Statement on the Inquiry into Hotel Quarantine

The inquiry into scandal-ridden mandatory hotel quarantine program in Victoria that has been overseen by the Andrews Labor Government is overdue.

From day one of the mandatory hotel quarantine program, Victorians have heard horror stories of lack of medical support, refusal by the government of specialised mental health services and exemptions, poor hotel conditions with bug infestations and allegations of inappropriate contact between security and quarantined guests.

These problems combined with 30 per cent of quarantined persons refusing a test and Daniel Andrews rejecting support from the Australian Defence Force for the management of the program shows how shambolic Victoria’s program under Andrews has been.

In May, Andrews said the hotel quarantine program “has served us really well” and that the public health workers and program has been “critically important to slowing the spread and indeed stopping the spread of this virus and in turn saving lives.”

The Chief Health Officer also said the benefit of “hotel quarantine is that we can oversight all of those individuals very closely.”

Only now, as the situation has hit a crisis point, has the Andrews Labor Government finally admitted a failure of its own quarantine program has led to Victoria’s coronavirus spike.

We trust the inquiry will investigate a number of problems and have access to key documents, which have been previously refused by the Andrews Labor Government under Freedom of Information.

The inquiry should also work alongside the current Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) hearings into the Victorian Governments response to COVID, and that all documents accessed into the scandal ridden quarantine program be made available for PAEC.

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