WorkSafe asked to investigate whether ministers could face prosecution over hotel quarantine

Premier Daniel Andrews has been named in a letter calling on WorkSafe to investigate whether the state government could be held criminally liable for industrial manslaughter charges over the handling of the hotel quarantine system.

Under state law, Victorians can request WorkSafe prosecute individuals.

Executive Director of Self Employed Victoria, an organisation representing independent contractors, Ken Phillips, has today lodged a letter with WorkSafe requesting the authority prosecute government bodies, public servants and politicians over the quarantine fiasco.

The letter names four departments, 16 public servants, the Premier, former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville, and Minister for Jobs, Precincts and Regions Martin Pakula.

WorkSafe has three months to either lodge prosecutions or tell Mr Phillips why they will not do so.

Mr Phillips said he wants the matter urgently pursued.

“Under the work safety rules your liability is not just for what you do but also for what you fail to do,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“If you fail to provide a safe work system you’re liable for prosecution.”

He says pursuing the industrial manslaughter charges will be “a very long process”, but “it’s the right thing to do”.

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