Looking again at the Prelim Report I quoted above, p. 9.
26. Due to the established link between the second wave of COVID-19 cases and the outbreaks
from the Hotel Quarantine Program, this Inquiry was established on 2 July 2020 to examine
a range of matters related to the program, including:
• decisions and actions of government agencies, hotel operators and private contractors
• communication between government agencies, hotel operators and private contractors
• contractual arrangements
• information, guidance, training and equipment provided to personnel in hotels
• policies, protocols and procedures.
27. These are the matters that will be the substance of the Final Report.
... now I am reminded of the actual terms of reference, quoted in the back of the Prelim report. So the matters commanded to be investigated were not so much "including" what is listed above, as the prelim report says, so much as virtually ONLY those matters:
Appendix C: Terms of Reference
You are required to inquire into, report and make any recommendations considered appropriate
in relation to the following terms of reference:
1. The decisions and actions of Victorian government agencies, hotel operators and Private Service
Providers, including their personnel/contractors and any other relevant personnel involved in the
Quarantine Program (each Relevant Personnel), relating to COVID-19 Quarantine Containment;
2. Communications between Victorian government agencies, hotel operators and Private Service
Providers relating to COVID-19 Quarantine Containment;
3. The contractual arrangements in place across Victorian government agencies, hotel operators
and Private Service Providers to the extent they relate to COVID-19 Quarantine Containment;
4. The information, guidance, training and equipment provided to Relevant Personnel for COVID-19
Quarantine Containment and whether such guidance or training was followed, and such equipment
was properly used;
5. The policies, protocols and procedures applied by Relevant Personnel for COVID-19
Quarantine Containment; and
6. Any other matters necessary to satisfactorily resolve the matters set out in paragraphs 1 to 5.
All backwards-looking, trying to find out what happened. So what's this prelim report about - not so much about its Terms if Reference, it seems? If the government had wanted an inquiry into the best ways to manage an outbreak, including quarantine structures, wouldn't they have constituted the inquiry differently and called epidemiological experts etc, rather than bureaucrats ? Take this recommendation:
Period of quarantine
32. A 14-day period in quarantine is appropriate, unless the current state of expert opinion changes,
or as otherwise directed by the Chief Health Officer or their delegate.
See any connection to the Terms of Reference?
So its additionally funny that the Terms of Reference specifically mention ' Communications between Victorian government agencies, hotel operators and Private Service Providers relating to COVID-19 Quarantine Containment' ... yet didn't ask for telephone records until goaded into it by Peta Credlin's reporting.
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