Coronavirus: Infection control ‘the job of others’

Victoria’s health department was responsible for infection control in the botched hotel quarantine program, a minister has declared.

Victorian Jobs Minister Martin Pakula. Picture: Mark Stewart

Victoria’s health department was responsible for infection control in the botched hotel quarantine program, a minister has declared, undermining claims a broader “governance group” was in charge.

As the state saw a record number of COVID-19 deaths for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, Jobs Minister Martin Pakula disavowed himself of responsibility for infection-control management but declined to point the finger at colleagues.

“I’m not speaking to the individual responsibility of ministers,” he said. “I’m saying that under the operational plan, the operational control and the ­responsibility for infection control and health matters lay with the Department of Health and Human Services.”

It came after Health Minister Jenny Mikakos dodged questions about responsibility on Tuesday, with DHHS secretary Kym Peake saying responsibility lay with an overarching “governance group” made up of several departments and agencies.

When asked which minister was ultimately responsible, Mr Pakula on Wednesday said he and his departmental secretary had explained the “chains of ­responsibility”.

“I’m not going to supplement that by making pronouncements about individuals or who I think is ultimately responsible for this, that or the other,” he said.

But he did reveal that the cost of accommodating returned travellers was about $80m.

According to Department of Jobs, Regions and Precinct secretary Simon Phemister, the ­decision to use security guards rather than police or soldiers to manage the program was made in a “pivotal meeting” between multiple agencies that was chaired by Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp on March 27.

“And from that meeting an operational plan was struck,” he told an inquiry examining the quarantine program. “We didn’t offer any advice into that meeting in areas where we don’t hold expertise, including security.”

Mr Phemister said the DJRP began looking to hire security companies after the meeting, ultimately contracting Unified Security, Wilson Security and MSS.

“We were directed through that meeting, and indeed we volunteered, to run the procurement for private security,” he said. “Our role was to assist … and that was very much our mindset.”

He said his department raised the need for a Victoria Police presence at the hotel quarantine program through several emails with the deputy state controller overseeing the program, who he named as Department of Environment, Land and Water ­employee Chris Eagle. “We raised it through the appropriate escalation points, those emails were directed to the deputy state controller,“ he said.

It is understood Mr Eagle’s role was to facilitate information flow within the State Control Centre.

Mr Phemister said the department was undertaking an audit of the contracts with the ­security firms, which he said necessarily allowed subcontracting due to the scale of the operation. “We’re now working through with the co-operation of all three security firms to investigate any allegation of misbehaviour during the life of the contracts,” he said.