Private security guards used in coronavirus hotel quarantine program blamed for outbreaks
Victoria Australia Aug 27 2020
Victoria Police wanted private security guards to oversee guests in the state’s hotel quarantine program, with the ultimate decision to use contractors made at an urgent meeting chaired by Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp, a government bureaucrat says.
Key points:
A senior public servant says her department organised private security contracts for hotel quarantine
Guards have been blamed for poor hygiene practices and spreading the virus
The Department of Jobs director says her department disagreed with the Health Department on PPE use
Claire Febey, a director at Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR), told the inquiry into the botched program that Mr Crisp tasked her department with the role of organising contracts for guards.
Ms Febey shed light on a critical meeting at the State Control Centre on March 27, before returned travellers were detained in hotels from March 29.
“It was Victoria Police’s preference … that private security be the first line of security?” counsel assisting the inquiry Rachel Ellyard asked Ms Febey.
“That’s right,” she replied.
“I understood [Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner] Mick Grainger had given that directive, in conversation with Andrew Crisp.”
According to a transcript of an audio recording of the meeting, Mr Grainger said it was “absolutely” Victoria Police’s preference that private security be the front line with guests.
“It was my view that Victoria Police should be present onsite at hotels 24/7, and that perimeter or proximate patrol was not adequate,” Ms Febey said.
“I considered that the work of security should be under the direction of authorised officers, with Victoria Police there to oversee and manage escalation.”
Representatives from Victoria Police are due to give evidence at the inquiry next week.
The inquiry has previously heard that 99 per cent of Victoria’s second wave cases emanated from outbreaks at the Stamford and Rydges hotels.
Private security guards have been blamed for not following infection protocols and were among the first to be infected, leading to the virus being spread into the community.
Ms Febey said her department took on the responsibility of contracting the guards as part of its role in hiring other suppliers like caterers and cleaners.
Ms Febey she initially believed her department would be the lead agency running the hotel program, but that was changed to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) before March 29.
She said DJPR’s role then shifted to providing logistical support, such as organising hotel contracts, food for guests and a call centre that provided a “concierge” service.
According to Ms Febey’s witness statement, her department believed “all staff should wear PPE and DHHS was seeking to limit and conserve PPE usage”.
“DHHS counselled us away from that approach, saying that PPE needed to be conserved and that it was inappropriate for staff to use PPE unless they were unable to avoid being 1.5 metres away from a quarantined person,” she said.
Ms Febey said DJPR staff ran into more troubles when returned travellers arrived because of a lack of information coming from DHHS.
“We didn’t know when flights were landing, any particulars about the manifests until the points that they arrived.
“We couldn’t plan in advance for particular types of needs. We had to wait until people arrived at the airport,” she said.
Ms Febey was moved to another department project on April 12, about two weeks after returned travellers began entering hotels.
‘Hey hun, add me on Snapchat’: Guard slipped note under door
A series of emails between DJPR staff revealed their unhappiness with one of the security firms in the program, Wilson Security, after several complaints were received.
Evidence tendered to the inquiry showed a returned traveller at the Crowne Plaza complained after a note was slipped under her door by a guard.
“The note said something like ‘Hey hun, add me on Snapchat’,” a customer service manager wrote to the department.
“She looked up his name and looked up on Facebook and it’s a security guard and [she] wants to complain.
“[Name withheld] is his name — he took her outside a few days ago for outside time.”
DJPR policy officer Paul Xerri escalated the complaint to other colleagues, writing: “I will contact Wilson Security now to have this guard removed”.
Department emails show Wilson Security was eventually removed from operations at the Pan Pacific and Crowne Plaza.
‘I didn’t think they would use subcontractors’
Katrina Currie gives evidence via videolink
Katrina Currie said she was unaware of subcontractors being used, but her handwritten notes suggested otherwise.(Supplied: COVID-19 Hotel Inquiry)
Another DJPR director, Katrina Currie, was tasked with the job of finding private security firms at short notice for hotel quarantine operations.
Ms Currie told the inquiry she hoped to bring in “good” employers who prioritised staff welfare and could deploy large numbers of workers quickly.
The firms picked were Unified, Wilson and MSS Security.
“I didn’t think that they would use subcontractors,” she said.
“The direct employment was absolutely about making sure they were responsible for those people and they were employing them appropriately, under the appropriate awards and conditions.”
The issue of subcontracting is relevant to the inquiry because of concerns around whether guards were paid properly or given proper infection control training when they turned up to work at the quarantine hotels.
On Monday, a guard subcontracted to work at the Rydges Hotel said he caught the virus but continued to turn up to other jobs, because he was “bored”.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Ms Ellyard, said Unified Security had begun sending subcontractors to work in the first few days of the program.
“I wasn’t aware of that [at the time],” Ms Currie said.
But lawyers for Wilson and MSS presented planning notes handwritten by Ms Currie which showed she had jotted down the names of subcontracting firms.
MSS lawyer Anna Robertson said Ms Currie had phone conversations with her client’s general manager about subcontractors being used.
“I just genuinely don’t have a recollection of it,” Ms Currie said.
The inquiry, chaired by former Judge Jennifer Coate, is investigating who was in charge of the failed hotel program and how it was run, along with why private security firms were chosen to oversee returned travellers.
Gonul Serbest, the chief executive of DJPR agency Global Victoria, will be the final witness called today.
On Friday, representatives from Travelodge, Crown, Four Points by Sheraton, Rydges and the Stamford Plaza hotels are scheduled to give evidence.
Last week, DHHS authorised officer Luke Ashford told the inquiry he received no training on infection control practices or how to use personal protective equipment, but was required to complete “equity and diversity” training.
