Guards working in hotel quarantine have alleged that the Department of Health and Human Services failed to investigate claims that a baby was being hit by parents locked in a room.
The statement filed with the inquiry came as guards and public servants testified that oversight of the scheme was shambolic and inconsistent, that guards sacked at one hotel were redeployed elsewhere and that staff were given cursory training in diversity but none in infection control.
Luke Ashford, a park ranger, told the inquiry he was never trained in infection control, but was given a one-hour session on equity and diversity before his first shift as an authorised officer.
The unnamed security supervisor said in his statement to Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry that another guard told him he had heard a baby or infant screaming and crying, and thought "the child may have been struck".
The inquiry was also told that some hotel guests were given permission to leave each day – before their mandated period of quarantine had lapsed – to visit relatives.
The security supervisor testified to the inquiry on Friday, but was not asked about the suspected abuse he had mentioned in his statement.
In his statement he said that he went with a DHHS staff member to knock on the door of the room where the child's family was staying.
The infant's father answered and told them that he had two young children and his family had only been outside for 15 minutes once in two days of quarantine and needed more breaks.
The guard said the DHHS did not check on the children at the time to see whether there had been any signs of violence.
"He really put it back on DHHS saying it was their fault because they weren't getting enough breaks," the guard said of the father.
Luke Ashford appears before the inquiry on Friday. He quit his post as an authorised officer over fears for his health and safety.
The DHHS representative "assured the father that the family would get more breaks and that was it," he said.
DHHS has been approached for comment about the allegations.
The security guard was a supervisor at the Pullman Hotel and Crowne Plaza.
He said some staff not only worked across multiple hotels, but also had front-line jobs at supermarkets and hospitals.
The guard said when he was working at Crowne Plaza he had to send another guard home as he was working 12-hour shifts in security, and shifts at a Coles supermarket on the same day.
At the Pullman Hotel, he overheard a nurse talking about a shift she had at the Austin Hospital that week.
He said guards he knew "were not the best" were moved on from working at Crowne Plaza.
A week later, he saw one of them on the tram, who told him he was working at the Pan Pacific.
Mr Ashford, who worked as an authorised officer in hotel quarantine, told the inquiry that he resigned on June 18 after working across seven hotels over about four weeks.
In one case, he said a woman quarantined at the Pan Pacific Hotel had been allowed to visit her sick mother from 8am until 5pm every day and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions paid for her taxi there and back.
When he asked the department team leader if they could check where detainees were going, he said he was told Victoria Police "would not want to deal with it."
Mr Ashford resigned after a close colleague was told they needed to isolate after an outbreak at the Stamford Plaza hotel. Mr Ashford alleged DHHS told him to still turn up for his shift at the Mercure Welcome, where they were expecting 150 arrivals from Delhi, even though he expressed concerns he was a COVID-19 risk.
"It certainly made me think about my role with DHHS and how much I wanted to put myself at risk, and not just myself, but more my family," Mr Ashford said.
Mr Ashford said DHHS never responded to the concerns he had expressed about infection control.
Quarantine detainees said their rooms were dirty when they arrived. One found a discarded face mask on the ground.
"I am used to working in dangerous environments, having worked in firefighting and the military but I could not rely on the system or people around me to keep the environment safe," Mr Ashford said.
Scientists told the inquiry this week that more than 99 per cent of Victoria's current COVID-19 cases have been linked to travellers quarantined at two hotels – the Rydges on Swanston and Stamford Plaza hotels – after the virus spread to hotel staff and contractors, including security guards.
Health practitioner Liliana Ratcliff, who was in hotel quarantine at the Stamford Plaza, said DHHS did not respond to a written complaint she submitted on May 18, during her stay, about a lack of infection control.
"We are more likely to catch COVID-19 by being locked in a hotel with other returned travellers than if we were allowed to quarantine at home," Ms Ratcliff said.
Part of Liliana Ratcliff's submission to the inquiry.Credit:COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry
A week later, the first security guards and workers at Rydges on Swanston were infected with COVID-19, sparking Victoria's second wave. The first positive test among staff at the Stamford occurred on June 10.
Genomic sequencing data that traces Victoria's second wave to quarantine hotels will finally be made publicly available after Premier Daniel Andrews ordered its release, a spokesman confirmed on Friday.
The data became the centre of the unfolding hotel quarantine in Victoria, with the Premier refusing for weeks to release it.
It was the star witness of the inquiry into the state's hotel quarantine program on Monday, when scientists revealed it linked 99 per cent of current cases in Victoria back to travellers in the quarantine hotels.
“The Premier has requested that the Department of Health and Human Services prepare the genomic sequencing data for publication,” a spokesman for the Premier said.
“The Department is currently preparing explanatory material to accompany the data which will be published on the DHHS website next week.”
The inquiry will hear testimony from more security guards next week.
With Liam Mannix
Tammy Mills is the legal affairs reporter for The Age.
Michael is a state political reporter for The Age.
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2020-08-21 09:45:00Z
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