New South Wales police are investigating whether private security companies contracted to work in the state’s hotel quarantine regime were illegally subcontracting to third parties.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that suspected breaches of laws in NSW preventing private security firms from subcontracting work to third parties had been discovered during monitoring of the state’s hotel quarantine regime.
The use of subcontractors by private security companies has been a major issue in Victoria, where companies were allowed to hire third parties as part of the hotel quarantine program. The ABC revealed this week that some subcontractors hired to work at hotels in Victoria may not have been aware of their responsibilities.
In NSW, private companies hired to conduct security at hotels were not permitted to hire third parties. The state’s security industry legislation makes it an offence for a security provider to subcontract work without the original client’s approval.
Police confirmed to Guardian Australia that suspected subcontracting had been discovered during monitoring of the hotel quarantine scheme and that “inquiries” were being made.
“DPC [Department of Premier and Cabinet] identified suspected subcontracting of security services as part of their monitoring processes, and it was immediately reported to [police] for investigation,” a police spokesperson said.
Guardian Australia can also reveal a security guard believed to have contracted Covid-19 while working in the hotel quarantine program was employed by at least two security companies at the time, prompting calls for the government to employ security staff full-time.
On Tuesday the NSW chief medical officer, Dr Kerry Chant, confirmed that a private security guard who worked at the Marriott Hotel in Sydney “most likely” contracted Covid-19 from a traveller from the US.
The guard worked at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel on 3, 4, 7 and 8 August “when he could have acquired the infection”. He subsequently worked at the Sydney Market in Flemington on 9 August and at Parramatta local court on 11 and 12 August.
He tested positive for Covid-19 late on 15 August.
Sydney Markets, the company that runs the market in Flemington, told Guardian Australia it had informed its security contractor, Asset Security, that no guards were permitted to work at the markets if they had previously been stationed “in a Covid-19 hotspot or high-risk location”.
However, a spokeswoman for Sydney Markets said the guard in question “was only contracted through Asset to work at the markets and not the hotel quarantine”.
Asset Security is not involved in hotel quarantine, and there is no suggestion it is related to the police investigation.
Asset Group Solutions has been contacted for comment, but a spokesperson previously confirmed to the Sydney Morning Herald that the guard was contracted through them to work only at the market.
Labor has called for private security to be hired full-time when conducting hotel quarantine.
“What we’re saying is that this should be their only job, to minimise the risk of this happening,” Ryan Park, the shadow minister for health said.
On Wednesday the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, defended the hotel quarantine regime, insisting there was no need to change the program and saying it was a “miracle” there had not been other cases of staff guarding returned travellers contracting the virus because of the “high risk” nature of the work.
“It’s actually been a miracle that we haven’t had anyone contract the virus in that setting before now,” she said.
“If you continue that logic [that security guards should not work across venues] what you’re saying is that if you work in a high-risk activity … a police officer or someone working in hotel quarantine, that you shouldn’t be doing anything else because you could spread the virus at your local supermarket. Employment or not employment isn’t the issue.”
Contract tracers believe the guard may have caught the virus from one of two returned travellers staying at the Marriott, and Chant said NSW Health was investigating whether there had been any “overlap” between the guard and the overseas returnees.
The security guard had worked on the same floor as the two overseas travellers, but after NSW police reviewed CCTV footage of the hotel Berejiklian said there was “no evidence” the guard “did the wrong thing at all”.
She said she “wouldn’t assume” there had been a breakdown in the process, and that it would be “improper” for the government to make changes to its hotel quarantine regime based on “one case or based on one set of circumstances”.
Berejiklian said NSW had processed 47,000 returnees since hotel quarantine was introduced and was “bearing the load” for the rest of Australia after Melbourne stopped accepting returned travellers in July.
“Can I please ask everyone to put this into perspective. We’ve had 47,000 people come through quarantine, we’ve had day in and day out many staff, police officers, security officers, health officers, transport workers, we’ve had a myriad, thousands of workers involved in this process. The fact that this is the first case, of course is a concern, but it also means we have to approach this in a local way.”
There were seven cases confirmed in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday from more than 19,400 tests, with two in travellers in hotel quarantine.
Another case was confirmed after 8pm, in a patient who attended Liverpool Hospital.
