The man who led Victoria through the world’s longest lockdown has spoken out about the mistakes the state made during the pandemic.
Brett Sutton, who served as the Chief Health Officer of Victoria between March 2019 and July 2023, has made some candid admissions about futile policies during an interview with Neil Mitchell.
He said the cleaning of surfaces was most likely a waste of time.
‘Touching elbows was probably never necessary. They’re the things that we learn as we go,’ Professor Sutton said.
‘And through a hundred years of understanding infectious diseases, we overemphasised the idea that it’ll pass through surfaces or handshakes or droplets spread when the reality was, it’s in our breath.
‘It’s very unlikely to spread through surfaces. You didn’t have to wash down the groceries.
‘It’s not like washing your hands and using hand sanitiser is a bad thing. But it’s probably more important for the bacterial infections that occur in hospitals than it is for pandemic viruses that are mostly about the air we breathe.’
He also admitted that the imposed policies were so harsh, and some so unnecessary, that Australians may never put up with a lockdown again.
Brett Sutton, who served as the Chief Health Officer of Victoria between March 2019 and July 2023, has spoken out during an interview with Neil Mitchell
Between March 2020 and October 2021, Melbourne and wider Victoria endured six separate lockdowns.
In total, the restrictions added up to 262 days under stay-at-home orders – which marked the world’s longest period under lockdown during the pandemic.
‘Maybe we will agree as a society that we never want to do that (lockdown) again,’ Professor Sutton said.
‘I’m okay with that. There are other ways to manage stuff.
‘If we all wore masks and we all got vaccinated and we all kept distances without them being mandated. That’s a potential path we can take.’
Professor Sutton added children had been harmed the most by lockdowns despite being the ‘least at risk’, with many schools closed and students forced into inadequate study-from-home arrangements.
‘Absolutely we should recognise that they made a significant sacrifice when they were least at risk, at medical risk,’ Professor Sutton said.
‘They made a sacrifice for people who were most at risk, people on chemotherapy, people with immune suppression, people who are very elderly and in nursing homes.
Professor Sutton labelled Victoria’s response to Covid-19 as a ‘horror show’ and claimed the state made mistakes in managing the pandemic
It comes after a four-and-a-half-year legal battle exposed Former Premier Daniel Andrews’ decision to force millions of residents in Melbourne to live under a curfew during the pandemic was not based on medical advice
‘The children were constrained in their lives and that didn’t benefit them as much as it benefited others.
‘But those other people, by God, needed the support of everyone.’
He said there were many moments during the pandemic that he wanted to quit – describing the period as a horror show.
‘We don’t want to talk about it much. The reality is we should do our utmost by continuing to focus on the planning and prevention so that the response and recovery bits are made easier,’ Professor Sutton said.
Professor Sutton quit as Chief Health Officer in 2023 before becoming the director of health and biosecurity at CSIRO.
He had previously admitted evidence about Covid-19 was ‘sometimes a best guess’ and that he had failed, at times, in providing clear explanations.
During the pandemic, Professor Sutton emerged as an unexpected ‘sex symbol’ during his time as the chief medical officer.
He amassed thousands of female followers as he fronted near-daily press conferences during the crisis.
His fans, known as ‘Suttonettes’, gave the professor monikers including ‘Sexysutton’, ‘Chief Swoon officer’, ‘Dr Brett McHunk’ and ‘CHOttie’.
Professor Sutton (pictured left with then Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews) became an unexpected ‘sex symbol’ of the pandemic, amassing thousands of fans
His admissions came after a four-and-a-half-year legal battle to expose emails which revealed the decision to force millions of residents in Melbourne to live under a curfew was not based on any medical advice.
Former Premier Daniel Andrews and his government had made the decision to enforce a curfew between 8pm and 5am for two months in 2020.
The document, released in April, showed the decision to lock residents in their homes was ‘not occurring on public health advice but is a decision taken by Cabinet’.
An email exchange between Professor Sutton and then public health commander Finn Romanes showed the draconian measure was not proposed by heath experts – but they did support the decision once made, as it limited transmission of the virus.