Tender waived for security Victoria’s quarantine hotels

Security companies overseeing Victoria’s bungled quarantine regime charged for shifts never worked and won contracts without a formal tender.

Security at Crown Promenade as people leave the hotel after two weeks of enforced quarantine. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The security companies that oversaw Victoria’s bungled corona­virus quarantine regime were handed contracts without a ­formal tender process as the government rushed to implement a national cabinet decision to lock down returning overseas travellers.

The Australian has confirmed three private security firms — MSS, Unified and Wilson — were given the contracts without having to qualify through a formal tender process after national cabinet ordered mandatory hotel quarantine on March 28.

The decision contrasted with that of NSW, which used police rather than private security contractors. It was also at odds with the national cabinet recommendation to use police or defence personnel. The Australian has also confirmed that the private security operators used subcontractors in some instances to ­enforce the hotel quarantine ­regime in Victoria.

Travellers are released from the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne after 14 days quarantine. Picture: Ian Currie

It comes as reports emerged of taxpayers being charged for shifts never worked, with the government being billed for more guards than were on duty. Some guards were also reported to have slept with those in hotel quarantine and allowed families to visit other rooms to play cards.

The Herald Sun reports on Thursday that some security firms allegedly ­exploited the pandemic by using fake names for non-existent workers and paid workers in cash, long a scourge in the security industry. It also claims that some hotel guards slept with guests, security personnel wore personal protective equipment for up to eight hours without changing it, guards shook hands and shared lifts in a major breach of regulations and some of them had just six hours of ­infection control training and were caught sleeping on the job. Quarantined families were also allegedly allowed to visit between rooms to play cards and games with others.

The escape of infections from hotel quarantine has contributed to a rise in COVID-19 infections in the state, forcing 10 hotspot postcodes back into lockdown from midnight on Wednesday.

Appearing on the ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews twice declined to ­directly answer why the Victorian government had opted for private firms instead of police.

Having on Tuesday cited ­genomic sequencing linking most of Victoria’s current active cases to the outbreaks at two ­hotels, Mr Andrews on Wednesday announced Jennifer Coate would oversee a ­judicial inquiry into the issue. Ms Coates is a retired Family Court, Children’s Court and County Court judge, state coroner and child sex abuse royal commissioner.

The first COVID-19 infection involving a security contractor — at the Rydges on Swanston quarantine hotel in Melbourne — was made public on May 27, with the total number of cases in that cluster having since risen to 17. A second cluster — now linked to 31 cases including two new cases on Wednesday — emerged after a security contractor at the Stamford Plaza quarantine hotel tested positive on June 17.

Victoria on Wednesday confirmed 73 new cases, taking the state’s total number of active cases to 370, up from 141 a week ago. The number of cases with no known source has also increased by 60 in a week, to a total of 301.

At least 27 of Wednesday’s 73 cases were attributed to local government areas outside the 10 hotspot postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west.

Despite the overhaul of the quarantine system, security guards from two other firms, Spotless and Southern Cross Protection, were on Wednesday night guarding a hotel in Melbourne where infected travellers were staying. As Victoria locked down the suburbs, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard signed a public health order making travel from any of Victoria’s lockdown postcodes to NSW illegal, punishable with a fine of $11,000 or six months’ jail.

“Victorians … should be very aware that NSW will impose penalties if they seek to leave hotspot suburbs to enter NSW,” Mr Hazzard said.

Travellers are released from the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne. Picture: Ian Currie

The Australian asked the Andrews government last Friday for the names of the security companies involved in hotel quarantine, and whether there had been a competitive tender process, but did not receive a direct answer.

Asked at a press conference on Wednesday which companies were responsible, Mr Andrews said: “I’d need to come back to you in terms of the list.”

Late on Wednesday Mr Andrews’ office responded to reissued questions from The Australian, confirming “resources including security contracts were mobilised within 24 hours and exempted from a tender process due to the urgency” following national cabinet’s decision to establish the hotel quarantine program on March 27. “Three security companies — MSS, Unified and Wilson — were contracted by the Victorian government to deliver security arrangements within the hotel quarantine program,” a spokeswoman for the Andrews government said. “In some instances, those contracted companies employed subcontractors. All were bound by the standards in their service agreement with the Victorian government.”

The spokeswoman said all staff had been required to complete a COVID-19 infection control training program and undertake further regular training.

Asked why it had taken more than a month to respond to the hotel quarantine breaches, Mr Andrews said it was not an “accurate characterisation” to say the government had taken too long.

Additional reporting: Yoni Bashan.

Note: The Stamford Plaza released a statement on July 1, saying the hotel group had not breached any infection control protocols and none of its staff had tested positive to Covid-19.

“On or about 13 June 2020, a security contractor, personnel hired by the Victoria Government, tested positive for the Covid‐19 virus,’’ the statement said. “This security personnel was not under the employ of SPM or its related companies.

“SPM was not responsible for the purported 29 Covid‐19 cases. SPM is not aware of where the 29 cases originated, save to say that these 29 cases did not originate from the staff of SPM, or from the purported breach of the infection control protocols.