Police have ruled out taking any action against those who attended a dinner party hosted at an estate owned by the billionaire Anthony Pratt during Victoria’s fifth lockdown.
Victoria police attended the party at the Kew residence of the Pratt family on 23 July 2021, according to video obtained by the Age.
In a statement, a spokesperson said police could not take any further action “as the statute of limitations has expired”.
“Police attended a residence on Studley Park Road, Kew, about 6.45pm on 23 July 2021 following reports of a breach of [the] chief health officer’s directions,” the spokesperson said.
“Members spoke with residents and staff at the address, and no offence was detected.”
The video footage shows a number of people allegedly at Raheen, the estate of packaging and recycling magnate Anthony Pratt, filing through a door at 6.47pm on 23 July 2021.
Victoria police have confirmed they attended a house that night. Someone, whose face is blurred in the video, shuts the door behind them.
At 6.59pm, the video shows the people filing back out – some are smiling; one wears a mask.
During that lockdown, which ran from 15 July to 27 July, people were only allowed to leave home to shop, exercise, give care, do authorised work, or get vaccinated.
Pratt, who runs the global Visy empire, is one of Australia’s richest men. Earlier this year the Australian had him and his family at number three on their rich list, calculating their wealth at about $28bn.
Pratt Holdings was Australia’s biggest political donor in 2020-21, giving the Liberal party $1.3m ahead of the 2022 election. In 2019, the former United States president Donald Trump joined the former prime minister Scott Morrison to tour one of Pratt’s US factories.
The day before the party, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, called for a “ring of steel” around Sydney to stop the coronavirus delta variant’s incursion into Victoria. That call was sparked by 24 cases, all linked to an outbreak in NSW.
According to the Age, Pratt and his family hosted the dinner at the family’s Kew mansion and up to a dozen guests, mostly family who lived elsewhere, attended.
Guardian Australia has contacted Raheen’s general manager, Phillip Nikolitsis, and Visy Industries for comment.
