Peter Dutton says Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos ‘needs to go’

Peter Dutton has joined the push for a Victorian minister to resign or be sacked claiming she has no idea “what’s going on”.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has joined a push for Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos to resign.

The state’s leading health union boss this week accused Ms Mikakos of “breathtaking incompetence” and demanded Daniel Andrews sack her prior to her appearance at the hotel quarantine inquiry.

Mr Dutton on Friday said Ms Mikakos “does need to go”.

“If this wasn’t so serious, and the consequences so dire, it would be funny,” Mr Dutton told Today.

“The Daniel Andrews Government response to this inquiry is like a scene out of Monty Python.

Peter Dutton said Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos “needs to go”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“Nobody knows what’s going on. It’s comical, and yet it’s such a terrible outcome that they’ve presided over, where people literally have died, and Victoria is in a state of lockdown.”
Mr Dutton said when the health minister says she has no idea what’s going on in the health system she presides over, there was “a big problem”.

The Herald Sun on Thursday reported that Health Workers Union boss Diana Asmar begged the Premier to demand Ms Mikakos’s resignation.

“For the good of your government, for the good of health workers I represent, and for the good of all Victorians, Ms Mikakos must go,” she wrote in a letter to Mr Andrews on Wednesday.

A letter from a leading health union boss addressed to Premier Daniel Andrews is demanding the resignation of Health Minister Jenny Mikakos. Picture: Daniel Pockett/NCA NewsWire

She went on to say that in all the union’s dealings with the health Minister, “not once has she displayed even a basic understanding of her portfolio.”

The 16,000 strong Health Workers Union, which represents hospital and aged-care workers, also declared war on the Andrews Government over its decision to rebuild the Frankston Hospital as a public-private partnership, saying it would campaign against the Labor Party at the next election.

“In Victoria, aged care cleaners, admin workers and cooks have acquired covid, as have registered nurses and patient care workers,” Ms Asmar wrote, “yet aged care workers are treated differently with respect to accessing sufficient levels” of protective equipment.

Diana Asmar accused the Health Minister of ignoring warnings over PPE shortages. Picture: Daniel Pockett/NCA NewsWire

Ms Asmar also accused the Health Minister of ignoring warnings over PPE shortages, claiming “more deaths in Victorian aged care homes will ensue” unless the government changes the way it distributes it.

Saying she “was accustomed to dealing with individuals who display pomposity and arrogance, even when their ability does not warrant it”, Ms Asmar denied the call was the result of a personality clash between the pair.

“This is entirely about Ms Mikakos’ competence as your Health Minister, which is at the heart of your government’s response to this current pandemic,” she said.

Ms Asmar also said that since Ms Mikakos had become Minister after the 2018 election “we have seen repeated mismanagement” of the Victorian health system.

“All Victorians are seemingly paying a price for her incompetence, ” she said.

Ms Mikakos is expected to be grilled on the state’s bungled hotel quarantine program which led to much of the state’s second wave virus outbreaks.

It comes after a string of ministers and senior bureaucrats have claimed ignorance on the contentious issue of who was responsible for hiring private security guards, instead of Australian Defence Force personnel, to oversee the program.