Almost 10,000 residents, 15,000 staff affected. Elderly Australians dying, waiting for booster shots which didn’t come. They promised rapid tests, a surge workforce, boosters shots. They failed to deliver.
This may be the stuff of criminal negligence. Preventable deaths in their hundreds. Yet criminal prosecutions take years. One thing is certain. The class action lawyers will all over this already. As laid out by aged care expert Sarah Russell here: booster shots, rapid tests and a surge workforce were all promised. None arrived on time.
One contractor, Aspen Medical, was paid $46m to do booster shots. They took a break over Christmas. The government and its helpers took a break over Christmas, Omicron did not.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.