Coronavirus: Linda Reynolds scotches Daniel Andrews’ ADF claim

Linda Rey­nolds has directly challenged Daniel Andrews’s claims that Victoria was not offered hundreds of soldiers to guard its hotel quarantine program.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds. Picture: AFP

Defence Minister Linda Rey­nolds has directly challenged Daniel Andrews’s long-running claims that Victoria was not offered hundreds of soldiers to guard its hotel quarantine program, which has been linked to the state’s second wave of coronavirus cases.

In her first public contradiction of the Victorian Premier’s defence of the bungled scheme, Senator Reynolds said Victoria was offered help with the hotel quarantine program on multiple occasions, rebuffing Mr Andrews’s testimony to a state parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

He had told the inquiry it was incorrect to say there were “hundreds of ADF staff” available to assist with the bungled scheme, which saw dozens of security guards and their close contacts infected with the virus.

When Mr Andrews was asked by the committee why private sec­urity guards were used instead of Australian Defence Force personnel or Victoria Police officers, he said: “It is fundamentally incorrect to assert there was (sic) hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no.”

He has conceded that the breaches in the hotel quarantine scheme are linked to “at least a significant proportion” if not all of the state’s second wave of coronavirus cases, responsible for taking 228 lives since July 5.

Senator Reynolds said Defence approached all states and territories over their need for ADF support with monitoring the compliance of returning travellers, following an offer by Scott Morrison on March 27.

“On 28 March, 2020, Victorian authorities advised that Victoria was not seeking ADF assistance with mandatory quarantine arrangements,” she said.

“The ADF was consistently advised that its assistance was not required for any “public-facing roles” in Victoria. “ADF officials asked whether Victorian authorities required assistance with its mandatory quarantine system on multiple occasions.”

Ms Reynolds said Victoria, which now has 7880 active cases, requested on June 24 and was granted 850 ADF personnel to ­assist with the running of the hotel quarantine program.

“The request was withdrawn by the Victorian government the following day,” she said. “The decision to withdraw … is a matter for the Victorian government.”

According to the Defence Department, the ADF has assisted in ensuring returned traveller compliance in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.

In NSW, ADF personnel have been involved in the hotel quarantine operation since it came into force in late March. “They’ve been a godsend,” a police official said of the ADF assistance.

Victoria’s June 24 request for assistance was made by the state’s top emergency official, Andrew Crisp. He asked for ADF personnel to assist with hotel quarantine because “Emergency Management Victoria has exhausted internal or contract sources across emergency agencies to fulfil these roles.’’

The inquiry into the Victorian government’s response was told on Tuesday that the Emergency Services Commissioner signed off on plans for the hotel quarantine scheme.

It heard evidence of the elaborate bureaucracy that governed the hotel quarantine program but was not told who was accountable for failures in the scheme.

Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kym Peake said the program was first overseen by a deputy state commander before oversight was transitioned to an “accommo­dation commander” in mid-April.

“I actually don’t have their names,” she said. When asked whether there was any minister or department directly responsible for the fiasco, she said: “Under the plan, this governance group was responsible.”

Ms Peake said the governance group was made up of DHHS, the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Victoria Police, the Department of Transport and the department of Premier and Cabinet.

Additional reporting: Yoni Bashan