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Hotel quarantine inquiry lawyers blast DHHS for delays, changing evidence
By Michael Fowler, Rachael Dexter and Richard Baker
Lawyers leading Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry have accused the Department of Health and Human Services of failing to reveal the true levels of disharmony within its ranks, misrepresenting the public health unit's role in the botched program and delaying the inquiry's final report.
In their final submission to the inquiry, released on Monday afternoon, the counsels assisting the inquiry said lawyers representing the department may have broken the government's own model litigant guidelines when they failed to initially provide 235 documents, including emails involving Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton.
On the same day that Premier Daniel Andrews announced details of Victoria's revamped quarantine hotels, the counsel assisting said the relationship between the state's public health unit and the initial hotel quarantine program was "at best poorly conceived and understood, and at worst dysfunctional and undermined by confusion and dissatisfaction".
The counsel assisting's submission, released on Monday, said there was no reason to doubt Professor Sutton's evidence that he was not aware private security were working in quarantine hotels in May because he had not registered an email chain that mentioned their involvement on March 27.
They criticised former department secretary Kym Peake for falsely selling a narrative of "harmonious co-operation and collaboration" within DHHS when senior executives such as Professor Sutton privately complained of being excluded from planning – as revealed by another email chain that DHHS belatedly submitted to the inquiry.
"New material acutely demonstrates that, whilst the program was running under the auspices of DHHS as control agency, there were tensions, disagreements and a lack of clarity and cohesion inside DHHS as to who had responsibility for what aspects of the program," they wrote.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit: Joe Armao
DHHS lawyers responded unhappily, refuting the claims as lacking foundation and pointing the finger at the inquiry for providing vague briefs on what documents to provide.
Mr Andrews revealed on Monday that no private security guards would be involved in the state's new-look hotel quarantine program when international travellers begin arriving at Melbourne Airport from next Monday, December 7.
Hotel guests will have to pay about $3500 for their 14-day stay, while fresh air breaks and exercise will be banned to prevent movement inside hotels.
A new oversight agency, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) has been established to enforce new training and cleaning protocols and strict staffing rules, and co-ordinate up to 300 police officers and 220 Defence Force troops working in the hotels each day.
COVID-19 leaks from two Melbourne quarantine hotels – Rydges on Swanston and Stamford Plaza in Melbourne's CBD – were responsible for at least 99 per cent of Victoria's second wave of coronavirus cases, which saw the city shut down for months.
There have been 20,345 cases of COVID-19 in Victoria since January, and 820 people have died – 655 of them residents in aged care.
Police Minister Lisa Neville refused to name the 11 hotels that have been contracted to the revamped program on Monday.
However, sources close to the hotels scheme, who were not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed Stamford Plaza has a contract with the government to host returned travellers from next week. The Rydges on Swanston – which is under new ownership and was recently renamed the Park Hotel Melbourne – will not be part of the new program.
No international flights, apart from those from New Zealand, have arrived at Tullamarine since early July.
Mr Andrews said the government would contact trace workers in advance and particularly scrutinise those who lived with aged care workers.
"No moonlighting, no second jobs, no subcontracting of a subcontract because there are no subcontracts, it is all direct and obvious and clear," the Premier said.
Retired judge Jennifer Coate will hand down the hotel inquiry's final report by December 21, which will not necessarily reflect the findings of the counsel assisting.
The revamped quarantine program will be led by Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar, who has been appointed as interim Commissioner of CQV and will report directly to Ms Neville.
Ms Cassar said trials in hotels since last week have been successful and from next week rigorous infection screening protocols would begin at the airport with returned travellers.
"Those who are symptomatic or have temperatures will be taken directly to the health hotel," Ms Cassar said. "This is about protecting the rest of the travellers and our staff at the airport."
"Once they arrive at the hotels, we have completely reset all the cleaning and hotel functions. All the contracts have been reset and we have done that deliberately so we know and have set the standard for all requirements including cleaning, food, waste, linen and staffing arrangements.
Mr Andrews said there would be mandatory testing of hotel staff every day, while their family members would be offered a test every week.
International arrivals in Melbourne will initially be capped at 1120 people a week, lifting Australia's weekly cap to almost 8000 people, but Mr Andrews has committed to raising that number over time.
"I believe this is a program that is a safe as it can be, but I'm obliged to make the point that no hotel quarantine system whether it is in Adelaide or in Sydney or in New Zealand, you cannot make it a zero risk," he said.