Victoria’s chief health officer was blocked from controlling the state’s failed virus response, with claims it was a reason for “trouble”.
Department of Health and Human Services deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck was the one who made the decision not to give Prof Sutton the job, despite his willingness to take over the role.Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry heard Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton was barred from stepping into the state controller role.
The position was ultimately shared between two DHHS emergency management officials, Jason Helps and Andrea Spiteri. He revealed the unprecedented restriction was not based on medical advice after Mitchell asked if the Victorian Government had ever “introduced something without your advice, or against your advice”.
Premier Daniel Andrews was grilled about Prof Sutton’s comment on Wednesday, with reporters asking whose idea the curfew was.
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Brett Sutton slammed as ‘star-struck clown’ by former Labor minister | Sky News AustraliaFormer Labor minister Stephen Conroy has blasted Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton as “star-struck” and a “clown” for describing Victoria’s coronavirus modelling as guess work.\n\nMr Conroy – who served in the Rudd and Gillard ministries – told Sky News host Peta Credlin that Professor Sutton needed to “get on and do your job” out of the media spotlight.\n\n“He needs to stop doing media appearances and start reading files on his desk and he really does deserve to have an absolute caning behind the scenes for his loose talk,” he said.\n\n“ If I had been in the room when my chief medical officer had stood up and said ‘oh no we didn’t really do the modelling out six weeks, it was a bit of guess work’, I mean this bloke needs more than a media advisor to help him at the moment, he is star-struck, loving the media spotlight.\n\n“Well mate, get on and do your job, read your files and start getting to the nitty-gritty of the issues you’ve been supervising.”
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Brett Sutton says he did not recommend curfewVictorian Premier Daniel Andrews is facing calls to end the state’s night-time curfew immediately, after it was revealed that the unprecedented restriction was not based on medical advice.
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Coronavirus updates LIVE: Victoria records 43 COVID-19 as Brett Sutton's role as CHO called into question; NSW hospital cluster grows as Australian death toll jumps to 797There were 59 new coronavirus cases in Australia on Thursday, including 51 in Victoria. NSW health authorities are working to contain a growing COVID-19 cluster at a hospital. Debate continues in Melbourne about the curfew after questions were raised about why it was implemented. America has recorded more than 190,000 coronavirus deaths.
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Brett Sutton slammed as ‘star-struck clown’ by former Labor minister | Sky News AustraliaFormer Labor minister Stephen Conroy has blasted Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton as “star-struck” and a “clown” for describing Victoria’s coronavirus modelling as guess work.\n\nMr Conroy – who served in the Rudd and Gillard ministries – told Sky News host Peta Credlin that Professor Sutton needed to “get on and do your job” out of the media spotlight.\n\n“He needs to stop doing media appearances and start reading files on his desk and he really does deserve to have an absolute caning behind the scenes for his loose talk,” he said.\n\n“ If I had been in the room when my chief medical officer had stood up and said ‘oh no we didn’t really do the modelling out six weeks, it was a bit of guess work’, I mean this bloke needs more than a media advisor to help him at the moment, he is star-struck, loving the media spotlight.\n\n“Well mate, get on and do your job, read your files and start getting to the nitty-gritty of the issues you’ve been supervising.”
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Brett Sutton says he did not recommend curfewVictorian Premier Daniel Andrews is facing calls to end the state’s night-time curfew immediately, after it was revealed that the unprecedented restriction was not based on medical advice.
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Daniel Andrews is ‘drunk on power’ and has brushed aside democracy | Sky News AustraliaIt beggars belief that Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton does not “understand or know the powers he has sign off on” given he is making the rules keeping Victorians locked down, according to Victorian Liberal MP Ed O’Donohue.\n\nCriticism of the curfew in Melbourne arose after an exchange between Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Neil Mitchell on radio station 3AW where the Professor revealed the curfew in the state wasn’t based on his advice.\n\n“I was consulted on it, but it was a separate decision-making pathway,” Professor Sutton said.\n\nWhilst Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday admitted the curfew in Melbourne was designed to help Victorian police enforce lockdown rules, and that he was the one who signed off on it.\n\n“Brett Sutton doesn’t understand the breadth of his own powers and Daniel Andrews has said he's the one who signed off on the curfew,” Mr O’Donoghue told Sky News host Peta Credlin.\n\n“That’s not part of (Daniel Andrews') job. That’s not part of his remit, and he doesn’t have the power to do that.\n\n“Victoria has been fundamentally run by Daniel Andrews and Brett Sutton for the last five or six months.\n\n“We need our democratic institutions to come to the fore, not being brushed aside by Daniel Andrews who is drunk on power.”\n\nImage: Getty
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