Rita Panahi: Brett Sutton’s Canberra jaunt fails the pub test

How could the chief health officer of a state devastated by Covid and heavy-handed lockdowns feel entitled to go interstate while forcing millions of Victorians to obey a travel limit?

How does Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton justify breaking his own 25km travel limit earlier this week to fly to Canberra for an awards ceremony and meeting of the National Health and Medical Research Council?

How can he possibly feel entitled to travel interstate for something that could be attended online while forcing five million Victorians to abide by a 25km travel limit?

This is the same health bureaucrat who explained why it was fit and proper for an eight-year-old boy’s funeral to be denied an exemption last month despite the fact that it was held in a country town with no Covid-19 cases.

Cooper Onyett’s grieving mother, Skye Meinen, was denied an exemption for his funeral in Warrnambool but Sutton feels it’s perfectly acceptable for him to travel well beyond 25km for a get-together with colleagues.

Acting Premier James Merlino defended the indefensible on Friday. “We’re dealing with a pandemic … there are some activities that can be done online and there are some activities that require people to move around this country,” Merlino said.

How can Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton justify breaking his own 25km travel limit? Picture: David Geraghty

The chief health officer of NSW reportedly wasn’t in Canberra, she took part in the meeting online, as did reportedly the chief health officers of WA and the NT.

Liberal health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier has questioned the priorities of Victoria’s chief health officer. “We can’t have visitors, we can’t have people coming to our own homes, and yet the chief health officer, who’s providing advice to the government, buzzes off to Canberra to a glitzy award night,” she said.

Even national cabinet has been conducted online but the chief health officer of the one state that is in crisis, the one state that has been devastated by Covid-19 and heavy-handed lockdowns, needs to be in Canberra in person for an awards ceremony dinner and meeting.

Not only does this debacle fail the pub test but it fails the logic and consistency tests. Sutton remains a media darling – some of the press pack even have homewares featuring his face – but many others are questioning his judgment.

Labor powerbroker and former cabinet minister Stephen Conroy slammed Sutton last year for his “loose talk”, labelling the CHO “starstruck” and a “clown” who should resign. This latest controversy is not a job-ending matter but it is yet another example of hypocrisy from the state bureaucracy that has plunged Victoria into multiple lockdowns, destroyed thousands of businesses and livelihoods without ever losing a cent of income.

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