The involvement, or lack thereof, of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in Victoria's Hotel Quarantine program has dominated the politics this week.
The furore was sparked on Tuesday when Premier Daniel Andrews told a parliamentary inquiry that it was "fundamentally incorrect to assert that there [were] hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no. That's not, in my judgement, accurate."
What followed was a swirl of "duelling statements", claims and counter-claims.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds came out contradicting Mr Andrews, saying ADF help was offered multiple times, only to herself be contradicted by Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner, Andrew Crisp, who said it wasn't offered at a meeting in late March when quarantine was being set up.
So, why does it matter?
The start of Victoria's devastating second COVID-19 wave has been pinned on a breach of hotel quarantine and infection of security guards who then took the virus into their own communities.
An outbreak at Rydges on Swanston Street is of particular concern. The Age yesterday revealed a leaked email which suggested "patient zero" at the Rydges was a night manager, not a security guard.
An inquiry led by former Judge Jennifer Coate will examine if every active case emanated from those hotels where returned travellers were required to quarantine for 14 days.
Some argue that the ADF presence would have been preferable to private security guards, and may have prevented an outbreak.
Others argue Victoria Police should have been used, but that issue has not risen above the cacophony on the ADF this week.
It's an impossible "what if?", but proponents of the theory point to the fact that soldiers were deployed to help in NSW, which also had a large number of international arrivals and has not been plunged into Victoria's situation.
However, NSW also employed private security, as did Western Australia.
Here's what we know.
What a difference a day makes
Mandatory hotel quarantine for overseas travellers was enforced from Saturday, March 28.
That meant anyone arriving in Australia from overseas had to undertake 14 days of self-isolation.
On March 27, everyone seemed to be on the same page.
The Prime Minister said in a statement that day: "The Australian Defence Force will begin assisting state and territory governments to undertake quarantine compliance checks of those who are required to be in mandatory isolation after returning from overseas."
The Victorian Premier also issued a press release that day. In it, he said: "It has also been agreed that the Australian Defence Force will be engaged to support the implementation of these arrangements."
At a press conference that afternoon, Mr Andrews said: "I'm very grateful to the Prime Minister for him agreeing to let this be a true partnership between Victoria Police, our health officials, as well as the Australian Defence Force. I think that will work very well."
The same day, the ADF put 100 personnel on standby in large states, and 50 in smaller states, ready to assist with hotel quarantine, but they were not deployed in Victoria.
The ABC understands the offer of support was not specific to any task, and it would be up to the states to work out how ADF would be best used.
The ADF was involved in the planning for hotel quarantine, something Mr Andrews reiterated at his daily press briefing yesterday.
A meeting at the State Control Centre on the afternoon of March 27, chaired by Commissioner Crisp, determined to not use ADF. A recording of that meeting has been given to the Coate inquiry.
"During these discussions I did not seek nor did representatives of the ADF offer assistance as part of the hotel quarantine program," Commissioner Crisp said in a statement this week.
"Subsequent communications with the ADF on the 12th and 15th of April did not relate to ADF assistance as part of the program."
At a parliamentary inquiry this week, the Jobs and Precincts Ministry department secretary Simon Phemister said the decision to use private security guards was made at a 4:30pm meeting at the State Command Centre that same day — March 27.
Mr Phemister was unable to say who made the decision, but said the meeting was chaired by Commissioner Crisp.
The inquiry heard that the Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for infection control.
Mr Andrews explained to the parliamentary hearing this week that the Government was already working with hotels and private security to provide accommodation for health workers to isolate, as well somewhere for homelesses people to stay.
"It [hotel quarantine] was essentially an extension of a program that we had already stood up — nothing more, nothing less,'' Mr Andrews told the inquiry.
What happened the next day?
Senator Reynolds said in a statement on Tuesday this week that on March 28, Victorian authorities advised they were not seeking ADF assistance with mandatory quarantine arrangements.
"Defence agreed to requests for support to quarantine compliance from Queensland and NSW on 28 March," she said.
"ADF officials asked whether Victorian authorities required assistance with its mandatory quarantine system on multiple occasions. No request for quarantine support was subsequently received from Victoria at that time.
"On 12 April 2020, Victorian authorities reaffirmed to ADF officials that all quarantine compliance monitoring operations were within Victorian authorities' capacity."
