Western MP questions Government's decision making

Ben Fraser

JULY 16 2020 - 4:30PM

Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur has submitted a series of Questions on Notice directed to Victorian Ministers involved in the hotel quarantine program and the on-going management of virus containment.

Mrs McArthur is asking about the use of Victoria Police officers, Protective Services Officers, private security guards and Corrections Victoria staff, particularly concerning those who usually reside in rural and regional Victoria outside the locked-down metropolitan area.

The Upper House MP is concerned about the potential for those officers, guards and staff, assisting in the hotel quarantine and other aspects of virus outbreak management returning to country Victoria after shifts without being tested as virus-free.

As reported by the Ararat Advertiser, the "an unspecified number of staff" from the Ararat-based medium-security prison are providing security services in coronavirus hotspots, such as hotels and housing estates.

Mrs McArthur directed questions to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Lisa Neville; the Minister for the Coordination of Jobs, Precincts and Regions: COVID-19, Martin Pakula; and the Minister for Corrections, Natalie Hutchins.

Parliament resumes on August 4, but there is still no guarantee that the Government will uphold this commitment with Stage 3 restrictions in place.

"Essential services across the state remain open under these restrictions, and there is no more essential service than the provision of democratic representation through the convention of Parliament," she said.

"Ministers have continually avoided all correspondence, most Questions on Notice and other forms of Parliamentary scrutiny, in relation to their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is worse now that their own incompetence has instigated a new outbreak, which is not only threatening Victorian lives and livelihoods but those across the rest of Australia.

"With virtually no scrutiny and democracy just about dead in Victoria, perhaps journalists will have more luck in asking Ministers these important and need-to-be-answered questions for many regional Victorians, than elected Members of Parliament."