review into the state’s private security sector in 2018, making it clear that standards in the industry needed to be higher.

Worryingly one of the main aims of the review was to “improve safety of employees and the community” within the industry, which is precisely where Victoria was let down.

Prof Josserand said safety and training issues were rife in the industry and a lot of this has to do with money.

There are currently 11,000 security businesses in Australia, and Prof Josserand says you don’t need to put a lot of cash upfront to start one.

“There is a very low entry barrier into the industry,” he said. “This results in a low-skilled workforce making up a big chunk of the sector and they don’t invest a lot in training them either.

The Victorian government themselves had set up an ongoing review into the state’s private security sector in 2018. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“Then if you add to that the contracting system and the ability to subcontract, which means everybody is competing on cost, it seriously impacts the ability to invest in a workforce.

“It creates a vicious circle where you can’t maintain a highly-skilled workforce, you can’t invest enough in your workforce and you can’t pay them properly.”

He said these systemic issues create risk for both staff and the community, and an “obvious manifestation” of these risks was what happened with the hotel quarantine system in Melbourne.

“We saw guards put on the job who weren’t trained enough and you can’t improvise the type of safety that’s needed in this situation,” he said.

“It’s no secret that if you don’t invest in your workforce it won’t be able to deliver.”

While the Victorian government waits for the results of a judicial inquiry into management of the program before saying what went wrong, Prof Josserand said they were taking a risk.

“It’s an industry that is extremely competitive and is likely to squeeze everything they can from the workforce, you end up with risk that will manifest and that’s what’s happened in Victoria,” he said.

Flights have been diverted away from Melbourne for two weeks. Picture: Wayne Taylor

“It was taking a risk, and it backfired. It was also risky because it wasn’t the form of practice used by other governments around Australia or in other nations for that matter.”

In NSW for example, the state government deployed ADF personnel to run hotel quarantine and no workers at quarantine hotels in NSW have tested positive to COVID-19.

Other states have deployed troops and police in their hotel quarantine, sometimes alongside security.

It has been reported that at least one of the security companies paid to carry out Victoria’s hotel quarantine system subcontracted work to a smaller security company.

Prof Josserand said it is practices like these and so-called “zombie” contracts that weaken conditions for workers, and again increase risk.

“(In zombie contracts) What some companies do in the sector is purchase a company that can still use such agreements and channel work through the purchased company, thus being able to offer lesser conditions to workers,” he said.

Kazim Shah from the United Workers Union said the use of private subcontractors without medical training to run the system meant many saw it as a “money-making” exercise.

“What happened was that the work was given to security companies which was then subleased to subcontractors where there was cost-cutting happening and they were making money out of this,” he told the ABC.

Coronavirus cases have continued to rise in Victoria this week. Picture: Ian Currie

International flights have now been diverted away from Melbourne and Corrections Victoria was tasked on June 30 to supervise a two-week reset of the quarantine program.

But as the end of that fortnight draws closer, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has raised a red flag.

“That reset can be done because we’ve got that pause, we’ve got that gap of a couple of weeks with no flights coming back to Melbourne,” he told ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday night.

“We may need to take a little longer than that two-week period.

“I’ve written to the Prime Minister and asked him – or at least give him some warning – that may be the position that we get to.”

RELATED: All the latest coronavirus news

On the bungle that led to security breaches, he remains tight-lipped.

He said that he will wait until the results of the independent inquiry are made public before making further statements on what went wrong.

A judicial inquiry into the Victorian hotel quarantine system for returning travellers, headed by former Family Court judge Justice Jennifer Coate, is to deliver a report by September 25, 2020.

Mr Andrews insisted he is not shirking responsibility for the stuff-up

“I am the leader of this government and I’d take responsibility and have accountability for these and all matters. Understand that, I have never walked away from that, nor would I,” he told reporters.

“The best thing in my judgment is to focus on the things you can control and none of us can go back and change any of that.”