Despite the wave of convenient amnesia sweeping Victoria’s government and bureaucracy, some key facts have emerged about that state’s disastrously botched hotel quarantine scheme. Most damning of all was the decision to award the security contract on the basis of ‘diversity and inclusion’ rather than capability. Then there’re allegations that the medical services contract for this critical COVID-19 response was doled out to Labor party mates.
Now, a separate inquiry has uncovered something just as alarming.
Melbourne’s trains were not cleaned properly at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the cleaning contractor pocketing taxpayer’s money for work that was not performed while secretly paying off a Metro Trains manager who was covering up the wrongdoing, an inquiry has heard.
Given that mass transit systems are one of the most significant transmission vectors in large cities – “The sheer magnitude of the correlation between public transit and mortality is huge,” says economist Christopher R Knittel – so sanitising trains should have been as high a priority as hotel quarantine.
Oh, wait – what am I saying, this is Victoria I’m talking about.
An explosive intercepted phone call played to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission inquiry into allegations of serious corruption at V/Line and Metro Trains captures a heated exchange between Translcean boss George Haritos and Metro Trains’ operational fleet manager, Peter Bollas, in April this year over the poor quality of cleaning on Melbourne’s suburban trains.
Mr Bollas also told the live-streamed hearings he received regular payments of between $8000 and $10,000 from Transclean over 3½ to four years while he oversaw cleaning contracts for Metro.
In return he promoted Transclean’s business interests by tipping them off about surprise audits – including during the pandemic.
Clean as a Labor politician’s conscience. The BFD. Photoshop by Lushington Brady.
The recorded call makes perfectly clear that Victorian bureaucrats knew exactly what was at stake and what wasn’t being done.
“The state is paying you more now, to do more work which you’re not doing,” Mr Bollas said on the phone call to Mr Haritos.
Mr Haritos responded: “I am.”
Later, Mr Bollas said: “They didn’t even f—ing spray the train[…]they have to be f—ing sprayed, you’re not listening. We’re paying to f—ing spray them.”
What is also made clear is that, knowing what was going on, senior bureaucrats tried to hide it.
Mr Haritos responded: “I get the point Peter, but you’ve got to cover off, you’ve got to cover up for us as well.”
Mr Bollas: “Are you taking the f—ing taking the piss out of me? I’ve got to cover up, what do you think I do every day George?”
[…]Mr Bollas said Metro paid Transclean more than $1 million a month during the COVID-19 pandemic, the inquiry heard.
Welcome to Dan Andrews’s Victoria.
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