Jobs department staff, who were given the task of finding private security firms for hotel quarantine, were wary on day one of the crisis of dealing with a 'cowboy industry', saying they didn't want 'rogue guards' prowling the corridors of hotels.
Jobs Minister Martin Pakula says he didn't become aware of the concerns his departmental staff had about the hotel quarantine program until after an inquiry into it was established.
"I became aware sometime after the establishment of this inquiry that there had been certain representations made by my department to other agencies about various aspects of the program, and some of those concerns I believe have been the subject of evidence to this inquiry by officials of my department," he told the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry on Wednesday.Counsel assisting the inquiry today, Rachel Ellyard, asked Mr Pakula whether he ought to have been made aware of problems earlier.
Mr Pakula has said that to the best of his recollection, he first learnt about the hotel quarantine program on the afternoon of March 27 in a phone call from Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions Secretary Simon Phemister.
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