The office of the responsible minister,Martin Pakula,confirmed on Wednesday that any worker employed in a government-funded job as a result of the pandemic could be classified as being placed under the Working for Victoria scheme.
But a spokesman said thejudicial inquiry ordered by the Premier into the hotels scandal was the appropriate way to find answers into the failings of the isolation program.
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The hotel program and the ministers responsible remain under intense scrutiny after breaches of hygiene protocols and other failings led to some of the outbreaks currently running through Melbourne’s suburbs,which have been linked to hundreds of new coronavirus cases.
The state government says the Working for Victoria scheme,part of its $2.7 billion pandemic economic survival package,has helped nearly 7500 Victorians whose employment was hit by the pandemic back into work.
The program,launched in April,is designed to place workers in jobs with the state and local governments,and act as a jobs portal for the private sector. Guards employed at quarantine hotels were already on the books of the security companies appointed to the scheme.
The teams of cleaners patrolling Melbourne streets sanitising public infrastructure are the most visible presence of the scheme.