Waleed Aly says it’s ‘not the job’ of politicians to blindly follow ‘health advice’

Waleed Aly has gone viral with a lockdown spiel, saying it’s “not the job” of politicians to blindly follow “health advice” in their Covid-19 responses.

Waleed Aly says it’s “not the job” of politicians to blindly follow “health advice” in their Covid-19 responses.

The Project host made the comments in an appearance on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning, with a clip of the spiel quickly going viral on social media.

“I think one of the more maddening aspects of our pandemic politics is that we’ve watched leader after leader get up and say, ‘We’re just following the health advice,’” he said, as he was asked about NSW’s reopening road map.

“We as a country have said, ‘That’s great, that’s exactly what you should do,’ but actually that’s not the job of a politician. A politician’s job is not to follow health advice. Their job is to take health advice, consider it, place it in its proper context with a whole suite of other imperatives that are non-health imperatives as well as health imperatives, and then come to a decision.”

Host David Speers suggested that “some would say you look after health, the rest will flow” because “the economy will only work if we look after the health front”.

“That’s true to an extent,” Aly replied.

“But let me paint another ridiculous scenario. You could have zero deaths and zero hospitalisations by a permanent lockdown. No one thinks that’s a good idea. There is a health argument for that, but it becomes a bad idea because you consider other factors.

“Health advice is not policy advice. What health advisors should be doing is saying, ‘Here are the outcomes if you do this. Here’s what will happen if you do that, we think.’

“Then it is up to politicians to decide what consequences they are prepared to live with on behalf of the people. There is no health advice that can give you an answer on what an acceptable level of death is. That’s not a health advice question, that’s a political and ethical question.”

"The politician's job is not to follow health advice. Their job is to take health advice, consider it, place it in its proper context."

WATCH: Waleed Aly on the balance of considerations in New South Wales' roadmap #Insiders#auspolpic.twitter.com/jB4ByAn2D5

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) September 11, 2021

Shortly after the show, Aly began trending on Twitter. The Insiders clip gained hundreds of retweets and comments, and has been viewed more than 285,000 times.

A number of conservatives agreed with Aly’s analysis.

“I’m pretty sure hell has just frozen over. I can’t believe I’m hearing something sensible from both Aly and the ABC. Would have good (sic) to have heard it a year ago though,” former Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm wrote.

I don't agree w Waleed very often, but in this case well said! https://t.co/0kZ1Cqax9S

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) September 12, 2021

Former basketballer Andrew Bogut echoed Leyonhjelm’s comments.

“I don’t agree with Waleed very often, but in this case well said,” he wrote.

However, there was still a strong contingent who disagreed with Aly.

“We are in the middle of a world pandemic – of course politicians should be following the health advice. Thank goodness I live in a state where the government follows health advice and the opposition supports their decisions,” one woman wrote.

“During the pandemic, I would prefer they follow health advice from, you know, the experts,” another said.

Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar make up part of The Project. Picture: Channel 10

Just last week, Aly threw his support behind Guy Sebastian’s vaccination apology video.

Aly said on The Project on Tuesday night that he “really, really feels for Guy” in the wake of the backlash.

“He seems to me a lovely guy who is being beset upon by people who are not that, and waded into an issue where I don’t think he quite understood the polarisation it faces,” Aly said.

Originally published as Waleed Aly says it’s ‘not the job’ of politicians to blindly follow ‘health advice’