Misuse of taxpayer funds

In 2003, Mikakos was criticised for nepotism after employing her sister Nikki in her taxpayer-funded electoral office.^[8]

In 2005, Mikakos was forced to pay back taxpayer funds spent mailing Labor Party members on Parliamentary stationery for reelection support, which led to Premier Steve Bracks warning Labor MPs regarding the conduct.^[9]

In 2014, Mikakos was again involved in applying taxpayer funds for political purposes, and the Victorian Ombudsman found that Mikakos was among a number of Labor MPs who had misused $388,000 in taxpayer funds for election campaigning.^[10] Mikakos declined to be interviewed by police in connection with the affair, which became known as the "red shirts rort".^[11] The Labor party later repaid the amount.^[12]

Youth justice

In 2016, a number of criminals under the age of 18 in custody at Parkville prison engaged in a violent riot and caused significant property damage, forcing staff to flee. Mikakos, then the Minister for Youth Affairs, was criticised for losing control of youth justice.^[13] Later, Mikakos illegally moved the relevant inmates to an adult prison, and was forced to reverse that decision by the Supreme Court of Victoria.^[14]

Remarks in Parliament

In 2018, Mikakos was suspended from Parliament for a day after accusing Liberal MPs of racism. Suspension involves forfeiture of the member's salary for the day.^[15]

Handling of the COVID-19 pandemic

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Mikakos was criticised for attacking a Melbourne GP who attended work after travelling to the United States.^[5] The Minister stated that she was 'flabbergasted' a doctor with 'flu-like symptoms' had presented to work, despite the GP not meeting her own departmental guidelines for testing.^[16] The Minister was criticised for inaccuracies, violating patient privacy and maligning frontline health workers,^[17][5] but refused to apologise.^[18]

Later, in April 2020, Mikakos was involved in controversy when she defended a comparison between COVID-19 and Captain Cook.^[19]

In June 2020, a breakdown in hotel quarantine procedures created a second wave of COVID-19 cases in Victoria, leading to the first total lockdown of residents in homes in Australia,^[20] panic buying,^[21] and military personnel called in.^[22][23] The resurgence occurred despite a report from experts a month earlier warning of an opportunity to prevent a further outbreak; Mikakos claimed she was unsure whether her government had received a copy of the report^[24] and attempted to distance herself from the scandal.^[25] In August 2020, Mikakos was stripped of responsibility for hotel quarantine.^[26]

In August 2020, Mikakos was criticised for providing inadequate and insufficient PPE to hospital staff. Mikakos claimed that only 10-15% of healthcare workers with COVID-19 became infected through their workplace, and the government was later forced to correct that figure to 70-80%.^[27][28]

Beginning in March 2020, Mikakos resisted calls to resign for her handling of the pandemic, including from the medical profession, the opposition, and the disgraced Health Workers Union.^{[29][30][31][32]} In August 2020, Mikakos was criticised for declining to answer questions in Parliament and for failing to meet Parliamentary deadlines to provide promised written responses to questions.^[33] She stated that she was declining to answer questions relating to the breakdown of hotel quarantine until a result came out of the independent inquiry led by former Justice Jennifer Coate. Justice Coate announced that the inquiry did not prevent any person from commenting publicly or answering questions on the matters covered by the inquiry.^[34] Under the convention of individual ministerial responsibility in the Westminster system, Ministers are expected to be accountable to Parliament, including by answering questions, and to resign for major failures in their department regardless of whether they were aware of them.

On 24 September 2020, Mikakos appeared before the board of inquiry into the hotel quarantine program, where she stated that she had not made the decision to use private security contractors to manage the quarantine program, and had not been aware of the arrangement until an outbreak at a Melbourne hotel became apparent in mid-May. Footage emerged of Mikakos at a media briefing on 29 March with jobs minister Martin Pakula as he announced that security guards would be used to patrol hotels, and media also reported that the premier's office had sent a briefing note to caucus outlining this arrangement. Mikakos tendered a supplementary statement on 25 September, denying that she had misled the inquiry and reiterating that she cannot remember about the matters raised.^[35]

Premier Daniel Andrews faced the inquiry on 25 September, at which he stated that he regarded Mikakos as "accountable" for the program. The following day, Mikakos resigned from cabinet. Mikakos made a statement suggesting that the reason for her resignation was that she disagreed with "elements" of the Premier's statement, and was no longer able to serve in his cabinet.^[36]