Months after the failed hotel quarantine regimen was introduced in Victoria we still don’t know the definitive story of what caused Australia’s second coronavirus wave.
Don’t worry, neither does the Victorian Premier.
What we do know is that Daniel Andrews has staked his political future on the inquiry into hotel quarantine and that the governance failures were catastrophic.
For many weeks Andrews and his government have hidden behind the board of inquiry, to refuse to answer questions about the basic detail of the scandal responsible for dozens of deaths.
The former judge heading the inquiry, Jennifer Coate, has this week exposed that political camouflage by declaring there is no legal impediment to prevent discussing the facts of the case.
By doing this, Coate snookered Andrews.
The outcome yesterday was a 94-minute press conference that revealed a lot but not enough to definitively state what went wrong.
What we can say is that the government has contributed manifestly to an unprecedented national economic and health crisis.
The Black Saturday death toll of 173 people is almost certain to be passed today, with a whole lot more runway to go before this coronavirus scandal ends.
Andrews has admitted failings, conceded he still does not know what ultimately went wrong and been forced to mull over the potential for him to lose his job over the national crisis.
“Mistakes have been made and I will own those errors, “ he said. “In terms of who made decisions, how decisions were made, how they worked, whether enough safeguards were put in place is for Judge Coate to examine.”
We can pretty safely say that much, if not all, of the Victorian second wave has occurred as a result of allowing unsupervised security guards to oversee hotel quarantine.
For months the government has refused to release the genomic testing that will prove the second wave started in the quarantine system.
Andrews has even gone so far as to leave open the option of detailing the testing which will show exactly where the virus leaked.
Talk about hanging onto bad news.
The whole second wave is a heartbreaking concept.
The Victorian shutdown having been sparked by slack security, 250,000 jobs lost, billions wiped off economic activity and a once thriving state facing a decade long fight to rehabilitate itself.
Andrews is in a weak position.
He says he doesn’t know definitively which department was responsible for it, nor the fine detail of how the policy came to be.
The logical conclusion is that the final structure of hotel quarantine was approved by either the smaller crisis Cabinet or Cabinet at large.
Which means Andrews quite likely helped approve the final process. At least that is a reasonable assumption to make.
With more than 100,000 pages of evidence before the board of inquiry, the inquiry is almost certain to end badly for Andrews and his government.
The first question is how badly.
The second, how will the community respond?
More Coverage
Wayward Labor MP returns after legal woes
Wayward Queensland Labor MP Jimmy Sullivan will make a surprise reappearance at the party’s caucus love-in next week, but will factional treachery kill the vibe?
The 10 steps Australia must take to avert a terror attack
Our idea of Australia as a peaceful and cohesive society would be transformed overnight. These changes should be made now … this afternoon.