An inquiry into the Ruby Princess coronavirus debacle has been slammed as a ‘cover-up’ as officials refuse to investigate infected crew members.
Gladys Berejiklian has been urged to expand the probe beyond ship passengers to assess the health and safety standards of employees on board the doomed boat.
More than 2,600 passengers were allowed to disembark at Sydney’s Circular Quay on March 19 despite widespread respiratory illness on board, while cruise staff were forced to stay behind.
The cruise ship has been the largest source of COVID-19 cases around Australia, with links to at least 600 cases and 22 deaths.
Lawyers for the International Transport Workers’ Federation have urged the New South Wales premier to make urgent adjustments to the probe.
The Ruby Princess (pictured in Port Kembla in April) has been the largest source of COVID-19 cases around Australia, with links to at least 600 cases and 22 deaths
Police wearing protective suits and masks boarded the ship as part of a criminal investigation after thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney (pictured on April 9)
Dean Summers, the ITF’s coordinator in Australia, accused the government of intentionally limiting the inquiry to the date passengers disembarked the ship – ‘covering up’ the crew’s movements between March 19 and April 23.
‘The inquiry has become a government sham – the crew are victims of a political smother,’ he told The Australian.
More than 200 of the 1,100 employees on the ship tested positive to the respiratory virus when the ship was moved to Port Kembla, south of Sydney.
Mr Summers claimed the scope of the probe was gagged to prevent an examination into whether medical testing was available for the crew, or the circumstances surrounding their repatriation to their home countries.
Cruise ship employees were forced to remain on board the vessel after the passengers disembarked. Pictured: Day three of Ruby Princess crew repatriation in April
More than 200 of the 1,100 employees on the ship tested positive to the respiratory virus when the ship was moved to Port Kembla (pictured, an ill worker being taken off the ship)
ITF’s lawyers asked the commission inquiry’s senior solicitor assisting, Jennifer Hoy, to look at how crew members exposed to the virus were treated once the passengers left the chip, and whether they were given medical care.
Ms Hoy responded and said the concerns were ‘beyond the scope’ of the inquiry, but added that the leader of the probe Bret Walker said the ITF’s points were ‘of concern to him’.
A spokesman for Ms Berejiklian said the premier’s office was ‘not aware of any correspondence’ from the worker’s federation asking for the scope to be expanded.
Yasmine Catly, the NSW Labor opposition deputy, said: ‘That this is not allowed to be part of the inquiry shows disdain for the crew.’
At the time the Ruby Princess docked, 104 passengers were reporting signs of acute respiratory illness (pictured, a Ruby Princess worker preparing to fly home on April 23)
The federation’s claims are the latest in a string of allegations and complaints against the handling of the fiasco.
A NSW Health review into management of the crisis was labelled ‘weasel words, spin and bias’ by Mr Walker last month.
The document, ordered by Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant and marked as ‘draft’ and ‘confidential’, was emailed to NSW Chief Human Biosecurity Officer Dr Sean Tobin, who suggested changes, the ABC previously reported.
Despite only half of the 48 influenza tests returning positive, the report claimed flu was the most likely cause of the illness on board, rather than COVID-19.
Lawyers for the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have urged New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured at a press conference on July 8) to expand the inquiry
‘Let me be blunt. Spin is a form of dishonesty. Half truth perhaps. Weasel words, certainly. But all with a bias to producing a particular intended effect on the reader, regardless of the merits,’ Mr Walker said.
NSW Health officials maintained the review was an ‘honest’ version of events, but admitted the wording could have changed.
The document read: ‘The risk assessment process balanced the level of risk against the benefit of removing passengers from a cruise ship on which the virus could be circulating’.
At the time the Ruby Princess docked, 104 passengers were reporting signs of acute respiratory illness, associated with COVID-19, and two were awaiting test results.
Despite this, they were allowed to spill out into Circular Quay, potentially infecting thousands of people as the disease was spreading rapidly before most lockdown measures were put in place.
The Ruby Princess finally left Port Kembla on April 23, and is now floating off the coast of Manila alongside other stranded cruise ships.