A PROBE will be launched by Victoria’s watchdog into the Health Department’s response to COVID-19 travel permits, exceptions and exemptions after dozens of complaints were made.
Victorians wanting to return home have filed more than 80 complaints with the Ombudsman’s office.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass said while individual cases were raised with the Department of Health, and several had been resolved, complaints were continuing, raising potentially “systemic issues about departmental decision-making”.
“The situation is increasingly urgent with the extended lockdown,” Ms Glass said.
“Some people are telling my office they face effective homelessness, stuck interstate with nowhere else to go.
“Cases that have come into my office have raised concerns about the exercise of discretion under the relevant public health directions.
“This will be a swift investigation to help the department identify if urgent improvements are needed in processes and decision-making.”
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer declared New South Wales an “extreme risk zone” and Victoria closed its border on July 9.
Ms Glass said she acknowledged how hard public health officials were working to keep Victorians safe in this public health emergency.
“Decisions about border permits will invariably involve a balance of individual rights with those of the broader community,” she said. “But it will be important to ensure that balance has been fairly assessed.”
Ms Glass said the investigation would examine the department’s exercise of discretion involving decisions on interstate travel permits, exceptions and exemptions and their human-rights considerations.
The investigation was expected to be completed by the end of the year, before a report to State Parliament and the public on her findings.
Premier Daniel Andrews last week revealed a trial of home quarantine would begin to bring in Victorians along the border bubble, but this did not include people elsewhere in NSW.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh, whose electorate runs along the border with NSW, welcomed the investigation, saying it came after “months of anguish for exiled Victorians”.
“Labor’s unwieldy border permit scheme has wrought chaos and heartbreak the length of the Murray River,” Mr Walsh said.
“My office alone has received thousands of calls from Victorians at their wits’ end who can’t understand why their own government would leave them homeless, rather than allow them to come home.
“People are going to great lengths to get home, with many choosing to self-isolate in COVID-free border communities for two weeks even before they apply for an exemption.”
