Exclusive | In leaked correspondence to a senior Coalition minister, Michelle Ananda-Rajah lobbied the government to change the personnel on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. covid19 auspol paulsakkal
, claimed the committee, which was responsible for advising the government on COVID policy, was “stacked” with members like Lewin, the director of the Doherty Institute, and Cheng, a former Victorian deputy chief medical officer, who in her view “lacked any real [pandemic] expertise”.
The correspondence, which has been leaked within days of the federal election, showed the first-time candidate urging the cabinet minister to ask Health Minister Greg Hunt to appoint Kirby Institute professor Raina MacIntyre to the committee.including former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth, who preferred a more relaxed approach to restrictions.Credit:
“Allen [Cheng] is an epidemiologist with expertise in flu, Sharon [Lewin] is a HIV researcher who has spent most of her life in the lab. [University of Sydney’s] Lyn Gilbert is a bacteria doctor who should have retired a while ago,” Ananda-Rajah wrote in the memo. “These people are also close friends which presents a barrier for debate which is essential to arriving at good decisions. I would describe this as a clique or a club of like minded individuals who lack the know how in managing pandemics,” claimed Ananda-Rajah.The public health committee in question is chaired by the Commonwealth chief medical officer and includes state and territory chief health officers as well as eminent experts.
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