Ombudsman: Australia’s Public Housing Lockdown Breached Human Rights Laws

Australia’s Victorian state government breached human rights laws when it locked down nine public housing towers in inner Melbourne after a COVID outbreak in July, a report by the state’s ombudsman has found.

The Victorian government placed all nine towers under a so-called “hard lockdown” at 4PM on July 4, after a cluster of at least 23 fresh coronavirus cases were traced back to a dozen households within the high-density commission flats, located in Flemington and North Melbourne.

For days, the towers’ 3,000 residents—most of whom come from multicultural backgrounds and lower socioeconomic classes—were prohibited from leaving their homes for any reason, including food and medical assistance. None of them were given prior warning.

In a report tabled in State Parliament on Thursday morning, Victorian ombudsman Deborah Glass said that while health officials had agreed to the need for a lockdown on July 4, they expected it would start the following day, thus leaving sufficient time to plan food supplies and other logistics. State premier Daniel Andrews, however, announced that it would start almost immediately.

"In my opinion… the action appeared to be contrary to the law," Glass said. "The rushed lockdown was not compatible with the residents' human rights, including their right to humane treatment when deprived of liberty."

The investigation found that while the temporary lockdown was warranted, its timing was not based on direct public health advice.

"Many residents knew nothing of the lockdown or the reason for it when large numbers of police appeared on their estate that afternoon," Glass said. "We heard that initially there was chaos. Some people were without food and medicines. At [one tower] …  residents waited more than a week to be allowed outside under supervision for fresh air.”

The ombudsman recommended the Government apologise to all 3,000 tower residents for the way they were treated during the rushed lockdown.

"In a just society, human rights are not a convention to be ignored during a crisis," she said.

The Victorian government said it did not agree the detention may have breached the law or human rights, with the Department of Health and Human Services noting that it took steps to ensure the provision of food, relief, daily essentials, social and wellbeing supports and laundry services to residents.

Victoria’s housing minister Richard Wynne similarly rejected the investigation’s findings, and insisted that the government would not apologise to anyone.

“We did not act illegally, we saved people’s lives,” Wynne said. “We make absolutely no apology for saving people’s lives.”

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