The ill-fated decision to employ private security guards for Victoria’s hotel quarantine program was not able to be traced back to any minister or bureaucrat in the state government despite the inquiry reviewing more than 70,000 documents.
The final report of the inquiry into the program by retired judge Jennifer Coate, tabled in Parliament today, found that the decision to use private security guards, without adequate training in infection control, was an “orphan” that neither Premier Daniel Andrews nor any of his ministers took any responsibility for.
Former judge Jennifer Coate has delivered her final report into Victoria’s hotel quarantine program.Credit:Getty
“Such a finding is likely to shock the public,” retired judge Jennifer Coate wrote in the report.
“The enforcement model for people detained in quarantine was a substantial part of an important public health initiative and it cost the Victorian community many millions of dollars. But it remained, as multiple submissions to the Inquiry noted, an orphan, with no person or department claiming responsibility.”
