Victoria hotel quarantine inquiry: Damning letters defy Daniel Andrews’ claims on ADF support
Daniel Andrews has consistently made a bold claim about the state’s COVID-19 hotel fiasco. These explosive letters contradict him.
Daniel Andrews is facing fresh outrage after damning letters released under Freedom of Information added to growing claims the Victorian Premier wasn’t truthful about a key detail in the state’s hotel quarantine fiasco.
Mr Andrews has consistently maintained that military support from the Federal Government was never on the table for Victoria, which instead used untrained private security guards to oversee the returning travellers program.
Serious health protocol breaches by the cowboy workforce, many recruited via WhatApp groups, resulted in a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that killed hundreds of Victorians and forced the state into the world’s most restrictive coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Andrews told a state parliamentary inquiry last month that it was “fundamentally incorrect to assert that there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no”.
He has stood by those statements despite mounting contradicting evidence heard by an independent inquiry into the hotel quarantine debacle, chaired by retired Judge Jennifer Coate.
But it’s been revealed Scott Morrison personally wrote to Mr Andrews three times to reaffirm the offer of ADF support as it was becoming clear there were problems in the Victorian hotel program.
Mr Morrison sent letters on July 4, 6 and 11. Mr Andrews personally wrote back on July 5, 7, 12 and 14.
Those letters, which were not contained in the government’s 149-page submission to the inquiry, have now been obtained by Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell under FOI.
They prove, in black and white, that Mr Andrews’ repeated claims are highly questionable.
In the July 11 letter, Mr Morrison said an “estimated 1000 ADF” personnel “could be progressively deployed in this way over the next week, with greater scope beyond”.
“It is critical to the containment of the virus that the now thousands of people in isolation and quarantine are carefully tracked by phone and personal visits to ensure compliance (and to ensure their welfare),” Mr Morrison wrote.
In the July 4 letter, prior to Melbourne entering stage three lockdown, Mr Morrison wrote that he was concerned “that the Victorian COVID-19 case numbers have escalated to 108 cases today, as part of an increased trend of cases during the past week”.
“This has necessitated a further two postcodes being listed as hot spots and new hard lockdowns of nine residential public housing buildings in North Melbourne,” he said.
“I recognise the new measures and support the significant efforts underway. The Commonwealth stands ready to provide any support needed on top of the existing measures in place, including Australian Defence Force support to support planning and logistics, and Commonwealth staff to support clinical efforts, community engagement and contact tracing.”
The Prime Minister said previous outbreaks in North West Tasmania and Sydney had shown “these types of outbreaks can quickly overwhelm local health systems”.
“I reaffirm the offer of Commonwealth for on-the-ground support and help in co-ordinating support from other states while acknowledging Victoria’s leadership,” he wrote.
“I also note that the Commonwealth stands ready to support Victoria through the Australian Defence Force to assist with the lockdown of affected suburbs and to assist to ensure persons from these areas do not travel outside these zones and to other states.”
Mr Morrison added it was “concerning” a number of cases had travelled to NSW and stressed that “this is a national challenge, not just a Victorian one and as a country we are here to provide support as required”.
In the July 11 letter, he wrote, “The remainder of the ADF personnel you requested in your letter of July 7, 2020 remain available to be deployed in Victoria once Victorian officials have finalised their planning and preparation activities.”
The PM urged his counterpart to “again consider further ADF deployment to Melbourne over the coming days to assist in the enforcement of public health compliance ... given the escalating COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria”.
“A model successfully used in previous deployments in other jurisdictions, involves an ADF member paired with a police officer in a team of two,” he wrote.
“This allows the legal enforcement powers to be exercised by state and territory police, supported by ADF members. It will allow a significant expansion of compliance and welfare activity. The VicPol/ADF team model could also quickly be deployed to expand the ability to support containment rings around Metropolitan Melbourne/Hume Shire.”
He added, “I am also mindful of the positive and reassuring impact that the presence of the ADF can have on communities in times of difficulties as has already been demonstrated during the COVID-19 situation and during the Black Summer bushfires.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Sky News on Thursday “these letters are confirmation” that the federal government repeatedly offered ADF support to the Andrews government, “an offer which should have been accepted but was rejected”.
“This is further proof, written proof, of what we have known all along which is that the federal government has provided the offer of ADF support to the Victorian government,” he said.
“Instead, the Victorian government chose private security guards and from there the tragedy unfolded. It’s been devastating to see what’s happened in Victoria with people subject to stage four restrictions and a curfew and with many of their liberties effectively being taken away.”
The inquiry has previously heard that senior public servants in the state and federal government, including Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton, were corresponding about ADF assistance.
Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said he requested ADF assistance after being given a “list of issues” with the private security guards but later rescinded the request because other options, including police, were being explored.
The Commonwealth submission showed that on June 24, Mr Crisp sent an email to Emergency Management Australia – a division of the Commonwealth’s Home Affairs Department – and the ADF attaching three requests for assistance, one of which sought up to 850 ADF personnel to support hotel quarantine compliance.
An EMA official replied that day that “Defence has accepted all tasks”.
The next day, however, Mr Crisp sent an email withdrawing the request.
“Based on changing operational and resourcing requirements I am writing to advise you that Victoria no longer wishes to progress RFA015, the request for up to 850 resources to support our hotel quarantine operation (Op Soteria),” he wrote.
“Thank you for your efforts in progressing this request and as always, we sincerely appreciate the support of EMA and the ADF.”
Mr Morrison told reporters on June 26 that he understood “that was a request that was subsequently withdrawn, I assume as a result of further discussions by officials in Victoria”.
“But the point is this – where any state needs some support here, then we will provide it,” he said.
Mr Andrews is scheduled to front the inquiry on Friday at 2.30pm.
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