A senior public servant from COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) has been stood down following reports they had breached infection-control protocols earlier this year.
Government services minister Danny Pearson on Wednesday told reporters that CQV general manager of infection prevention and control Matiu Bush had been stood down, pending a review.
Through their role, Bush has worked at a number of Victoria’s hotel quarantine sites. The state began accepting international arrivals once again on April 8.
Earlier this week The Australian reported that, on March 1, Bush had failed to change their mask or sanitise after returning to a hotel from a coffee break.
In another incident, on April 20, Bush was checking out of a hotel when they were asked by Australian Defence Force personnel if they’d taken a COVID-19 test. In response, Bush allegedly said, “I’m the head of IPC and I override that protocol”. They took a COVID-19 test later that day.
Bush was reportedly counselled over both incidents.
CQV commissioner Emma Cassar on Wednesday told reporters that, while Bush’s actions were low risk, their behaviour fell “well short” of what is expected of staff.
Pearson said the decision to stand Bush down went more to their “attitude and behaviour”, rather than the minor breaches.
“I don’t think the public would want to see someone in a senior leadership role continue to behave in this way,” Pearson said.
The Australian also reported that the outbreak which led to Victoria’s five-day lockdown earlier this year was not caused by the use of a nebuliser in a hotel — like the government had said — but by the swabbing of a woman conducted in an open doorway inside the hotel.
Cassar said the government still believed the nebuliser was behind the outbreak.
Read more: Vic hotel quarantine inquiry report takes aim at DHHS
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