Deja vu as COVID-19 mismanagement wreaks havoc across Victoria
Australians are all too familiar with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s depressive tone and posture during daily COVID-19 announcements. Yes, he should hang his head in shame, especially since revelations of incompetent management of the coronavirus in the state have come to light. Disgracefully, mandatory quarantine arrangements and the needs of the most vulnerable in aged care are among the worst examples.
The arguably incompetent COVID-19 management by the Andrews government provides Victorians with a serious sense of deja vu. In 1990, I wrote a series of articles expressing my outrage at what I believed was the most incompetent government Victoria had seen in its history as our state suffered a financial disaster.
As a lawyer (then) I was outraged by state government ministers’ and bureaucrats’ lack of accountability for their actions and inactions that saw Victoria fall into financial ruin.
On the May 6, 1990, I wrote in the Sunday Herald: “Ultimately, we are all accountable for our actions. However, many people manage to escape accountability during their lifetimes. There is nothing wrong with that because there should not be a hue and cry every time somebody gets something wrong. However, those who chose to take on leadership roles in government, administration and business alike must not only be seen to be accountable for their actions but must be held accountable. This is especially important for those whom occupy positions of privilege or trust.”
On May 13, 1990, I wrote in the Herald Sun that the premier must take responsibility for the horrendous financial losses his government inflicted on Victorians: “There is nothing more fundamental in our Westminster system of government than the concept of ministerial responsibility and accountability of public officials. A minister’s ultimate responsibility for his or her decisions and the actions of those officials in a department or an authority under the minister’s control is of paramount importance. Ministers must accept responsibility for corrupt practices, incompetence and gross negligence under their control.”
Sadly, while no one could have predicted a repeat of such incompetent government and bureaucracy that would devastate Victoria financially and socially, this is exactly what we are witnessing today as the Andrews government mismanages the COVID-19 crisis.
Andrews must be held accountable for the COVID-19 disasters unique to Victoria. From the outset the Premier has failed to interpret properly the statistics provided to him, leading to the horrific financial and social disasters we are witnessing now.
What is it about data analysis that Andrews and the bureaucrats advising him don’t understand — such as proportional positive cases versus misleading absolute numbers; community spread cases versus specific location contact cases; deaths caused by COVID-19 versus deaths where patients happen to be COVID-19 positive; and COVID-19 caused deaths versus past influenza caused deaths?
Meaningful analyses and commission of inquiry statements show how the Andrews government has caused a disaster not seen in any other state.
Instead, Andrews and Victorian bureaucrats obfuscate and try to divert attention from their accountabilities. The bureaucrats responsible for carrying out the government’s policy divert attention from their failings by blaming others including federal agencies and other state government departments, or claim “it was not my obligation to perform this task”. The Premier digs his heels in deeper the more he is criticised.
Whether incompetence or negligence, the Andrews government failings have been made clear: the quarantine fiasco and failure to accept the federal government’s offer of trained professionals’ support; the use of untrained private security groups to manage quarantine hotels; the failure to ensure sufficient personal protective equipment and training; and abrogation of all responsibilities to ensure appropriate management of aged-care facilities.
The direct cost impact is similarly horrendous: paying for untrained and unsuitable contractors and personnel; paying for shocking hotel facilities; tens of millions of dollars in cost blowouts; and the inestimable costs of the second wave of COVID-19.
We discovered how a Victorian government system may be up to 40 years out of date, as exemplified by the fax-based reporting, until just recently fixed. Then there is the mess in contact tracing: delays, lack of personnel and misleading statistical reporting to the public.
From insult to injury, we then face Andrews’s plan to extend the state of emergency by 12 months.
Finally, there is a clear lack of planning and open and meaningful reporting to Victorians. No business would go to market without a plan for different exigencies. None would ever get away with such misleading statistical reporting to their investors. Of course, nothing is perfect in this world. But how could Andrews think he needed a “perfect path” out of this pandemic before he told us his government’s plan? He has failed management 101.
As leader, Andrews must make decisions based on the advice he is given, medical and scientific. But advice must not be limited to that alone. It’s his responsibility to factor into that advice broader issues such as the overall state of the people he governs: financial, social, other health issues and economic. His role requires the ability to balance all the issues and their impacts on his constituents. That is what a leader does. Instead it appears he has abrogated his responsibilities to unelected bureaucrats and their narrow perspectives.
The Cain-Kirner government fiasco cost the people of Victoria billions of dollars. This Andrews-led COVID-19 disaster will likely cost Victoria many times more. While it took Victoria five years to recover from the earlier fiasco, this time recovery could take decades. How do we explain this to our grandchildren who will ultimately pay the cost?
Andrews, his ministers and bureaucrats should all hang their heads in shame.
Francis Galbally is chairman of Southbank Capital.
More Coverage
Settler-colonial ethos is our least worthy export
Like other Australians confronted with daft academic ideas, I blamed the US or France and ignored my own country’s contribution. It was easy, but unfair.
What have our universities become?
A lurch towards activism and a focus on funding have desecrated our universities. They should once again become safe spaces – for the getting of wisdom.