Hotel quarantine inquiry legal bill blows out to $8.6m

Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spent nearly $900,000 on legal representation during the state’s hotel quarantine inquiry.

Victorian MP Richard Riordan.

Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spent nearly $900,000 on legal representation during the state’s hotel quarantine inquiry, bringing the taxpayers’ costs for the probe to at least $14m.

But the total bill is likely to be much higher as not all spending has been disclosed.

Answers to questions on ­notice to a parliamentary inquiry reveal DELWP spent $899,300 on legal fees during the 2020 inquiry, which established failures in hotel quarantine sparked the deadly second COVID wave that claimed the lives of 801 people.

That bill is in addition to the $6.25m spent by the Department of Health and Human Services, the $1.01m spent by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the $446,000 spent by Treasury and Finance.

The taxpayers’ combined legal bill is about $8.6m — nearly $3m more than the cost of the inquiry itself, which came in at $5.7m.

The inquiry did not establish who made the decision to use private security companies at quarantine hotels, which is considered a pivotal failing that allowed the virus to seed into the community.

Victoria’s opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the hefty legal bill was a waste of money as the public was no closer to the truth after the inquiry.

“This has been a complete cover-up from the beginning,” he said.

DELWP did not comment in response to The Australian’s questions but it is understood the department assisted the inquiry through a large production of ­documents and evidence in relation to its hotel quarantine role. Two DELWP staff members served as deputy state controllers during the program, while 22 employees worked as authorised ­officers under the DHHS.

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee deputy chair Richard Riordan said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his senior ministers were hell-bent on concealing how the hotel quarantine had operated.