Revelations today of numerous systemic failings within Victoria’s hotel quarantine program demonstrates yet again that the Andrews Labor Government simply hasn’t learnt the lessons of its catastrophic past mistakes.
Internal incident reports have confirmed several significant failings across January to April 2021, including;
- Confirmation the January Holiday Inn outbreak was triggered by a doorway swab, not a resident who used a nebuliser as blamed by the Andrews Labor Government.
- A decision to switch off ventilation systems for 10 to 14 hours a day to save “save energy”.
- The General Manager of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria’s Infection Prevention and Control twice breaching infection control protocols.
- A nurse working in hotel quarantine attempting to provide a returned traveller with a banned nebuliser.
- A frontline medical worker vaping inside a quarantine hotel despite warnings such action could promote the spread of COVID-19.
- Residential support officers complaining of boredom and sleepiness, due to the warmth in hotel corridors.
- High risk transfer procedures involving up to 17 staff from six government agencies for moving a returned traveller from a regular hotel to a hot hotel.
These ongoing failings come after the initial hotel quarantine program triggered Victoria’s catastrophic second wave, resulting in 801 deaths, 200,000 job losses and a five month long $5.7 million Inquiry aimed at identifying the faults within Labor’s quarantine system.
Whilst every other state continues to operate safe and effective quarantine programs, Labor’s hopeless hotels continue to risk further outbreaks and hold back Victoria’s economic and social recovery.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Police and Crime Prevention, David Southwick:
“After 14 months and counting, it’s clear the Andrews Labor Government is all spin and simply can’t deliver a safe and effective quarantine program.
“How many reviews and resets is it going to take for Labor to stop gambling with the safety of Victorians and just get this right?
“Victorians deserve better than a government that doesn’t learn from mistakes, throws ordinary Victorians under the bus and continues to cover up its own failings.”
