Text message sent to Brett Sutton asking his advice after concert had already been cancelled
A war of words has broken out about former Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s involvement in the decision to pull the pin on Robbie Williams’ Grand Prix concert.
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Australian Grand Prix bosses asked Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton if a Robbie Williams concert at the racetrack should be cancelled an hour after music promoters had already been told he had banned it.
Former Chief Executive Andrew Westacott had a phone call with World Tour Melbourne (WTM) around 2pm on 13 March 2020 where he stated the concert could not go ahead due to Covid on the advice of the then Chief Health Officer (CHO) Brett Sutton.
Mr Westacott said he relayed this advice on the back of an 8am phone call with the medical professional who said “the event” should be cancelled or be run “patron free.”
“It applied to the event in totality,” Mr Westacott said.
“It did not apply just to the concert, it was the event and the concert was a subset of that event.”
On his call to the promoters, Mr Westacott said it was a “blanket directive” and “there is not any questioning about this, there is no roads for appeal”.
But around 3pm – after the concert had been publicly cancelled and tickets were no longer being sold – the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s general manager of operations, Tom Mottram, was asked to send a text to Mr Sutton seeking clarity on the Saturday night concert.
WTM is suing the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in the Supreme Court of Victoria for $8.7m for the cancelled Robbie Williams concert.
The text to the CHO was sent after a request by the GP’s Critical Incident Management and Recovery Team leader, Amy Hill.
“At around 2.45pm I received a telephone call from Amy Hill,” Mr Mottram said in a statement.
“She said to me that Andrew (Westacott) had told WTM representatives that the CHO had recommended that the event, including the WTM concert, was cancelled. She asked me to text the CHO and get absolute confirmation from the CHO that the CHO’s recommendation applied to the WTM concert. She said words to the effect of ‘write it along these lines’, ‘mention it is a separately ticketed event, same crowds’, ‘need from him a yes/no cancelled’. I was texting as I was speaking to Amy,” his statement read.
The text, shown at the Supreme Court civil trial on Thursday, asked Brett Sutton for his opinion on whether the concert should be cancelled, even though it already had been.
“Hi Brett, Tom from the Grand Prix. We’ve had further considerations about staging the concert on Saturday night. Although it’s a separately ticketed event it is still within our venue and in our declared area. There will be many of the same crowds also. Is it therefore your opinion that the concert should be cancelled in line with the Grand Prix cancellation?” the text read.
Representatives for WTM said the text was worded to “elicit a specific response” that the concert be cancelled.
Mr Sutton responded: “I’d absolutely support that decision. I think it’s ultimately for organisers.”
That message was never passed on to WTM and they say it was deceptive and misleading behaviour from the Grand Prix. WTM claim it would have held the Robbie Williams concert had they known this information and sold 4,000 more tickets for the concert than the 13,500 tickets (worth $2.4m) already sold.
Mr Mottram said he thought Mr Sutton’s response “put that matter to bed” because he considered the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to be the organiser of the concert, not WTM, to which Justice Clyde Croft asked incredulously: “Is that a serious answer?”
Mr Westacott conceded Mr Sutton’s advice to him was not a “directive” but a “recommendation” and the concert could have gone ahead “consistent with advice of the government.”
A ban on mass gatherings – more than 500 people – did not come into effect until Monday March 16.
English music group New Order played at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl – which has a capacity of 13,000 fans – on the Saturday night and rugby league matches took place interstate, the court heard.
WTM is seeking $7.6m for costs it incurred and $1.1m in lost profits and interest.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation previously rejected a $4.8m settlement, instead offering $1.
The trial continues.
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