You can watch today's hearing live right here from 2.15pm:
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The Premier is being played more public statements that Graham Ashton, the then chief commissioner of police, gave about the compliance or otherwise of returned travellers before the hotel quarantine program began.
After a slight technical hiccup (which happens when the inquiry is operating online), counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard, plays another press conference from Mr Ashton.
Mr Ashton is talking about the compliance of people who were supposed to be isolating at home in mid-to-late March before the hotel quarantine program began.
Ms Ellyard tells the Premier she's doing this so she can suggest there was an improvement in compliance rates of Victorians directed to stay at home.
Ms Ellyard then moves on to set up what else was happening in Victoria at the time, before the hotel program began.
Mr Andrews, she said, was aware in the lead-up to hotel quarantine of COVID-19 spreading from the infamous Ruby Princess cruise ship into the Australian community.
He was also aware, Ms Ellyard put, that other countries around the world were having issues with the rate of the virus spreading.
Mr Andrews received a briefing in the lead-up to National Cabinet on March 27 about the possibility of some returned travellers isolating in hotels.
The briefing, shown to the inquiry, said: "DPC [Department of Premier and Cabinet] anticipates the Chief Medical Officer will outline the changes in case numbers of COVID-19 that have been a result of returning travellers."
"The report may recommend that all returning travellers self-isolate in hotels, rather than go home, if the household has more than one person."
Mr Andrews said at that time, to him, anyone returning from a country with little or no public health response and community transmission posed "in my judgement, very serious risk, perhaps an unacceptable risk for community transmission".
In breaking news, and while Premier Andrews is being questioned at the hotel quarantine inquiry, evidence has emerged throwing doubt over sworn testimony Health Minister Jenny Mikakos gave yesterday.
There was even more trouble for the minister on Friday afternoon as the union movement’s peak body, Trades Hall, backed the Health Workers Union in its dispute with Ms Mikakos over a hospital privatisation deal, but not the union’s call for the minister to be sacked.
Ms Mikakos told the inquiry she first learnt in May that private security guards were working on the hotel quarantine program.
But footage from a press conference in March shows Ms Mikakos standing beside her cabinet colleague Martin Pakula as he told the media that private security had been deployed to the hotels.
Briefings to Labor state MPs from April, seen by The Age, also mention that private guards had been hired.
The documents and the press conference footage throw doubt over Ms Mikakos’ claim in her evidence to the inquiry on Thursday that she first learnt of the guards working on the program in May after an outbreak of COVID-19 at one of the hotels.
The questioning of the Premier starts off with what was going on in Victoria in the lead-up to the national cabinet decision to quarantine international arrivals in hotel.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard, shows the Premier a copy of a government gazette direction Chief Health Office Brett Sutton gave after the state of emergency was declared on March 16.
This was a direction, Ms Ellyard said, that required returned travellers to isolate at home from March 18.
She shows him another direction that required COVID-positive people to isolate at home.
Victoria Police's then-chief commissioner Graham Ashton with Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Jason South
Premier Andrews said he was aware of reports from then-chief commissioner Graham Ashton of instances of returned travellers breaking the rule that required them to quarantine at home in mid-March.
Mr Andrews said he thinks the reports came both from media interviews Mr Ashton gave and "other details, other reports".
Counsel assisting the inquiry Rachel Ellyard then plays him a press confrerence Mr Ashton gave on March 23, detailing how police were going to be checking people who were supposed to be isolating at home.
Premier Daniel Andrews has appeared on the screen and he has taken the oath, swearing on the Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews swearing in at Hotel Quarantine Inquiry.
"Can you tell the board your full name?" Counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard, asked.
"Daniel Michael Andrews," Mr Andrews responded.
"And you're the Premier of Victoria?" Ms Ellyard asked.
"I am Ms Ellyard."
A bit more about the lawyers who have been leading the questions for the inquiry.
Rachel Ellyard has the top job of questioning the Premier today.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard.
The barrister has proven to be thorough throughout the inquiry and approaches witnesses with a velvet glove.
She's known for her work in the Coroner's Court, acting as counsel assisting in the inquest into the death of Luke Batty.
She was also one of the junior counsel assisting the family violence royal commission.
Ben Ihle has been her offsider through the inquiry.
He has a broad practice beyond criminal cases and also specialises in public law, regulatory and government law.
He's also the partner of well-known lawyer Rowena Orr, dubbed 'shock and Orr' for her fearless questioning of banking's most powerful as the senior counsel for the banking royal commission.
Mr Ihle has been the more aggressive in his questioning of witnesses before this inquiry, and though he has an easygoing approach, he has a sting that he saved for the decision-makers who've appeared in the witness box.
Senior counsel assisting is Tony Neal, QC.
As a barrister, he had a wide-ranging civil practice, which included native title claims, before he took silk in 2003. According to his curriculum vitae, Mr Neal maintained an active interest in native title claims and anthropology, and he has been involved in protracted native title matters as a mediator and counsel.
First up, Premier Daniel Andrews' lawyer, Stephen O'Meara QC, announces his appearance for the Premier.
Like his ministers who have appeared this week, Mr Andrews has his own legal team.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Ellyard, is tendering various documents.
There are many, many opinions floating around on the interwebs regarding the Victorian government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and the hotel quarantine system in particular. Here is The Age's view, published today.