Troops were deployed to other states
On March 29, a Defence Ministry statement said the ADF would provide logistics support to state police to enforce mandatory quarantine and isolation measures.
In NSW, that included 30 ADF personnel deployed at Sydney airport, "with at least another 40 supporting the quarantine of six separate hotels".
In Queensland, a dozen ADF personnel were sent to Brisbane and Cairns airports, and another dozen supported quarantine at a hotel in Cairns.
A further 50 personnel were approved for deployment to Western Australia "to support quarantine measures for new arrivals".
Soldiers would help state authorities enforce strict measures, and carry out compliance checks for those in isolation, but they did not have the powers of arrest.
In late July, whistleblowers in Western Australia voiced concerns about hotel quarantine breaches.
The next day, it was announced Defence Force personnel would be stationed at Perth hotels to assist contracted security guards.
What do we know about hotel quarantine breaches?
Jobs Minister Martin Pakula said his department requested Victoria Police help early on in the hotel quarantine program.
State ministers were first made aware of a guard testing positive at the Rydges Hotel on May 26.
There have been rumours about security guards sleeping with the guests who were supposed to be isolating, but so far no evidence has emerged to substantiate that.
What we do know is there were subcontracting arrangements where security guards were recruited by WhatsApp.
One former security guard told the ABC's 7.30 program there was a lack of personal protection equipment and lax procedures.
Further, a hotel quarantine nurse told the ABC that guests were allowed out for more fresh air, in part due to staff being shaken by a suspected suicide.
The Premier has said he had not heard of quarantine trysts, but a number of staff, "despite knowing about infection control protocols, have decided to make a number of errors".
He said the virus may have spread among staff sharing a cigarette lighter or carpooling.
"[They were] keeping their distance but sharing a lighter between each other," he said in late June.
"An innocent thing that can lead to transmitting the virus.
"There also seems to be carpooling arrangements between staff, which meant they were in closer contact than we would like."
What happened in June?
On June 24, Victoria requested help from the ADF, the Commonwealth and other states.
But hours after Senator Reynolds released a statement saying 1,000 troops would be deployed to Victoria, it was scaled back.
Around 850 soldiers were slated to help with the enforcement of hotel quarantine, but the ABC reported Victoria was considering using police and Protective Services Officers (PSOs) instead.
A few days later, on June 30, the hotel quarantine program was suspended, with all international flights diverted to other cities for two weeks.
That would allow the program to "reset" under the supervision of Corrections Victoria, which run the state's prisons.
The hotel quarantine program in Victoria has now been suspended until at least the end of October.
ADF personnel have been brought in to help police patrol streets and conduct doorknocks to ensure people who have tested positive are staying at home.
Victoria now has 1,743 ADF personnel deployed, more than every other state and territory combined.
Mr Andrews said the June 24 request for ADF help was not made by him and he didn't order for it to be rescinded.
He added that request came a month after the first outbreak at the Rydges and wouldn't have made a difference.
Mr Andrews said in a statement on June 30 that genomic testing showed a number of cases of community transmission in late May and June were linked to an infection control breach in hotel quarantine.
"Clearly there has been a failure in the operation of this program," he said at the time.
'It's not rocket science'
John Parker, a GP with an interest in infectious diseases, was involved in developing quarantine procedures during the Diamond Princess and Ruby Princess cruise ship outbreaks.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne on Wednesday that managing quarantine "shouldn't be difficult".
"People just stay in their rooms. They don't come out," he said.
"They need to be fed, they need to have their garbage collected, but for two weeks, they just need to stay in their rooms. It's not rocket science."
But he said security guards needed to be experienced and skilled, and that they needed a good training, supervision and support. He said quarantine training could be done in half a day.
If someone attempted to leave their room or was having a medical episode, police and mental health nurses needed to be on hand, he added.
What happens now?
Mr Andrews has demonstrated some fatigue with the issue being raised every day in his coronavirus press briefings.
"I reserve the right to respond to questions and perhaps indicate to you when I don't know that there's much more to be gained by having these debates and discussions about things that happened three months ago," he said yesterday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday side-stepped a last-minute question at the end of a press conference when a journalist asked if he had "made an offer" to Mr Andrews.
"That's all been covered off," Mr Morrison said.
The ADF question may resurface at daily press briefings.
But answers may be brought to light by the Coate inquiry, which is set to resume on Monday.
The report is expected to be handed down on November 6.
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2020-08-14 20:08:00Z
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