12/02/2023

Top health officials, including Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, will front the inquiry into Victoria’s ill-fated hotel quarantine program.

Dr van Diemen said didn’t go into granular details such as who might have been responsible on the floors at each hotel.
A plan outlining who was in charge, and shown to the inquiry, noted the Health Department Commander in charge of COVID-19 accommodation had responsibility for a “safe environment at all times.”
Dr van Diemen said “everybody has responsibility in some way, shape or form”.
“Are you trying to blame others?” Mr Moses asked.
“I’m not trying to blame anybody,” Dr van Diemen replied.
She said a large number of small actions or decisions undertaken by a large number of people was behind the outbreaks in the hotels in Victoria.
“I don’t believe that any one individual is responsible for what occurred,” she said.
Earlier, Professor Brett Sutton said his team gave advice about infection control measures and it was up those managing hotel quarantine to implement.