I think Bobs is right..
Dan the Man should resign..
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/security-firms-used-in-melbourne-quaranti...Illegal cash payments to guards and billing rorts have been exposed in Victoria’s COVID-19 hotel quarantine debacle.
Unscrupulous security firms, being probed over their part in triggering Melbourne’s second coronavirus wave, exploited the pandemic by charging taxpayers for shifts never worked.
The rort — known as “ghosting” — led to hazardous understaffing in hotels, with those who questioned operators even being threatened.
Cash payments agreed between providers and workers, long a scourge in the security industry, were also widely used.
Other alarming claims detailed by security industry figures and quarantine-hotel insiders include:
HOTEL guards slept with guests;
SECURITY personnel wore personal protective equipment for up to eight hours without changing it;
GUARDS shook hands and shared lifts in a major breach of regulations;
SOME of them had just six hours of infection control training and were caught sleeping on the job; and
QUARANTINED families were allowed to go between rooms to play cards and games with others.
Under the ghosting rort, operators would charge authorities for providing a certain number of staff for a shift, say 30, but hired several fewer, for example 20. Fake names would be given for the non-existent workers.
A source within the hotel quarantine program told the Herald Sun ghosting was rife, and the Andrews Government had been warned about the dangerous racket months ago.
“Hotel staff often found that processes were incomplete. When this was raised with the people running various security, they were threatened … it’s a common practice,” the source said.
“Operators are cowboys.”
In the quarantine setting, the practice of ghosting raises the risk of spreading coronavirus because it means there are not as many guards overseeing guests as health officials are led to believe, while increasing the guests each working guard has to interact with.
Regarding the cash payments, one worker said a contractor deposited his wages without paperwork or any evidence of them carrying out employer obligations. “They just put the money into the account,” the worker said.
Cash wages allow rogue operators to win contracts with much lower quotes than their rivals because it is saving on tax and other expenses.
It can also be revealed that security staff at the Stamford Plaza in the CBD, where all positive cases are relocated, did shifts at at least two other quarantine hotels.
And there have been issues with staff going from jobs at the quarantine hotels to private industry shifts. Such practices greatly increase the risk of cross-contamination.
An Andrews Government spokeswoman refused to address claims of ghosting and cash payments directly, saying an inquiry into the entire program had been ordered.
Claims security staff slept with some guests in coronavirus isolation will be examined as part of the inquiry. The allegations are sweeping police, hotel industry and even government circles.
So far, verified breaches of infection control include car pooling, sharing of cigarettes and lighters, and hugging between staff at hotels.
But the accusations of more serious breaches — including sexual dalliances and fights — will also be investigated.
Premier Daniel Andrews said coronavirus was so contagious that something as innocuous as sharing a cigarette lighter could cause a spread in cases — and that this had happened in Victoria.
Questions have been raised about the quality of security agencies contracted for some of the high-level health protection, with one source predicting that a “clusterf--- of issues” would emerge.
Following the National Cabinet’s decision to establish the hotel quarantine program security contracts were signed within 24 hours and exempted from a tender process.
Victorian contracts were awarded to MSS, Unified and Wilson, which in turn employed subcontractors.
More than 20,000 travellers arriving in Victoria have undergone 14 days of isolation since the program started.
now lets see bam and dna find every excuse under the sun why this isnt Dans fault...
and I think the yanks are the only ones barking mad.