As it happened: Lisa Neville, Martin Pakula point finger at Health Department for hotel quarantine procedures

"It wasn't just my department."

DHHS secretary Kym Peake

• In an emotional moment this afternoon, Ms Peake said Victoria's deadly second coronavirus wave was a "matter of profound regret to me", but she insisted "the control structures that were in place were appropriate";
• Premier Daniel Andrews requested Professor Brett Sutton review the new hotel quarantine model, but the Chief Health Officer's advice was never sought for the program in the first place, the inquiry heard;
• Ms Peake was unaware of "systemic issues" in the casual security guard workforce until COVID-19 outbreaks occurred at two quarantine hotels;

• The Health Department boss failed to tell Health Minister Jenny Mikakos about serious concerns Victoria's three most senior health experts had raised about hotel quarantine, and did not brief her about two reports that identified problems within the program;
• Ms Peake insisted Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton still does not have the capacity to be in charge of Victoria's pandemic response as the state controller. Professor Sutton disagrees;
• Ms Neville resisted the charge that the decision to hire the guards was responsible for everything that went wrong;
• She said two police officers contracted COVID-19 while working at locked-down public housing towers in Melbourne in July;

• Ms Neville said Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp first mentioned private security to her in a meeting about the hotel quarantine program at about 2pm on March 27 – the day the system was being set up;
• Ms Neville, Mr Crisp and then-Chief Police Commissioner Graham Ashton had a regular meeting scheduled for 2pm that day, just after National Cabinet decided to quarantine international arrivals, but she said it was an "information sharing" meeting, not one where decisions were made. No one at the meeting raised concerns about using private security, she said;
• The Police Minister was "pretty cranky" when she first learnt Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp has requested the help of the Australian Defence Force on the front page of a newspaper;

• Jobs Minister Martin Pakula said he didn't become aware of the concerns his departmental staff had about 'rogue guards' and 'cowboy operators' in the hotel quarantine program until after the inquiry was established;
• A grieving son is leading a class action filed against Unified Security and MSS Security, who were involved in the quarantine program, following the death of his father Nenad Markovic at Brunswick Private Hospital; and
• Health Minister Jenny Mikakos is due to take the stand tomorrow, while Premier Daniel Andrews' much-anticipated appearance before the inquiry has been pushed back to Friday afternoon due to scheduling issues.

Nor apparently, did either of them seek to find out.

Neville said she was first told about the hotel quarantine program by someone from within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. She said both she and police chief Graham Ashton learnt about the plan to enforce the program with private security guards rather than police from Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp.

How did Commissioner Crisp know? He disputes he did. Whose plan was it? If success has 1000 fathers, the hotel quarantine debacle was apparently delivered by stork.

Ms Harris said one of the three security firms, MSS Security, contracted to guard returned travellers received this report from the Jobs Department on April 9.

It came after Unified Security lawyer Arthur Moses, SC, said the only document the firm received was a May 5 memorandum that dealt with protective gear advice.

But Ms Harris said Unified heads gave evidence to the inquiry that briefings occurred on the ground in the hotels.

Ms Peake said there were also signs posted around the hotels on the use of protective gear.

You might remember that earlier Ms Peake said infection control and PPE training was the responsibility of the security companies themselves under their contracts with the department.

However, the inquiry has previously heard that much of the work was subcontracted to smaller firms that did not have access to the original contracts.

"Please let me just say two things. It is a matter of profound regret to me as the secretary of Department of Health and Human Services that we experienced a second wave in Victoria and all of the consequences that came with that, but I know my staff and the staff of DJPR [Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions] spent thousands and thousands, hundreds of hours seeking to prevent that outcome," she said.

"I know that there was enormous care and diligence. It wasn't perfect but there was enormous care and diligence to continuously address risks as they arose and I am of the view that the control structures that were in place were appropriate.

"There are absolutely lessons and improvements to take, but the way that you put that proposition to me I cannot accept."

That ends Mr Moses' cross-examination of Ms Peake.

"What about infection control within those hotels? Who had responsibility for oversight of infection control?" Mr Moses asked.

"I understood that each employer has critical occupational health and safety responsibilities," Ms Peake replied, saying the workforce was responsible.

She said guidance was provided to the hotel program workforce and received.

Ms Peake said training of staff was a matter for each employer.

"My response is no, it wasn't an attempt in any way to deflect from the responsibility of my department," she said.

Mr Moses said the language "shared accountability" was "bureaucratic speak for avoiding the responsibility of your department".

"I do not accept that at all," Ms Peake said.