Scrutiny on Andrews' leadership as second confidante departs over hotel quarantine - The Age

The crisis enveloping the Andrews government deepened on Monday when his most senior public servant resigned after admitting to providing evidence that misled the hotel quarantine inquiry.

Chris Eccles, the head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, followed former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos out of Victoria's administration when he quit on Monday as the state’s top public servant shortly after handing his phone records to the hotel quarantine inquiry.

'We will get this job done': Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday.Credit:Jason South

The records showed that, at a crucial time of day on March 27, the day the hotel quarantine system was set up, Mr Eccles had a previously undisclosed two minute conversation with then police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.

This contradicted evidence Mr Eccles gave to the inquiry in two statements in September in which he initially said he recalled no communication with any member of Victoria Police and, later, that he did not recall receiving a text message from Mr Ashton.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he had been "shocked" to learn Mr Eccles had made the call during a crucial six minutes when the contentious decision to employ private security guards in hotel quarantine appears to have been made.

The Victorian opposition called Mr Eccles' resignation a sign the controversy and culpability around the hotel failure was moving closer to the Premier ahead of the inquiry handing down its final report on November 6.

Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Chris Eccles testifies to the inquiry.Credit:

“All roads lead to Daniel Andrews," said opposition leader Michael O'Brien. "Chris Eccles is Daniel Andrews’ right hand man … and you can just see the entire house of cards is now starting to collapse."

The inquiry has heard that poorly trained and equipped guards seeded the state's second wave of COVID-19 by spreading it from quarantine hotels into the community.

However, Mr Andrews continued to distance himself from the controversy. He described Mr Eccles' resignation as "appropriate" but stood by his own evidence to the inquiry that he did not know who had decided to hire private security guards.

Mr Andrews bristled at suggestions in his daily press conference that some anonymous Labor MPs believed his position as leader had become untenable.

"Will you give me their names? No, then I'm not going to respond. Because I don't respond to anonymous claims," Mr Andrews said. "This is not a popularity contest. This is about leadership and getting this job done, and I am absolutely determined and focused that I will, we will, get this job done."

The Premier said he had not looked through his own phone records, which he expected to be handed to the hotels inquiry on Monday, but insisted he would not be changing his evidence.

“I’ve had a good, long, hard think about that day [March 27] and I provided my evidence to the inquiry,” Mr Andrews said. “Under oath, I answered that question [if he knew who chose to use private security]: no … I do not know who made that decision, that is the fact of the matter.”

On Sunday the hotel quarantine inquiry asked Mr Eccles and other senior Department of Premier and Cabinet officials to hand over their phone records and on Monday Mr Eccles revealed in a statement that they showed he had phoned Mr Ashton at 1.17pm on March 27 and spoken to him for two minutes. Mr Eccles said he had forgotten about this call when he was cross-examined in the inquiry on September 21.

Minutes after the call was made, Mr Ashton sent a text message to Australian Federal Police chief Reece Kershaw saying Mr Eccles' Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) had decided to use private guards.

However, Mr Eccles' statement said: "I am absolutely certain I did not convey to Mr Ashton any decision regarding the use of private security as I was unaware any such decision had been made, and I most certainly had not made such a decision myself."

He resigned, he said, because, "I do not want a focus on me to in any way undermine the extraordinary work of the public sector as it continues to respond to unprecedented challenges of 2020".

The communication between Mr Eccles and Mr Ashton came minutes after Mr Andrews had sat alongside Mr Eccles at the National Cabinet meeting which decided that a hotel quarantine program would be established.

Mr Andrews reaffirmed his evidence to the inquiry that he had not discussed private security with Mr Eccles, saying, “I can assure you I did not advise him or discuss with him ... things of a deeply operational nature,” he said.

The government confirmed late on Monday that Mr Eccles' departure from government had been quietly planned since late last year.

The Premier also rebuffed suggestions his chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff, was involved in the decision to use private security guards on March 27. Ms Ratcliff's was not called to give evidence at the hotels inquiry but her phone records may be requested.

"Matters as to who would perform functions within the hotel quarantine program are operational decisions, not decisions made by me, nor any member of my private office staff," the Premier said.

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Lisa Neville, who told the inquiry the first she heard of private security was in a 2pm meeting on March 27, told The Age on Monday the inquiry had not asked her phone records but she would be happy to supply them if requested.

Labor MP Darren Cheeseman, a member of the Premier's Socialist Left faction and former federal MP under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, came out in defence of Mr Andrews on Monday after reports that his leadership would come under threat from within his party room.

"Having been around during the Rudd-Gillard years, I know what a leadership crisis looks like, and what people do to incite change," he said. "There’s none of this bed wetting, hiding behind anonymous sources. People are forthright, straight and are prepared to go on the record. The fact that there’s none of that indicates there’s only one or two disgruntled voices.”

Mr O'Brien also called for Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp to be hauled back in front of retired judge Jennifer Coate, who is chairing the inquiry, alongside Mr Andrews, Mr Eccles and Ms Mikakos.

Mr Crisp last week changed evidence he gave to a parliamentary committee in August that he regularly updated Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville as hotel quarantine was setup, instead admitting he failed to brief her.

"They're all talking at odds with each other, none of them are giving us the straight story and Victorians deserve answers," Mr O'Brien said.

Mr Andrews said he "would not hesitate" to act on the inquiry's final report on November 6.

"Just because answers are not necessarily forthcoming in direct evidence or testimony, the board is still absoluteuly free to draw conclusions and make findings," he said.

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2020-10-12 07:59:00Z
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