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Alarm bells around criminals working in Victoria’s contact tracing system

The Victorian Labor Minister responsible for the state’s coronavirus response has been unable to say how many convicted criminals have been employed to carry out contact tracing with access to hundreds-of-thousands of Victorians’ personal data.  

It’s been revealed that a man who pleaded guilty to serious assault is employed by the Andrews Labor Government in its contact tracing team despite all employees having to go through criminal checks before employment.

Through questioning by the Victorian Liberal Nationals, Labor’s Government Services Minister today told Parliament that the man was in fact employed by the government and that all employees had to go through a police check.

Despite this, the man still claims he is employed and has told the Herald Sun that he was upfront with his criminal background.

Comments attributable to the Shadow Minister for Police and Community Safety, David Southwick:

“Victorians need to be able to trust and have confidence that their personal information is not falling into the wrong hands.

“If convicted criminals are getting these jobs and access to hundreds of thousands of Victorians’ data, it’s a horrible thought for those who’ve been upfront and honest about their information.

“Labor has told Parliament that there is a requirement that all staff in this unit go through police checks. But today we find out that a serial liar and convicted criminal still got the job even when he declared this upfront.

“This is the garbage bag standard contact tracing that has meant Victoria is the only state in the country to endure three lockdowns, with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost as a result.”

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