Correspondence between government departments shows top government bureaucrats were concerned about the role of security guards in hotel quarantine
The state’s Chief Health Officer said on Monday it was "conceivable" that all the active COVID-19 cases in Victoria stemmed from Melbourne’s problem quarantine hotel program.
A top official from Emergency Management Victoria responded to the request by saying police were not required because guards could call triple zero if a situation warranted police involvement. "All departments and agencies will fully co-operate with the inquiry," the spokeswoman said. "We will let the inquiry do its work – our focus remains on containing this virus."
Emails sent on March 29 and an internal Emergency Management Victoria operational document dated March 28 detail the roles and responsibilities of each agency in the hotel quarantine system, with DHHS and Emergency Management Victoria leading the program. The Jobs Department, led by minister Martin Pakula, was responsible for procuring contracts with hotels and security firms, and purchasing services, items and food for returned travellers.The department's early planning role would "transition to the Deputy State Controller and DHHS as the control agency," a March 29 email from DHHS to Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions shows.
The company regularly "reinforced use-of-force provisions and legal authority for quarantine restrictions", the spokeswoman said."We deployed specialist services and expert personnel from our corporate risk department to oversee the deployment of all staff into hotels.
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