Revealed: Financial cost of Covid pandemic on Victoria

Government reports tabled in Victoria’s parliament reveal billions has been wiped from the state’s coffers as people suffered.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at Parliament House in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

The damage wrought by Covid-19 on Victoria has been laid bare in dozens of government reports tabled in parliament, revealing billions has been wiped from the state’s coffers over the pandemic as people suffered.

Employee costs at the Victorian Health Department jumped by $300 million to $1.5 billion, while the day-to-day running costs of the department responsible for the state’s Covid-19 response soared to $1.36 billion, an increase of $690 million.

This included nearly $300 million spent on information, communications and technology, an increase of $100 million, while direct care operating costs jumped by $34.3 million.

The Health Department also spent nearly $50 million on consultancies, with beneficiaries including the Boston Consulting Group, Strategic Alliance, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Nous Group and Third Horizon consulting.

Health Department administration costs also soared by $500 million, rising from $372.4 million last financial year million to $843.5 million.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet spent $18.6 million on Covid-19 campaigns over the pandemic, including $10.7 million on Staying Apart Keeps Us Together and $7.9 million on Stay Safe Stay Open.

Employee costs also blew out by $43 million, with one lucky executive taking home more than $500,000, out earning Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Of the 75 executives at the DPC, three took home more than $360,000, four earnt between $300,000 –$319,999 and three earnt between $280,000 –$299,999.

Enforcing Covid-19 health orders over more than 260-days also saw a $117.8 million budget blowout for Victoria Police, according to their annual reports.

The pandemic has been blamed for overruns in travel, accommodation, computer expenses, purchasing personal protection equipment and working from home allowances and payments.

The report also revealed that police wracked up a massive over time bill after manning a “ring of steel“ dividing metro and regional Victoria in 2020, guarding the NSW-Victorian border and confronting multiple protests in the city.

Extra cleaning of police vehicles, stations and equipment has also hurt the force‘s finances.

“Many of the impacts from changes to our working environment were in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the restriction of movement in the community,” said the annual report.

“These restrictions impacted roadside alcohol testing and saw the booze and drug bus fleet cease operations from July 2020 to November 2020. As a result, the figures for alcohol screening tests are significantly reduced for the 2020–21 reporting period.”

As costs have blown out over six lockdowns, tourism revenue plummeted 69 per cent to $9.8 billion in the year ending March 2021, which Visit Victoria attributed to the Black Summer bushfires and Covid-19.

Total tourism expenditure suffered a net loss of $21.5 billion year-on-year with further losses expected while jobs generated by the industry fell by nearly 12 per cent in the 2019-2020 period.

Dispute applications to the Victorian Small Business Commission increased by 97.6 per cent compared to the previous year, with 5,175 received.

According to the VSBC annual report, this included 3,704 applications for help in resolving rent relief disputes and 1,297 applications to resolve coronavirus-related disputes over rent.

The Commission for Children and Young People’s latest annual report said two infants died after child protection services cut face-to-face without first consulting other services.

The Victorian Ombudsman saw complaints about the Department of Fairness, Family and Housing increase by about a third, with 1,478 relating to child protection services.

According to the public sector’s watchdog’s annual report, jurisdictional complaints increased by 12 per cent to 18,058, with 274 relating to public health directions breaches and 2,770 relating to human rights.

At the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, average wait times for priority housing rose from 12 months to 12.4 while for those fleeing domestic violence it increase 9.9 months to 11.1 months.