CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
In March the Prime Minister unveiled a plan to quarantine overseas arrivals in serviced apartments across the major cities with international airports, the plan was announced in cooperation with the states, who had agreed to foot the bill for accommodation while the Federal government would pay for the military to manage security operations.
However, the Victorian government decided to leave the ADF out of it and opted to bring in private security firms in charge of hotel quarantine in Melbourne. This happened without a formal tender process.
Two months later, Victoria is now being embraced by the warm hug of a second wave of community transmissions, amid reports of serious infection control breaches in the hotel quarantine system.
The security firm is under fire with claims of incompetence and complacency, with rumours swirling that one guard even went as far as in engaging in a intimate relationship with a guest, and others were pulling double shifts in the now infected housing commission towers of North Melbourne.
The Andrews government has since announced a judicial inquiry into management of the program.
In the meanwhile the Victorian government have sent current security guards packing, and opted to replace them with a more competent contracting – one with a track record of working closely alongside Labor.
As of midday today, Melbourne’s quarantined hotel will now be guarded by giants plastic bag of wall and roof insulation.
In an official press release, the Andrews Government stands by their decision to begin pink battsing the quarantine program, with Labor stating that if they are going to be giving government money to bikies, they’d much prefer to work with the ones they know.
Victoria is also now seeking parole and prison officers to help with its housing commission quarantine, which seems like a really good idea in the backdrop of the Black Lives Matters protests
MORE TO COME.
