Is the talent pool in Canberra getting smaller?
The latest company with plans to cash in on the pandemic has ties to the Morrison government — and some familiar names are popping up again.
Quarantine Services Australia (QSA) is proposing to build a network of privately run quarantine facilities to allow big mining and agricultural companies to bring in cheap labour from overseas. It has the backing of Rio Tinto and the Business Council of Australia, and is being advised by none other than Ms Quarantine herself, Jane Halton, who at the same time is being paid by the government to conduct a second review into the quarantine system.
So, what’s the project?
QSA wants to build multiple user-pays quarantine facilities that can be rolled out across the country and used by big business to bring in students, workers or skilled migrants.
The plan, first flagged by news.com.au, would begin with a pilot project in the Northern Territory and eventually expand to other states.
Halton told the ABC’s Fran Kelly that private quarantine services were essential to the economic recovery given businesses were struggling without access to overseas labour.
“We know that there are tens of thousands of, for example, agriculture workers needed to deal with things like harvesting,” she said. “We need to make sure the capacity to deliver that quarantine is there.”
Overlooking the ethical issues of putting poor overseas workers into user-pays centres, there are also questions about whether the group’s close political ties create a conflict of interest.
Political connections
All business ventures benefit from good political connections, and QSA has them in spades.
Documents filed with the corporate regulator show its only listed director is Scott Briggs, the inexorable former NSW Liberal deputy director, party donor and close friend of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Briggs has a history of using his connections to help guide his entrepreneurial spirit. Last year he led a consortium to bid for the government’s controversial outsourced visa processing system. He ended up bowing out of the group amid conflict of interest concerns.
Briggs is now a lobbyist at DPG Advisory where he works alongside former Liberal staffer and ex-Peter Costello adviser David Gazard to lobby on behalf of some of the most powerful companies in the world, including Facebook, G4S, Afterpay and Rio Tinto.
Gazard told Crikey that DPG was engaged by Home Affairs as the “industry liaison” to enable the facilitation of an industry-led and industry-funded quarantine program.
He said there were no conflict of interest issues “whatsoever” given the company was not going to receive any government funding.
“It is a 100% industry funded initiative,” he said.
So why the involvement with Home Affairs?
The department tells Crikey it has been working with private sector representatives about private quarantine services, and this had culminated in the company — which it described as being “not for profit” — being established.
“The Department of Home Affairs plays no role in the administration or funding of QSA.”
Familiar names
Halton has been everywhere during the pandemic, including as a prominent media commentator on the COVID-19 response. But among her many hats is a go-to adviser for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).
Since May last year Halton has received $391,000 in limited tender contracts from the PM&C for a range of management advisory services. She is being paid to give advice on “labour hire services” and has also conducted reviews into the national quarantine system, making her the perfect person to advise the private sector on what is missing.
Another familiar name joining the project is Aspen Medical, which will reportedly administer the scheme. Aspen has been one of the biggest winners of pandemic spending, receiving contracts worth almost $1.3 billion in the 18 months to August 2021.
I’ll never forget her political devotion in ‘Services to the Liberal Party’ by protecting “Honest” John Howard (behind a fire-wall of “plausible” deniability) from scrutiny over Children Overboard.
I just hope she gets her well earned but overdue “Order of the Grub” before too long.
‘Splash’ Halton does get around and obviously likes water. In today’s Aust Fin Review ‘Rear Window’ section, Joe Aston writes about the French subs matter : ‘On July 7th, company director Jane Halton joined (David) Peever on Naval Group’s advisory board. “I’m excited to join the growing local team as we approach the next exciting milestones” The next exciting milestone was losing the contract in its entirety’. Will Jane soon be overboard?
It has the backing of Rio Tinto and the Business Council of Australia, and is being advised by none other than Ms Quarantine herself, Jane Halton, who at the same time is being paid by the government to conduct a second review into the quarantine system.
Ah yes, Jane Halton. No conflict of interest there then! And the rewards keep coming for holding her nerve.
SIEVX: Another Howard lie, another official cover-up
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/sievx-another-howard-lie-another-official-cover-up-20030522-gdgt2e.html
Is this why Scomo has been resisting setting up quarantine facilities so that he could funnel more taxpayer moneys to his mates? We’ve seen what’s happened with the debacle of the vaccine rollout, which was gifted to PWC. Why isn’t anyone following up on the money trail? How much were they paid and what did they do with the vaccines? Why didn’t those on 1a and 1b priority get jabbed ahead of everyone else? Why are we so forgiving of private sector failings?
Probably to all above. Why ….forgiving1 Because Christian workforces know how to shut up. One thing the pentecostals did from the 80S is create work environments – complete businesses for Christians. They have achieved that. But the businesses weren’t just set up for christan workers. They were also se up as christian vehicles or christian forces. Accountability in professional terms has nothing to do with the business, believe it or not. They all smirk. It’s the big business many pentecostals are after. Their workers are just he ordinary Christians. Accountable to God only.
Their will be the odd professional in the mix for apparent accountability. The canary in the coal mine. But the creators will be well hidden by the time it starts operating.
Wonder how “User Pays” this really will be? Or is the main reason for the lobbyist, is to ensure that there is a solid government scheme in place to subsidised places so all the costs dont fall on those business needing to bring in overseas workers .
NSW leading the way in death and disease unleashed upon the nation and with more to come
NSW will trial home-quarantine in a bid to rapidly scale-up international arrivals, with the premier saying stranded citizens could be home by Christmas
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The test run, announced by the state government on Friday, involves 175 vaccinated people quarantining at home for seven days, monitored by geolocation and facial-recognition technology.
If successful, it is expected the NSW government would move to rapidly scale-up the program to allow many more international arrivals.
Hotel quarantine arrangements would remain for unvaccinated people under the plan.
The Business Council of Australia has welcomed the plan, saying the nation needs to get rid of bottlenecks, such as hotel quarantine, that stop Australians returning home and prevent skilled workers entering the country.
“We urge all state and territory leaders to follow the NSW example, put the nation first and start planning to re-join the rest of the world,” BCA Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.
OMG it’s too sickening to even re read.