Covid response like watching a ‘slow car crash’

The Australian Medical Association has likened Victoria’s response to the coronavirus to witnessing a “slow car crash”.

AMA Victoria president Julian Rait.

The Australian Medical Association has likened Victoria’s ­response to the coronavirus to witnessing a “slow car crash”, ­renewing calls for a royal commission into the state government’s handling of the pandemic.

It comes as Victoria’s top cop revealed criminal inquiries into security companies involved in hotel quarantine program are under way. And WorkSafe is investigating private contractors and two government agencies ­involved in the disastrous scheme that unleashed Victoria’s catastrophic second wave.

In a forthright submission to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s inquiry into the government’s COVID-19 response, AMA Victorian president Julian Rait criticised the “public perception of tolerance” of the Black Lives Matter protests as well as hotel quarantine failures.

Associate Professor Rait further criticised the state government for poor or no public health messaging with migrant communities, siloed decision-making, slow contact tracing, poor public health investment and a lack of transparency and accountability.

“The data and modelling informing the state government’s decision-making is drip-fed to the public in daily press conferences,” he said in the submission.

“AMA Victoria would like to see more transparency from the state government so that information is more widely shared and better understood.”

The comments came as the parliamentary inquiry heard Victoria Police had launched a criminal probe into private security companies that provided guards for the hotel quarantine program.

When Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton was asked if criminal inquiries were under way into the security companies involved in hotel quarantine, he answered: “Yes. Last week I was made aware complaints had been made to the Licensing and Registration division, which govern that area.”

An inquiry headed by former judge Jennifer Coate has heard almost all of Victoria’s second-wave coronavirus cases, which have claimed the lives of more than 440 people, are linked to infection control breaches at the hotel quarantine program.

On Wednesday, Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the Australian Defence Force did not offer troops to assist with the hotel quarantine program during a March 27 meeting, attended by army officials. “With the meetings on the 27th and 28th of March, when we were standing up Operation Soteria [hotel quarantine], there was not an offer from the ADF in relation to support for hotel quarantine – nor did I request that support,” he said.

Whether troops were offered has been a matter of public dispute between the Victorian government and the commonwealth. Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly backed Commissioner Crisp’s version of events while last week Lieutenant-General John Frewen said 100 troops were put on standby to help Victoria.

Despite earlier testimony, Commissioner Crisp said the decision to use security guards was made before the March 27 meeting. He said DHHS was the “control agency” of the hotel quarantine program and he had requested 850 troops on its behalf.

The request was rescinded the next day, with Commissioner Crisp telling the inquiry on Wednesday: “I had a further conversation with regards to other options that were being explored with other resources from the Victorian public service.”

On Wednesday, WorkSafe chief executive Colin Radford told the inquiry it was investigating DHHS and the Department of Jobs, Regions and Precincts in relation to hotel quarantine.