How Unified Security played taxpayers for fools

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Last year, Melbourne was plunged into a 14-week hard lockdown after COVID-19 escaped the state’s hotel quarantine system.

It was later revealed that the Victorian Government had awarded a dodgy $30 million contract to Unified Security – a tiny security firm of only 89 permanent employees that wasn’t even on the Victorian Government’s preferred supplier list – who then subcontracted out to unskilled ‘gig economy’ security workers who breached health protocols.

The virus then escaped the Rydges on Swanston, which was linked to at least 90% of cases in Victoria’s second coronavirus wave.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.