I'm getting tired of media saying we don't know what happened with hotel quarantine in Vic. Of course we must wait for the findings, and it is always possible somebody is lying, but otherwise the broad outlines seem clear. What seems to have happened is ...

... the police made it clear they didn't want to police hotel quarantine. Understandable. They had a lot on their plate. In that context, I guess the only alternatives were ADF, which Andrews believed to be unavailable, private security and corrective services.

Understandable that the latter option not appealing: these people were not criminals. (Though of course that option taken up later). So the idea of private security grew and was accepted. Everything moving very quickly, of course.

THen, the contracts were drawn up, and in what will surely be the substance of an adverse finding, devolved key responsibilities for PPE, training and infection control to private contractors, even though the government well knew the problems in the security industry.

Then the spaces were inadequately managed and supervised, with this being the responsibility, primarily, of DHHS - not just on Andrews' say so. Supported by all the documentation before the inquiry. [and, btw, also an issue in the public housing lockdowns, so easy to believe]

DHHS gave main responsibility for setting it all up to people with experience in logistics and emergencies, not to CHO, as per his evidence. A mistake. Perhaps understandable in the context of speed and complexity of what they were doing, but nevertheless...

Then when problems emerged, not adequately dealt with and apparently minister not told - which is incredible if true. DHHS slow to admit and acknowledge and manage problems. Which is a bit of a theme ....

What am I missing? Yes, the cops seem to be doing their best to minimise their role, as is everyone else. But nevertheless the documentation plus evidence tells the story and it is misleading to keep saying, as some do, that we have learned nothing.

And to add to this, and going beyond the evidence before the inquiry, we then had an element of bad luck. Infected security guards attended large family events, so our numbers went from very low to BOOM very quickly.

Contact tracing overwhelmed, casual workers in aged care, etc etc. And we know the rest.

And we will never know how much difference it would have made had any one of these factors been different. Infections leaking from quarantine has happened elsewhere, but has been able to be managed and contained. In this, I suspect, a mix of luck and management.

Of course, Andrews Government could have insisted the police take a role. I bet they now wish they had.