The federal opposition is pushing for higher scrutiny of the Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle which led to more than 660 COVID-19 infections and 28 deaths.
A NSW special commission of inquiry has revealed “inexcusable”, “inexplicable” and “unjustifiable” errors by authorities which allowed 2700 passengers to disembark at Sydney’s Circular Quay on March 19.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese says a range of federal government failings have been exposed.
“And indeed the commissioner has as well given damning comments about the failure of the federal government to participate in this inquiry,” he said on Saturday.
“What that means is that there are questions which are left unanswered, that will have to be pursued through other means.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison insists the NSW inquiry’s report exonerates his government of any role in the blunder.
“We were being straight with people about what happened and the inquiry has borne that out,” he told 2GB.
However the Greens also now want to see a federal inquiry.
“This inquiry must be robust and focus upon the testimony of biosecurity officials from the Department of Agriculture who were prevented from testifying at the (NSW) inquiry,” party leader Adam Bandt said.
Friday’s 318-page report from NSW commissioner Bret Walker SC was critical of NSW Health, while absolving Australian Border Force officials of blame.
It noted that on March 10 the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia amended its guidelines such that everyone aboard the ship with newly-defined suspect cases should be tested.
But those making decisions did not have the updated definition of a “suspect case” when undertaking a risk assessment on March 18.
“This was a serious and material error,” the commission found.
The inquiry revealed the Ruby Princess outbreak infected 663 Australians on board, 191 crew members and led to 28 deaths, including 20 domestically and eight in the United States.
The ship – which was low on medical supplies and swabs for COVID-19 tests due to shortages – left Sydney on March 8 for New Zealand and returned 11 days later.
Passengers were deemed low risk and disembarked before the results of 13 tests showed at least three people had the virus.
The report identified “a disturbing disconnectedness between the Commonwealth’s and the state’s respective biosecurity operations.
“There was inadequate communication and co-ordination between each government’s parallel operations.”