Government increases spend on Covid-19 data analytics as it declines to release modelling

The Morrison government has upped its external spending on Covid-19 data analytics from $1m to $5m but declined to release modelling underpinning national cabinet decisions to delay tighter restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

On Thursday the health department issued a contract amendment increasing its spending on Covid-19 data analytics from Quantium Health Pty Ltd from $1.1m to $3.1m, and issued a separate notice for a contract worth $2m with the same firm. All contracts were awarded by open tender.

Quantium Health is a joint venture between South African wellness company, Discovery Limited, and the Quantium Group Pty Ltd, a data science consultancy which promises to “harness data to drive improved patient outcomes”. Quantium Group is also the employer of the star of the 2019 season of The Bachelor, Matt Agnew.

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The Morrison government has come under pressure to release the data and modelling supporting the coronavirus response with the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, the Australian Academy of Science and Tony Blakely, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Melbourne, leading the charge.

On Wednesday Prof John Shine, the president of the academy, called on the government to “make public the scientific evidence that is informing its thinking.”

“Australia must make full use of leading scientists’ expertise to deepen our understanding of Covid-19 and to sharpen our response,” he said.

“Importantly, the open publication of data and evidence supporting government decisions will allow all scientific knowledge to be brought to bear to solve this global crisis.”

The federal and state governments do publish regular data about the number of new cases, the rate of increase in infections, and numbers of tests conducted.

But Blakely has called on the government to release modelling on the rate at which people are likely to be infected and the predicted peak of the intensive care unit load.

While Scott Morrison has acknowledged that further restrictions will be required in New South Wales and Victoria, he has relied on the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee to resist calls from some public health experts such as Bill Bowtell and Victorian chief medical officer Brett Sutton to adopt stronger measures now.

On Friday Morrison side-stepped a question about whether the government will release modelling to respond to critics who have suggested more comprehensive restrictions would result in a shorter disruption of Australian society and fewer deaths.

“The decisions that I communicate from this podium are the decisions of all premiers, chief ministers, and myself,” he told reporters in Canberra after the national cabinet decided to impose new quarantine restrictions on returning travellers.

“This is not some personal view of mine, this is the decision of the national cabinet based on the medical expert advice that we receive in terms of the restrictions that are necessary to deal with the management of the outbreak of the virus in Australia.”

Morrison said he would “make sure I fight for every job I can because I know that that job means something very important to that person, and the family”.

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“And I would not compromise that principle, save only that there would be a compelling health reason to do so.”

At the same press conference, the chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, dismissed a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia which suggested Australia could run out of ICU beds in 10 days, saying hospitals were in advanced preparations to “at least triple” capacity for intensive care.

In other Covid-19 related procurement, the health department has spent $13m on the media buy for the second phase of its public education campaign and $31,700 on a study from the University of Melbourne on household transmission.

The department of foreign affairs and trade has spent $1.7m on a contract, awarded by open tender, to Palladium International for logistics support for the Australian response to Covid-19 in the Asia Pacific region.

Palladium is a major foreign aid contractor, which won contracts worth $99m in 2016-17, 2.8% of Australia’s total aid spend.

In 2019, the former foreign minister Julie Bishop prompted political controversy by taking a position on Palladium’s board.