I’m sorry no one’s to blame for cruise ship blunders

Gladys Berejiklian refuses to act against colleagues or health authorities for the scandal, which led to over 1000 infections nationwide.

Gladys Berejiklian says no disciplinary action will be taken against anyone involved in the decision-making surrounding the Ruby Princess. Picture: Getty Images

Gladys Berejiklian has offered an “unreserved apology” to the victims of the Ruby Princess crisis but is refusing to take action against any colleagues or health authorities over the scandal, which claimed dozens of lives and led to more than 1000 infections across the country.

The disembarkation of 2700 COVID-19 infected passengers in March, despite a number being tested for the coronavirus, was caused by “inexcusable” and “unjustifiable” mistakes by NSW Health, a special commission of inquiry found.

The “various mistakes and failures” of NSW Health led to the cluster on the cruise ship becoming the largest in the country during the first wave of the pandemic, Bret Walker SC wrote in the commission’s final report.

Cruise ship passengers disembark from the Princess Cruises at Circular Quay in Sydney.

The NSW Premier and Health Minister Brad Hazzard on Monday defended the government’s response and provided a public apology to the victims, saying Mr Walker’s recommendations would be implemented swiftly.

Disciplinary action, however, would not be taken against anyone involved in the decision-making, Ms Berejiklian said.

“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.

“Can I now apologise unreservedly to anyone who suffered as a result of the mistakes that were outlined in the report, undertaken by individuals within the health department or the health agency.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to suffer and continue to suffer as a result of that trauma.”

Mr Walker singled out the NSW Health expert panel for designating the Ruby Princess a “low risk” of COVID-19 contagion to the public. That panel included Sean Tobin, the Chief Human Biosecurity Officer, and Mark Ferson, the panel’s senior physician.

NSW Health expert panel member Mark Ferson. Picture: Jane Dempster

Professor Ferson told the inquiry that although he had read the ship’s acute respiratory illness log, he had done so “quickly” and had not noticed that there were passengers from the US.

Professor Ferson declined to comment on Monday.

Ms Berejiklian faces internal discontent over her handling of the scandal. Several colleagues — including one in cabinet — accuse her of misleading Coalition MPs after telling the partyroom that the problems had been caused by Australian Border Force officers.

Ms Berejiklian in April told the Coalition partyroom that the government was not to blame for allowing passengers to disembark, comments that prompted a backlash from Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram.

Mr Walker found the ABF, “despite its portentous title, has no relevant responsibility for the processes by which … passengers were permitted to disembark”.

The federal Agriculture Department, which gave final clearance for passengers to disembark, only did so “on the favourable word of a so-called Human Biosecurity Officer — here an officer of (NSW Health)”, Mr Walker wrote.

The Australian spoke to six Liberal MPs who voiced disquiet about Ms Berejiklian’s and Mr Hazzard’s handling of the inquiry findings, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

One said Mr Hazzard’s apology had “lacked empathy” while a second said Ms Berejiklian needed to “explain herself” over her comments about the ABF’s involvement. “It was an underwhelming apology,” one Liberal MP said.

“It didn’t address the people who lost their lives — they don’t get a look in. It was a heartless way to deal with the heartfelt mea culpa that you should give.”

Kenneth Read, a Ruby Princess passenger now involved in a class-action lawsuit against Carnival Cruises, said the government’s apology was satisfactory. “I think it was genuine, and she unreservedly apologised, but most of the people I know that were on the ship are much more annoyed with the cruise line than they are with NSW Health,” Mr Read said.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard.

More than 20 passengers died as a result of contracting the virus on board Ruby Princess, which returned to Sydney after a 14-day round trip to New Zealand departing on March 8.

The vessel returned to Sydney early after international borders closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay said she agreed that individual NSW Health staff should not be punished, but said Mr Hazzard needed to face the consequences. “I was asked whether there should be any ramifications for those involved, and I absolutely don’t,” she said.

“These are good people, just doing their job under very difficult circumstances. We believe there is a thing … called ministerial accountability.”

Mr Walker’s report made a number of recommendations to the government relating to disembarking and the Biosecurity Act, which is administered by the commonwealth. But it identified a litany of errors committed by the expert panel tasked with assessing incoming cruise ship arrivals.

Ruby Princess was graded “low risk” by the four-person panel, though the inquiry found that this assessment was made without sufficient interrogation of the data that was coming off the ship.

Professor Ferson was the only person on the panel to assess the acute respiratory diseases log provided by the Ruby Princess doctor, which was out of date.

Remaining panel members did not have access to a copy, and Professor Ferson’s analysis did not identify the accelerating number of patients presenting to the ship’s medical centre as it sailed towards Sydney.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant issued a short apology in relation to the “impact on the health and wellbeing on the community” while Mr Hazzard said he was sorry “lives have been impacted by decisions in this once-in-100-year pandemic”.

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

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