Coronavirus Australia: Gladys Berejiklian issues ‘unreserved apology’ over Ruby debacle

NSW Premier concedes ‘horrible mistakes’ were made that should never be repeated, Brad Hazzard said lived had been ‘impacted’.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has issued an “unreserved apology” to the victims of the Ruby Princess disaster, conceding that “horrible mistakes” were made by health officials and the department as a whole that should never be repeated.

Ms Berejiklian was responding to the release of a report compiled by the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess disaster, led by Commissioner Bret Walker SC. Its findings and recommendations were handed down last Friday.

Premier @GladysB apologises for Ruby Princess @NSWHealth failures. #nswpol @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/S0XBjFyfY9

— Alex Hart (@alexhart7) August 17, 2020

The vessel arrived in Sydney on March 19, 2020, and as a result of what Mr Walker found were “serious” and “inexcusable” decisions, all passengers on board were permitted to disembark before COVID-19 test results on some passengers were known. This resulted in 2,647 people dispersing through Sydney and spreading the disease.

“Can I now apologise unreservedly to anyone who suffered as a result of the mistakes outlined in the report … as a result of individuals in the health department or the health agency,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The premier singled out for apology the 62 people who were not passengers on the ship but contracted the virus as a result of secondary or tertiary infections.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to suffer and continue to suffer as a result of that trauma,” she said. “Fortunately Mr Walker says, and I stress, that there weren’t systemic issues. He has full confidence in those agencies continuing to work on the pandemic. In that time we have learned a lot, we have learned so much since those horrible mistakes.”

Ms Berejiklian added that lessons had been learned, but said the tragedy “should and never will happen again in NSW”.

Chant, Hazzard issue brief apologies

Kerry Chant and Brad Hazzard issued short apologies. Picture: Getty Images.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant also issued a short apology in relation to the report’s findings in relation to the “impact on the health and wellbeing on the community”.

The inquiry’s report made a number of damning findings of fault with NSW Health and the expert panel, which assessed the Ruby Princess as a “low risk” for COVID-19 contagion. Panel members were not armed with updated patient logs, did not seek further information about passenger origins, and did not query the high number of admissions to the ship’s medical centre as it coasted towards Sydney.

The inquiry has recommended a review of the Biosecurity Act, which is administered by the Commonwealth, and the default position under existing maritime guidelines to grant “pratique” to ship’s seeking entry to port.

Ms Berejiklian said the NSW Government would implement all of the recommendations contained in the report, but said no disciplinary action would be taken against any health officials involved in the decision making.

“Mr Walker is very clear on what the monumental mistakes were in his view, and certainly he expressed the view that they were isolated,” Ms Berejiklian said. “Had he said they were systemic issues, I would have dealt with that immediately. I would have taken action.”

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard also issued a short apology, saying he was sorry that “lives have been impacted” by the decisions made during the pandemic.

“In this one in a hundred year pandemic, there are learnings every day,” he said.

Ms Chant said the impact of the Ruby Princess decision-making had “taken a toll” on the public health officials involved in assessing its risk.

“In hindsight they would have made a different decision. Obviously no one wants to make this sort of error of judgement, but those practitioners, at that time, were under immense stress,” Ms Chant said.

“My thoughts are with the public health officials, as they are with the community. But it has had a toll on those individuals.”