Rydges on Swanston hotel, the source of 90 per cent of Victoria's second-wave COVID-19 cases.Credit:Penny Stephens
Soon after the inquiry into the hotel quarantine system was announced in early July, Premier Daniel Andrews was adamant in his assertion about where the buck stops: "I am the leader of this government and I take responsibility and have accountability for these and all matters." On Friday, Mr Andrews will have his chance before the inquiry to explain his role in the botched operation. He must do a better job than his ministers.
At a time when Victoria is more reliant than ever on government competency, the parade of senior ministers that fronted the inquiry this week showed a glaring lack of mastery over the decision-making in their departments. While Socrates' phrase "I know that I know nothing" may have more scholarly origins, the ministers appear to have taken it on face value with some pride.
It was Jobs Minister Martin Pakula, whose department contracted private security companies to guard people in hotel quarantine, who appeared before the inquiry first. He drew a blank when asked who made the call on using private security guards, had no insight into why his department was initially put in charge of the operation, was not across any of the contractual details in hiring the guards, and was not consulted when the Department of Health and Human Services took over control of the operation.
The Health Minister's performance yesterday had our chief reporter Chip Le Grand pondering Kafka, or one of his characters in particular.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos says she did not believe it was her health department’s role to ensure private security guards in Victoria’s quarantine hotels were adhering to infection control measures.Credit:Joe Armao
There were times when Jenny Mikakos would have felt like the hapless protagonist in Franz Kafka’s The Trial.
It must be bewildering to be interrogated for hours about something you are said to be responsible for yet something you know so little about.
Unlike Joseph K., Kafka’s fictional banker, Jenny M. at least understood why she was being questioned. More than 750 people have died in Victoria’s second wave of the pandemic, which broke out of quarantine hotels on her government’s watch.
Called before the hotel quarantine inquiry, she did her best to explain the part she played, as Minister for Health and Human Services, in decisions which affected this public health disaster.
The trouble is, she played almost none.
If her evidence is to be believed, and there is no reason to think she would make this up, she didn’t even know private security guards were being used at quarantine hotels until after the virus had leapt its containment lines.
If only someone had thought to show her the Operation Soteria plan that clearly sets out her department’s responsibilities and those of other departments involved in the hotel quarantine program. If only she had asked.
Alas, no one did until security guards working at two hotels were confirmed as COVID-19 cases. By then, the virus was on a tear through Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs.
Yesterday, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos took the (virtual) stand and was questioned for three hours. She was the third minister in two days to deny responsibility for key elements of the hotels program. Here's how Michael Fowler and Tammy Mills saw the day play out:
Jenny Mikakos at the hotel quarantine inquiry.
Ms Mikakos told the inquiry on Thursday that she had not been involved in the hotel program’s set-up and did not seek updates on it until two months later, after the first coronavirus outbreaks, even though her Health Department was the lead agency.
She said she was never briefed on the operational plan for hotel quarantine and did not ask for one, and she admitted she did not know that private security guards were working in the hotels until some had contracted COVID-19 in late May, setting in motion Victoria’s second wave of infections.
Ms Mikakos took the stand under political pressure after the release of a scathing Health Workers Union letter which accused her of “breathtaking incompetence”. The letter forced another key union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation to come out publicly to back her, as did Mr Andrews, who said he had “confidence in all my ministers”.
With only one session left of the hotel quarantine inquiry, no government minister, police officer or emergency management boss has yet said they knew whose decision it was to use private security to guard returned travellers. The decision not to bring Australian Defence Force soldiers in to help is also mired in confusion.
Ahead of his afternoon appearance at the inquiry, the Premier fronted the media as usual: his 85th coronavirus press conference in a row. Whatever you think of him, you can't fault his dedication.
Daniel Andrews fronted the media this morning for the 85th day in a row.Credit:Darrian Traynor
Reporter Ashleigh McMillan pulled together this summary of what he had to say this morning:
- There are now 482 active cases of COVID-19, a drop of 50 cases since Thursday. There were 14 cases announced this morning across the state, with eight additional people sadly dying from the virus.
- Premier Daniel Andrews repeatedly refused to answer questions about the hotel quarantine inquiry. He also declined to answer questions about evidence yesterday given by Health Minister Jenny Mikakos that she did not seek any briefings on the program for two months, despite her department being the lead agency. "It is not for me to make those conclusions. It is not for me to establish those matters," the Premier said.
- Victoria will likely be given more clarity about plans for opening the state at the end of October this weekend because the state’s numbers are dropping "ahead of schedule".
- Mr Andrews says he doesn’t believe there will be any international flights into Victoria until the hotel quarantine inquiry completes its report in November.
- Victorian students studying for VCAL and VET qualifications will get special consideration and access to free courses if lockdown prevents them completing their course on time.
- Mr Andrews says while some school students may need to repeat the year after falling behind due to online learning, there is evidence that children "do much better when they remain with their age-appropriate cohort". He said there would be further announcements on catching up pupils who have fallen behind.
- Two of the COVID-19 cases reported on Friday are people who have a regional Victorian address, but they acquired the virus in Melbourne and have not returned, so they will not be included in the rolling 14-day average of country Victorian cases. There are now just 11 active cases in the regions.
- There are 58 people in hospital with the virus. Eight people are still in intensive care, with six of those on ventilators.
- Of the Victorian cases announced on Friday morning, four were in Greater Dandenong, and one in Casey, but it is not yet clear whether they were linked to the Hallam outbreak.
- Seventy-seven Victorian healthcare workers are currently infected with COVID-19.
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2020-09-25 03:52:00Z
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