Coronavirus: NSW police launch criminal probe into Ruby Princess debacle

NSW Police Commissioner says criminal or coronial investigation is needed to decide if Carnival was transparent in its advice to NSW Health and the Port Authority.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has announced a criminal investigation into the events that led to the Ruby Princess cruise ship being allowed to disembark thousands of passengers when it berthed in Sydney last month.

So far, 622 passengers of the vessel have tested positive for coronavirus and ten have died, including three in New South Wales overnight.

The investigation comes as it has been revealed the NSW government was aware there were passengers on board showing coronavirus-like symptoms when the ship berthed on March 19, and that they could be tested for the virus and receive results within hours.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said there was ‘clear evidence’ COVID-19 had been brought off the ship in Sydney.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, Commissioner Fuller said a criminal or coronial investigation was needed to work out if Carnival was transparent in its advice to NSW Health and the Port Authority.

“The key question that remains unanswered and a criminal or coronial investigation will need to be conducted was Carnival crew transparent in contextualising the true patient and crew health conditions relevant to COVID-19,” he said.

Maureen Dawes of Claremont and her friend and companion Leonard Fisher. Leonard died after being infected with COVID-19 on board the Ruby Princess. Picture: Zak Simmonds.

“The international licence to enter a report on the assurance from the captain to the authorities that the vessel is free from contagious disease. This all commenced on the 18th with a 000 call from a member of Carnival to 000 New South Wales Ambulance.

“There was a 17-minute conversation about two passengers that required medical assistance from the ship. After that call an ambulance supervisor concerned in

terms of the terminology around the infectious nature of some of these passengers, he escalated the matter. He did an outstanding job. He then contacted New South Wales Police Marine Area Command who were also concerned in relation to the language, given there were a number of cruise ships either under way or off the New South Wales shores.

The Ruby Princess sits of coast of Sydney on Sunday.

“There were a number of phone calls between Ambulance, New South Wales Police and the New South Wales Port Authority. And, can I say, the New South Wales Port Authority did an exceptional job in trying to get to the bottom of the facts in relation to this case.

They made contact with the ship on numerous occasions. They actually stopped the ship from coming into Sydney Harbour without further medical information, they made contact with operations manager from Carnival.

“And on each case they were informed that COVID-19 wasn’t an issue on the ship. So from my perspective there are many unanswered questions and I certainly can’t answer those for you today.”

Commissioner Fuller said it was too early to tell if a crime had been committed, but there was “clear evidence” coronavirus was brought off the ship and resulted in deaths.

“From my perspective, it is too early to tell. There is clear evidence that corona — COVID-19 — has been brought off that ship,” he said.

“There’s clear evidence now when it stopped in New Zealand COVID-19 has come off that ship and at least 10 people have died in Australia from COVID-19.

“The only way I can get to the bottom of whether our national biosecurity laws and our state laws were broken is through a criminal investigation.”

The investigation would not overlook the actions of the NSW Port Authority, or NSW Health, with Commissioner Fuller saying the actions of “every agency” would be examined.

He said police hoped to establish whether Carnival was downplaying the symptoms of ill passengers on board by “getting the ship’s records, the records from the doctors on the ship” and by talking to the thousands of passengers who were on board, as well as NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. However, he pointed out that as the Minister, Mr Hazzard did not make operational decisions.

“There seems to be absolute discrepancies between the information provided by Carnival and what I would see is the benchmark for the laws that the federal government and the state government put in place in terms of protecting Australians from cruise ships when coronavirus had started,” he said.

Commissioner Fuller also confirmed that a crew member had been removed from the Ruby Princess on Sunday for treatment, and that “near 200” crew members were experiencing symptoms.

NSW Police Marine Area Command is now looking to find a place for the ship to berth long-term.

“We are hoping to find a safe port... There’s a number of ports and we do need to be mindful if they need medical attention,” he said.

Federal Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy would not be drawn on the criminal probe, but described the situation surrounding the Ruby Princess as “very unfortunate””Like everyone in NSW Health, everyone regrets that it happened,” Dr Murphy said. “Everyone was making the best decision they could on the information they had at the time.”Clearly it was a very regretful situation.