Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews admits security guards responsible for hotel quarantine engaged in “unacceptable breaches” including car pooling and sharing cigarette lighters.

Victoria has launched a judicial inquiry into the failure which will be headed by former Family Court judge Jennifer Coate and on Wednesday confirmed that MSS, Unified and Wilson were contracted to provide the security work.
Hume mayor Carly Moore said the restrictions were heartbreaking and some businesses would not survive. Supplied
“There’s been a failure of that quarantine, clearly, in Victoria. We absolutely need to learn the lessons of that,” Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said.
Victoria recorded 73 new cases on Wednesday in the 15th day of double digit increases as the state’s ten hotspot postcodes headed into four weeks of lockdown from 11.59pm on Wednesday.
Local businesses and households fear the move may spell economic oblivion, as National Australia Bank mothballed two of its CBD Docklands offices for the foreseeable future.
“People know which postcode they live in,” Mr Andrews said. “There can be no confusion about that. There are hard lines that are well-known and well understood,” the Premier said.
The City of Hume – which has twice as many active cases as any other local council, with 82 – is home to several suburbs and many local manufacturers which will be locked down. Mayor Carly Moore is not sure how business and the community would get through the tough new restrictions.
“It’s been a tough time for our community. We were starting to see some signs of hope, we were starting to get optimistic about what the future might look like and realistically, we’re right back to square one,” Ms Moore said.
“I’m hearing from lots of members of the community who really don’t know how they’re going to get through this again. We have seen enormous impacts in terms of economic impacts and that’s only going to get worse.”
Ms Moore is concerned that other parts of Melbourne may shun residents from hotspots in the same way as Queensland and New South Wales – with Queensland warning of $4,000 fines and NSW warning travellers from Melbourne hotspots would be fined $11,000 or jailed.
AFL players have been asked by their clubs to move out of hotspots to ensure the season remains viable, as Collingwood midfielder Steele Sidebottom was suspended for four weeks after breaching the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols.
Mayor of the City of Maribyrnong Sarah Carter said she was appalled some residents were refusing to be tested and said it should be made mandatory although some locals told Melbourne talkback radio they were concerned it would affect their ability to go to work.
There are also escalating tensions over the plan to divert international flights away from Melbourne for two weeks.
Mr Andrews initially indicated NSW would take the lion’s share before NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard warned the state had accepted 30,000 arrivals since late March and other states needed to step up.
Mr Andrews has announced a judicial inquiry into the hotel quarantine failure but on Wednesday insisted that staff from Corrections Victoria were better skilled than Australian Defence Force personnel to conduct that role.
“I think that’s appropriate and they have got the best experience, without question, to be able to do that,” Mr Andrews said,
NSW deployed ADF personnel to run hotel quarantine and no workers at quarantine hotels in NSW have tested positive to COVID-19. But in Victoria, where private contractors, were used there have been significant outbreaks at two hotels.
Two new cases on Wednesday were part of the Stamford Plaza hotel outbreak, taking that total to 31 including one new security guard.
The Financial Review has contacted the private security agents the Victorian government which confirmed were Wilson Security, MSS and Unified – who in some cases employed subcontractors.
Rydges on Swanston in Carlton, where the first hotel outbreak began and infected 19 security guards and their contacts. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
MSS is believed to have provided security at the Stamford but did not respond for comment while Unified are believed to have provided security for Melbourne’s Rydges on Swanson, the site of another outbreak.
All of our staff are aware of the relevant policies and procedures and the importance of compliance to these has been reinforced to all staff through their management teams,” Unified said.
Wilson said they were not providing services where the two hotel outbreaks had occured.
Despite the offer of 1,000 ADF personnel from the federal government, Ms Neville said ADF forces were never considered for running hotel quarantine in Victoria and were not needed to enforce hotspot lockdowns.
She said police would also use on and off ramps to pull people over in the same way as booze buses to check where people are going.
I think were using the ADF in the best possible way, she told radio 3AW.
Theyve been based with us in the state control centre, in the health team, looking at planning and logistics thats where they are well placed.
A drive-through testing station in the Melbourne lockdown suburb of Fawkner. Justin Mcmanus
Mr Andrews said the “clear advice” is that schools within hotspots can remain open but he admitted that may change before school is due to return after the current school holidays.
There were three new school closures in Victoria, which brings the total number of schools closed due to COVID-19 cases since last Friday to 17.
Mr Andrews said trades people and those who can not work from home, could leave hotspot postcodes to go to work, if there was no alternative. The same was true for those who need to enter hotspots for work, which is one of four reasons for leaving home.
“Only do it if you have to do it,” Mr Andrews said.
On exercise, he added: “Do what you need to do,” but use common sense. “Don’t go bushwalking for a day 100kms from where you live,” he said.