Coronavirus Australia: Don’t know, don’t ask, don’t care: The Great Hotel Quarantine mystery

Two bureaucrats join police, emergency chiefs and key public servants in insisting they don’t know who deployed private guards in Melbourne.

Two senior bureaucrats who had critical responsibilities for Victoria’s troubled hotel quarantine program have joined police, emergency chiefs and key public servants in insisting they did not know who made the decision to deploy the private security guards that contributed to the state’s devastating second wave.

Kym Peake, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which as the control agency had “overall responsibility” for the pandemic response, said she was not aware who made the decision to use security guards and nor was she consulted.

Simon Phemister, secretary of the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, said he commissioned the contracting of private security after a March 27 meeting chaired by Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp, Victoria Police and officials from various departments. But he said he did not know who made the decision to use guards.

Their evidence came after Victoria’s top bureaucrat, Chris Eccles, on Monday said he was unaware who made the decision, and earlier testimony by state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton that he did not find out about the use of private security until after the outbreaks.

Mr Crisp told the inquiry he understood private security to be the preference of Victoria Police but former chief commissioner Graham Ashton denied proposing private security and he believed it came from the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Mr Ashton’s successor, Shane Patton, said he did not know who made the decision.

As Daniel Andrews’s much-anticipated appearance before the hotels inquiry was pushed back to Friday, evidence on Tuesday revealed the three security firms engaged by the government subcontracted work to 14 companies, with some subcontracting done without approval.

WhatsApp messages showed the DJPR staffers tasked at short notice with contracting private security talked of it being a “cowboy industry” with “heaps of cash work”. One staffer warned of the need for the companies to be reputable as the government did “not want [redacted] rogue [redacted] prowling the corridors.”

 

Despite the concerns, staffers did not know the state government had an approved list of security companies, engaging one, Unified, that was not on the list, and charged more than two other listed security firms, MSS and Wilson, for the same work.

Mr Phemister said he did not recall the department “having considered, at the time security contractors were engaged, the possibility of them subcontracting their obligations”.

During cross-examination on Tuesday, counsel assisting, Rachel Ellyard, asked him if it was appropriate for the government to structure the contracts in such a way that placed primary responsibility for infection control and personal protective equipment on private companies rather than retaining it within government.

He said he could not comment as it was beyond his area of expertise. In his statement, he wrote: “Although security contractors had contractual responsibility for COVID-19 training and the provision and wearing of PPE, this was by no means an abdication by the state of its responsibilities in relation to these matters.”

Ms Peake said the quarantine program was a joint operation by DHHS and DJPR, with the latter responsible for hotels, security, cleaning, food and the helpline. “I don’t personally find it to be inconsistent to say we were the control agency … but there was shared accountability within individual operations, and there were other departments who took the lead for particular operations,” she said.

Her answers led to a tense exchange with counsel assisting the inquiry, Ben Ihle, who said: “I’ve now asked you on three separate occasions whether your department as the control agency had overall responsibility for all activities undertaken, and I think you’ve resisted agreeing with that on a number of occasions.”

Mr Phemister said he was not aware of anyone in government directing security contractors that their workers needed to undertake training other than commonwealth COVID training.

He said he first learned of the hotel quarantine program in a phone call on March 27 from Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Mr Eccles, who had stepped out of a national cabinet meeting to tell him it would come into operation Australia-wide at midnight on March 28. From his discussion with Mr Eccles, he understood his department had “lead responsibility” for delivering the program.

“Mr Eccles did not give me instructions as to how the program should be implemented; he gave me the problem and asked me to find a solution,” he said.

He said he messaged then police chief commissioner Mr Ashton early in the afternoon of March 27 “on the understanding that Victoria Police would lead the security operation”.

He said at a 4.15pm meeting of the State Control Centre, which included representatives of state government agencies and the Australian Defence Force, his department was directed to “engage private security to act as frontline security at quarantine hotels”.