Premier Daniel Andrews says he ‘may get a chance to’ read damning Covid report
Daniel Andrews has taken a subtle swipe at a “bunch of academics” whose review revealed shocking mistakes in the pandemic response.
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Daniel Andrews won’t commit to reading an independent review into the nation’s response to Covid-19.
The Premier said he is instead “much more focused on the future”.
“I think (that report) it’s written by a bunch of academics and that’s fine, that’s their job,” he said.
“There was nothing academic about Covid-19.
“There was nothing academic about the fact that we had to have lockdowns because we didn’t have any vaccine.
“There was nothing academic about doing everything we could, very difficult decisions with real impact, to save lives.”
Mr Andrews confirmed he hadn’t yet read the report.
When asked if he planned to, he said: “I may get a chance to. I’m much more focused on the future, rather than reading the academic views on things that happened some time ago.”
Mr Andrews acknowledged there were many aspects of the pandemic response that resulted in significant consequences.
“It was a one in 100 year event. There was no rule book, there’s no playbook,” he said.
“There are many many things that we wish we didn’t have to do.
“These decisions were not made lightly and they were the subject of debate, discussion and very, very careful consideration.”
How Australia failed in pandemic response
An independent review of Australia’s response to Covid-19 has found that “significant mistakes were made”, leaving vulnerable communities to bear the brunt of the pandemic.
The 97-page-review was funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, John and Myriam Wylie Foundation and Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation.
The panel – led by Western Sydney University chancellor Peter Shergold – acknowledged that while decisions were made under a “fog of uncertainty”, “significant mistakes” were made.
Read the full storyhere
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