World News – UA – Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos resigns

Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos resigned from Cabinet and Parliament, just a day after Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said she was « responsible » for the quarantine program of botched hotels that sparked the state’s disastrous second wave of coronavirus

« I am disappointed that my integrity has sought to be compromised, » Ms Mikakos said in a statement via Twitter on Saturday morning.

« I know that my statement and my evidence [at the inquest] would have been uncomfortable for some

« I wrote to the Governor of Victoria today to step down as Minister effective today. I will also be resigning from Parliament »

The Andrews government has lost four ministers in three months, including former small business minister Adem Somyurek, deputy treasurer Robin Scott and gaming and liquor licensing minister Marlene Kairouz, who resigned following a scandal of multiple branches

Pressure had mounted on the Senior Minister of Labor for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine program, which led to the second wave of the Victoria coronavirus which claimed the lives of more than 750 people, cost 12 billion dollars to the economy and forced the Melburnians in the tightest lockdown in the country

I am deeply sorry for the situation the Victorians find themselves in. In good conscience, I do not believe my actions led to it

Ms Mikakos and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kym Peake have consistently argued that the hotel quarantine program is a « multi-agency, shared responsibility operation »

In her resignation statement, Ms Mikakos said: « I have never shirked my responsibility for my department, but it is not my sole responsibility »

But in extraordinary testimony to the state’s investigation into the ill-fated program on Friday, Mr. Andrews held his health minister squarely accountable for his actions

In his statement to the inquiry, the prime minister said he viewed Ms Mikakos and Employment Minister Martin Pakula as responsible for briefing Cabinet on « the initial global service model and costs that had been determined for the program « 

Last month, in an exclusive interview with The Age, Ms Mikakos said she considered herself unlucky

« I was unlucky enough to trigger a one-in-a-hundred-year global pandemic during my tenure as Minister of Health, » she said « But I’m a fighter I never give up »

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The Victorian liberal opposition has long called for his resignation because of his role in handling the health crisis

Ms Mikakos has been a member of the upper house since 1999, representing Northern Metro, so her post will be filled through an occasional vacancy, not a by-election The Victorian branch of the Labor Party is currently run by trustees following the scandal stack of branches that cost the hair of three ministers in June The replacement of Ms. Mikakos will therefore be decided by the National Executive

Ms Mikakos said she could no longer stay in cabinet after the prime minister testified at the inquest, but denied that her actions led to the catastrophic second wave

« I have always put everything into my ministerial responsibilities, » Ms Mikakos said in her statement on Saturday

The Rydges on Swanston Hotel in Carlton, where a COVID-19 outbreak has led to 90% of Victoria’s second wave casesCredit: Penny Stephens

« I never wanted to leave a job unfinished, but in light of the Prime Minister’s statements to the Commission of Inquiry and the fact that it contains elements with which I strongly disagree, I believe that I cannot continue to serve his cabinet

« I am deeply sorry for the situation the Victorians find themselves in. In good conscience, I do not believe my actions led to this »

Although Ms Mikakos said that « in hindsight » her department heads should have given her full information on the hotel quarantine program

« As I said to the commission of inquiry, I take responsibility for my service, the responsibility ends with me

« In hindsight, there are clearly issues that my service should have informed me about If they would have changed the course of events, only Council and history can determine »

Neither the Prime Minister nor any of his ministers or senior officials have been able to explain who made the decision to hire private security services and reject an offer to help the Australian Defense Force to help keep travelers back

Genomic sequencing has found that 99% of coronavirus cases in Victoria’s second wave were the result of the hotel’s quarantine program, after security guards contracted the virus from returning travelers and the have spread throughout the community

During his press conference on Friday morning, Mr. Andrews said he still had faith in his health minister « and if that were to change, ministers wouldn’t be ministers »

A day after testifying in the $ 3 million investigation, evidence cast doubt on Ms Mikakos’ affidavit

Ms Mikakos told the inquest on Thursday that she did not learn until the end of May that private security was being used to keep returning travelers, two months after the quarantine program was put in place

But images emerged of her standing alongside Employment Minister Martin Pakula on March 29 as he told media that private security had been deployed to quarantine hotels

April Labor State MPs briefings, seen by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, also mention that private guards were hired Private security guards were also mentioned in at least 13 emails sent to the party caucus in April

And at a press conference on March 27 – just hours after the national quarantine program was announced – the prime minister said security guards would be used for the program, alongside forces personnel Australian Defense and Victoria Police

In an additional statement to the hotel quarantine inquiry on Friday afternoon, Ms Mikakos said she had no « individual recollections » of the press conference with Mr Pakula and that private security was « not an issue I specifically turned to » before the COVID-19 outbreak at the Rydges on Swanston hotel in May

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