Watchdog: Daniel Andrews’ pandemic documents must be released

Daniel Andrews’ department has been ordered to release documents detailing secret Covid-19 surveys of Victorians conducted by the Premier’s $2m strategist.

Labor strategist John Armitage has been awarded two contracts worth more than $2m. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Daniel Andrews’ department has been ordered by the information commissioner to release documents detailing secret Covid-19 surveys of Victorians conducted by the Premier’s $2m political strategist.

Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel has ruled there was a “particularly strong” public interest in the documents, including emails and attachments, between QDOS Research and the Department of Premier and Cabinet being made public.

“I’m not satisfied their disclosure would be contrary to the public interest,” Mr Bluemmel found in a Freedom of Information victory for The Australian.

“I also consider there is a public interest in disclosure regarding the expenditure of public funds. In this case, where such funds are spent by government on surveying attitudes on issues of significance to the community that may influence and impact upon government decision-making, the public interest is particularly strong.”

Heavily redacted Andrews government QDOS documents released to The Australian under Freedom of Information laws.

But in an eleventh-hour bid to keep the documents secret, Victoria’s DPC has launched a ­taxpayer-funded appeal to overturn the ruling.

Commissioner Bluemmel’s decision follows a lengthy FOI battle between The Australian and the DPC covering 64 QDOS documents the department had earlier refused to release to the newspaper, or handed over with heavy redactions.

The redacted documents revealed QDOS embarked on a large-scale program at the height of the 2020 pandemic to monitor Victorians’ reaction to lockdown restrictions and score the government’s performance out of 10, including its leadership.

The emergence of the surveys by QDOS, which promotes its ability to “squeeze, pump and stir public opinion” and expertise in “changing public opinion”, suggest that while the Premier argued that restrictions were based on health advice, his government was sensitive to political fallout.

QDOS, owned and operated by long-time Labor strategist and Andrews ally John Armitage, has been awarded two contracts worth more than $2m, with the second deal handed to the firm by the DPC without a competitive tender.

Seven key documents - including two emails and attachments sent on July 9 and July 24, 2020, as Mr Andrews prepared to plunge the state into a stage-four lockdown - were central to the FOI tussle.

The Australian lodged an appeal with the information commissioner 10 months ago, seeking to overturn the DPC’s refusal to release the seven documents and lift many of the redactions in the released documents.

Daniel Andrews. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Bluemmel found that four of the key documents should be released, in part, to the newspaper, including the July 7 and July 24 emails, dismissing the DPC’s justification for keeping them secret. He confirmed three of the documents should remain under wraps.

In his ruling, Mr Bluemmel dismissed the DPC’s reliance on section 30(1), which protects documents considered to be “internal working documents” from being released under FOI.

“I do not consider the information is particularly sensitive. Rather, I consider the focus of the proposed areas for a survey into public opinion would be reasonably expected given the relevance of the survey issues at that point in time,” he says in his ruling. “I do not consider that disclosure would reasonably inhibit the exchange of views between agency officers which such communication is required in the carrying out of their professional duties on behalf of a government agency.”

Heavily redacted QDOS documents released under FOI last year exposed the extent of polling of community attitudes before and during the 112-day lockdown in 2020.

QDOS quizzed Victorians to score the government from 0 to 10 on “providing leadership during the coronavirus outbreak” and rate its performance on ­“acting on advice from health ­officials”.

Victorians were asked whether they thought the restrictions had been “much too soft, too soft, about right, too harsh, much too harsh”, and whether “you are more concerned about the coronavirus impact on health and ­society OR its impact on jobs and the economy”.

The QDOS emails confirmed that the Premier’s private office was heavily involved in framing the surveys and, on occasions, was invited to view focus groups organised by the firm.

Underlining the political nat­ure of QDOS’s taxpayer-funded work was an appearance by Mr Armitage before the eight-member crisis cabinet at which he ­delivered a briefing about public perceptions of the Premier’s performance.

The DPC lodged its appeal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last Friday at 4.04pm, less than an hour before the deadline for an appeal to be launched. It’s unclear how long the VCAT process will take.