Melbourne millionaire's alleged yacht breach sparks criminal investigation
A criminal investigation has been launched into a Melbourne millionaire and his family after the Queensland government revoked a quarantine exemption for their super-yacht Lady Pamela.
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski confirmed the investigation would focus on Mark Simonds and others on board the yacht, which left Melbourne earlier this month and docked at the Gold Coast on Monday.
"We will be looking at everyone who was on the boat, obviously," Mr Gollschewski said.
Mr Simonds, executive director of the ASX-listed Simonds Group, was joined on his 15-day jaunt by his wife, Cheryl, his youngest son Vallence and Hannah Fox, the daughter of Linfox executive chairman Peter Fox.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was "disgusted" by the allegations.
"I am disgusted about it, and now there is a criminal investigation because it puts the community at risk," she said.
Mr Simonds and his family are now in hotel quarantine after Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young revoked the exemption late on Tuesday afternoon.
The group also made a number of stops along the NSW coast, police will allege.
Dr Young said the exemption had been originally granted because she was told the yacht was being sailed to Queensland for repairs and would make no stops.
Ten other yachts had been granted exemption to enter Queensland for that purpose previously, with only crew on board.
Dr Young said Maritime Services and public health authorities boarded the yacht and discovered others were on board.
"Maritime Services notified me that they didn't believe that all the people on the yacht were crew," Dr Young said.
"So yesterday, given the conflicting information about whether they were crew or not crew, where they had been, I just removed the exemption and required them all to go into hotel quarantine.
"I can assure people that everyone's perfectly safe, these people never got off that yacht in Queensland, they were all tested on the yacht and are now in hotel quarantine."
Queensland police had been provided with video evidence by Nine's A Current Affair, which revealed passengers and crew disembarking from the Lady Pamela in Yamba on August 21, which is understood to have been a breach of the conditions of their exemption.
Mr Gollschewski said the criminal investigation was being undertaken in collaboration with NSW police and Queensland's Maritime Safety.
- with Cameron Houston and Toby Crockford