‘She should go’: Liberal leader calls for Emma Cassar to be sacked

The Victorian opposition is calling for heads to roll amid flaws in the state’s hotel quarantine system being aired this week.

The Victorian opposition has called for the head of the state’s hotel quarantine scheme to be sacked amid damning flaws in the system being aired publicly this week.

Liberal Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien on Thursday said he had “no confidence” in the head of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, Emma Cassar.

“I don’t think there’s been enough sackings in hotel quarantine, I think there should be more,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Emma Cassar is really a political public servant, more interested in acting as a spin doctor and protecting the Labor government than she is in actually delivering safe outcomes.

“She should go.”

The Australian newspaper this week published dozens of daily confidential reports spanning January to April that documented breaches and incidents by people involved in the hotel quarantine scheme.

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar is facing calls for her sacking. Picture: Luis Ascui/Getty Images

Two senior hotel quarantine bureaucrats have been stood down with pay pending an investigation.

The reports identified serious breaches in the state’s hotel quarantine system, including a nurse trying to give a returned traveller a banned nebuliser and a frontline medical officer vaping inside a quarantine hotel despite being warned by health staff the e-cigarette mist could promote “viral spread”.

Flaws in the system last year sparked a 112-day lockdown in the city, and more than 800 people died.

Michael O’Brien has called for the head of the state’s hotel quarantine scheme to be sacked. Picture: David Crosling

Mr O’Brien said the government had not learnt the lessons from last year.

“Seriously, there have been so many stuff-ups in hotel quarantine under this government, they have not learned the lessons of the second lockdown, they have not learned the lessons of 801 deaths,” Mr O’Brien said.

“This government is not up to the job. They’re appointing political public servants who are more interested in covering up than fixing them.”

Acting Police and Emergency Services Minister Danny Pearson defended the scheme in question time on Thursday, batting away suggestions the state’s manager of infection prevention and control Matiu Bush had been fired because of media reports.

Matiu Bush, the general manager of infection control at the agency running Victoria's hotel quarantine program, has been stood down pending an investigation.

He said Bush was stood down due to behaviour, not because there had been a significant breach in IPC.

“Those matters weren’t raised with me (initially) because it did not constitute a significant breach of IPC,” Mr Pearson said.

“I felt he was required to be stood down, to work out whether he can improve his behaviour.

“The public are entitled to have confidence in this program.”

Mr Pearson earlier told reporters that Emma Cassar was an “outstanding public servant”.

“She’s working tirelessly and I think she’s doing a fantastic job,” he said.

CQV has been contacted for comment.

[e-mail]