Chance for hotel quarantine truth to come out

Inquiry chief Jennifer Coate should ‘demand more resources and a longer timetable’. Picture: Getty Images

The decision of former Family Court judge Jennifer Coate, the chairwoman of Victoria’s board of inquiry into the botched hotel quarantine scheme, to hold an extraordinary sitting on Tuesday is an opportunity to get to the truth of who made the fateful decision to use private security guards — and, perhaps more important, who is responsible for any attempt to mislead the inquiry.

Coate has some serious decisions to make. Does she just accept into evidence the belatedly supplied phone records from Premier Daniel Andrews and others at the highest levels of government? Or does she recall all the witnesses involved and have them re-examined? She certainly has the power to do so.

Section 61 of Victoria’s Inquiries Act 2014 makes it clear that a board of inquiry is not bound by the rules of evidence or any practices or procedures applicable to courts of record and may inform itself on any matter as it sees fit. It could therefore recall all witnesses. Then there is section 90, under which it is an offence to make false or misleading statements or produce false or misleading documents. There are penalties of up to 12 months in prison.

Now most reasonable people would ask if the Coates inquiry had been misled, given the evidence and submissions on behalf of Andrews, his former department head Chris Eccles, former police chief Graham Ashton, former health minister Jenny Mikakos, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and various government agencies. Who, for example, decided that emails involving Sutton and made public on Friday by The Age newspaper were not supplied to the inquiry?

In the light of the new phone records and documents produced, the inquiry needs to understand who really knew what about the hotel quarantine program. It also needs to interrogate an important but absent witness: Andrews’ chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff. She and her subordinates have been missing in action. Why have they not been called to give evidence?

All this gives Victorians an uneasy feeling about whether this inquiry has had the proper resources and capability to get to the bottom of a monumental government failure that has resulted in hundreds of lives lost, businesses ruined and more than a million people suffering from mental issues.

No doubt some will say the last thing we need is a prolonged inquiry, given that the Premier could have clarified the causes of the hotel quarantine fiasco quickly back in July, rather than trying to use the establishment of what he called a “judicial inquiry” as a shield against awkward media questions.

But the Coate inquiry was given the job and that job should be done properly. And the public is now well aware that Coate was not supplied with all the information she needed. She should not feel constrained by any timetable or resources that Andrews has imposed on her. After all, he consistently has said he will give the inquiry extra resources if it needs them.

Coate should speak out and demand more resources and a longer timetable to get to the bottom of this disaster.

Francis Galbally is a Melbourne businessman and company director. As a lawyer he was involved with royal commissions into the Victorian police force, the meat industry, the Builders Labourers Federation, and the Painters and Dockers Union.