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The Corona Crucible – Sat 26th September

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The Health Minister Jenny Mikakos faced the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry on Thursday andDaniel Andrews gave his evidence yesterday. Minster Mikakos said she was not part of the decision to use private security and did not know who made the decision. The many issues that emerged at the time, about lax safety standards and other problems with the system were not raised with her. She said that she was disappointed that they were not brought to her attention. Daniel Andrews spent hours answering questions yesterday. He also said he did not know who made the decision to use security guards, but said that ultimate responsibility for the scheme lay with the health minister. As a result, Jenny Mikakos has today resigned from her position as Health Minister.

Regarding the offer of ADF personnel, the Premier said that an email that was sent from the Prime Minister’s department to his Departmental Secretary was not passed on to him.

Essentially it appears that in the early days of the pandemic the rush to set up the scheme may have led to several miscommunications, oversights and assumptions and no firm chain of command was established. The final report from the Inquiry will be released in a few weeks.

Tomorrow Daniel Andrews will announce details of our baby steps out of the current lockdown.

In the past 24 hours there were 12 new cases recorded in Victoria with one death. Our 14 day average is now 23.6. Unknown cases in the 14 days to 23 September now tally 31.