Introduction
There was the Melbourne hotel fiasco and 6-week lockdown in July 2020 that led to an economic and employment disaster.
The labour market impacts from the Stage 4 restrictions in Victoria. Employment in Victoria decreased by 36,000 in September 2020 following a fall of 37,000 in August. Hours worked in the state fell by a further 2.1 per cent, following the 4.6 per cent fall in August
Then there were 99 security guards terminated for coronavirus medi-hotel breaches in South Australia. Then there was the McGowan government’s abject failure to learn from other States.
Relying on private security firms and poorly trained staff for a hypersensitive public health job. This is how the McGowan government manage serious infection control in Western Australia?
Discussion
The WA Premier likes to lecture other states about their quarantine controls. But now the lens is on the government’s flawed policies and a panic driven 5-day lockdown.
Given the massive quarantine bungle by Wilson Security at Melbourne Hotels. It is inexcusable that the McGowan government hired private security without medical training or personal protective equipment.
Security guards were delegated specific powers under the Emergency Management Act to prevent people breaching hotel quarantine. Yet the infected guard also worked as an uber driver.
It is hard to believe how incompetent the government has been. Yet, only a few weeks back McGowan was telling West Australian’s, “WA hotel quarantine has proven effective in managing the virus”.
