Coronavirus Australia: Union jobs for hotel quarantine claim rejected by Victorian jobs minister Martin Pakula

Jobs Minister says claims he was providing union jobs when staffing bungled hotel quarantine system ‘categorically untrue’.

Martin Pakula says the matter is “scurrilous rumour’. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Victorian Jobs Minister Martin Pakula has confirmed his Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions had a role in the decision to hire private security guards to work in the state’s bungled hotel quarantine system.

However, Mr Pakula has vehemently denied as “scurrilous” and without “a shred of evidence” suggestions from Labor sources that he may have been seeking to provide jobs for security staff covered by the United Workers’ Union when the Andrews government decided to hire private contractors for hotel quarantine security roles, rather than follow a national cabinet recommendation to give the job to police or ADF personnel.

When The Australian first put the suggestion to Mr Pakula last week, he said it was “explicitly rejected and is categorically untrue”.

Mr Pakula is affiliated with the National Union of Workers, which recently merged with United Voice to form the United Workers’ Union.

Asked to explain the decision to employ private security companies to oversee the hotel quarantine arrangements at a press conference on Friday, Mr Pakula said he could not discuss the matter, citing an inquiry by retired judge Jennifer Coate.

“It will be fully dealt with by Justice Coate’s inquiry, and I’m not going to traverse ground that will be covered by that,” Mr Pakula said.

Asked whether his department was involved in the decision, Mr Pakula said: “There were multiple agencies involved in the hotel quarantine arrangements, and all of that will be dealt with by Justice Coate in her inquiry.”

Asked whether his department was one of them, he said: “Yes. My department was one of them.”

Asked whether Victorian’s hotel quarantine system had been a failure, Mr Pakula said: “I think the Premier has already indicated that there were failures in regards to the operations of quarantine, and the nature of that will be dealt with by Justice Coate.”

Asked whether he would appear before Justice Coate, Mr Pakula said: “That’ll be a matter for Justice Coate.”

“I’m more than prepared to co-operate with Justice Coate in any way she sees fit,” he said.

Asked why he was prepared to address the matter of whether or not he had been seeking to provide jobs for United Workers’ Union members, but not other questions about hotel quarantine, Mr Pakula said: “Well that one I have dealt with, and the reason I have is because it was a direct assertion of misbehaviour, and it’s scurrilous and it’s untrue and I’m not going to allow scurrilous, untrue assertions, which are not backed up by a shred of evidence because none exists, to go and unchallenged.”

“I’ve said yesterday in response to a query from a news agency, as I said, in response to a query from (The Australian) last week, that it is absolutely, entirely untrue,” Mr Pakula said.

“I don’t expect that to be a matter covered by the inquiry, because it is nothing more than a scurrilous rumour put about by people with bad motivations, and I’m not going to allow a completely false rumour to gain traction.”