Case against fatal Vic hotel quarantine falls apart

A TIMELINE OF VICTORIA'S FATALLY FLAWED COVID-19 HOTEL QUARANTINE SYSTEM AND ITS FALLOUT:

2020

* March 27 - National cabinet announces returned overseas travellers must complete 14 days of hotel quarantine. Victoria decides to use private security guards in the program

* May 15 - A family of four with COVID-19 are moved to the Rydges on Swanston hotel

* May 25 - A staff member at the Rydges on Swanston tests positive to COVID-19 and two others develop symptoms

* May 27 - Rydges on Swanston outbreak first identified by the Department of Health, eventually growing 17 workers and their contacts

* June 14 - Staff member at Stamford Plaza tests positive to COVID-19, with the outbreak eventually growing to 46 people

* June 24 - Victoria requests 850 ADF personnel to replace private security at hotels, but it is rescinded a day later as the Department of Justice and Community Safety takes over the program

* June 30 - Then-Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announces a judicial inquiry after genomic sequencing revealed multiple COVID-19 cases can be linked to hotel quarantine staff breaching infection control protocols

* July 4, July 6, July 11 - Former prime minister Scott Morrison writes to Mr Andrews three times offering ADF support

* July 6 - The Victoria-NSW border shuts for first time in a century

* July 20 - Hotel quarantine inquiry, led by Judge Jennifer Coate, begins

* August 2 - Victoria goes back into lockdown

* August 5 - Pandemic restrictions delay inquiry's public hearings

* August 11 - Mr Andrews tells a separate parliamentary inquiry ADF support was not offered for hotel quarantine, sparking war of words with then-defence minister Linda Reynolds

* August 17 - Public hearings at the Coate inquiry begin

* August 18 - The inquiry hears 99 per cent of active cases in Victoria stem from Rydges and Stamford outbreaks

* September 25 - Mr Andrews appears before the inquiry, apologises to Victorians

* September 26 - Health Minister Jenny Mikakos resigns

* September 28 - In the inquiry's closing submissions, lawyers say the program is responsible for more than 18,000 COVID-19 infections and 750 deaths

* October 20 - An extraordinary hearing of the inquiry called with Mr Andrews and Professor Brett Sutton among those asked to provide new statements after it receives more emails and phone records

* December 7 - New-look hotel quarantine program begins

* December 21 - The inquiry's final report fails to determine who made the decision to hire private security but identifies multiple flaws in the set-up and oversight of the scheme

2021

* February 1 - Figures given to state parliament's Public Accounts and Estimates Committee reveal the government spent at least $7.7 million on legal representation to the Coate inquiry

* September 29 - WorkSafe charges the Department of Health with 58 breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act following a 15-month investigation

* October 22 - The matter is heard for the first time in the Melbourne Magistrates Court

2022

* November 25 - A five-week hearing, testing the evidence acquired by WorkSafe against the Department of Health, begins in the Magistrates Court

2023

* March - Magistrate Simon Zebrowski finds there is sufficient evidence for the matter to go to trial and the case moves to the County Court

2024

* April 9 - The County Court rules in favour of a Department of Health application to exclude evidence of 10 witnesses produced during the Coate inquiry and the ruling is not appealed by prosecutors

* April 30 - Prosecutors drop the charges against the department due to the earlier ruling, days before the matter was due to go to trial