Covid hotel mystery unresolved

At last, a ray of light. But no more than that. After months of prevaricating from the Andrews government, its ministers and top bureaucrats, present and past, Victoria’s former police chief commissioner has told the hotel inquiry he believes Premier Daniel Andrews’ ex-top public servant, Chris Eccles, led him to believe — during a 136-second phone call on the day the disastrous quarantine program was set up, March 27 — that private security guards would be used. That conversation planted the seed, Graham Ashton said on Friday, about the use of private security guards. Mr Ashton, who retired in July, doubled down on what he said before. His memory, however, seems vague and unclear. “Notwithstanding that confirmation, I have no independent recollection of that conversation,” he stated in an affidavit. For his part Mr Eccles, who resigned last month, maintained in his affidavit that at the time of his conversation with Mr Ashton, he had “no knowledge” of any decision about the use of Victoria Police or private security personnel in the proposed hotel quarantine program. Nor did Mr Andrews.

The transcripts, phone records and emails released on Friday need detailed scrutiny. While enlightening, to a point, they do not answer the central question — who authorised the use of private contractors? It is a critical question. It was a major contributing factor in Victoria’s second wave, which resulted in thousands of COVID-19 cases, 768 deaths and a crippling lockdown that paralysed the nation’s second largest economy, devastated businesses and jobs, and extracted a heavy toll on the mental health of Victorians, especially young people.

What is clear and very welcome, however, is that Victoria is now officially COVID-free after reaching 28 days with no new known cases of the virus and four days with no active cases. Let the airline and hotel bookings flow for Christmas and the summer holidays. Unless, of course, you want to travel to Western Australia. “I am, you are, we are all Australians,” Caroline Overington writes. “Then of course there are the West Australians … It’s quite the state. But it’s still part of Australia.”

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan was still holding out late Friday, decreeing his state’s border with Victoria would remain closed for at least a few more days. WA is also almost certain to be shut to South Australians for Christmas. During the pandemic, premiers have been happy to hide behind their chief health officers. But Mr McGowan, no doubt conscious that his stance helped him politically in the run-up to the March election, has turned his back on his Chief Health Officer’s advice. Dr Andrew Robertson has said it would be safe to drop the need for two weeks of quarantine for arrivals from Victoria and NSW once those states achieved 28 days without the virus. But Victorians will need to wait until at least next week before they can enter WA. The hard border is bad for business. It is also illogical. As Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid says, WA is probably at more risk now of COVID than Victoria is because of the lack of social distancing in some places in the west.

Our last hard border aside, the nation’s COVID recovery is gaining pace. We are in a strong position compared with most nations. Key questions from Victoria’s hotel debacle, however, need to be answered.