Why those who pushed for hotel quarantine investigation remain optimistic in search for answers

The executive director of the corporate entity that made the application to WorkSafe that led to 58 charges being laid against the Department of Health says he doesn’t share Tom Elliott’s cynicism about the eventual outcome.

Ken Phillips, Executive Director of Self Employed Australia, said Victorians should continue to demand answers about what happened with Victoria’s hotel quarantine program last year.

No individual is currently facing incrimination.

“But I think what people need to understand is that breaches of the work safety laws are indictable, criminal, offences,” Mr Phillips said on 3AW.

“These are criminal charges.

“If somebody commits a murder with a gun, it’s not the gun that commits the murder – it’s the person who pulls the trigger.

“An organisation, a department, is not capable of conducting a criminal act – it’s the people in the organisation who control and direct the organisation.

“The very logic of the case is that it’s not possible for it to stop here.

“It must proceed to individuals.”

Press PLAY below to hear Ken Phillips on 3AW

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