NSW Health Minister blows up at One Nation MP over Covid-19 question

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard unleashed on a political opponent on Wednesday, with one question sending him into a rage.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has blown up at a One Nation MP over a Covid-19 question asked at a budget estimates hearing.

The MP, Mark Latham, asked about the Minister’s classification by health bureaucrats as a casual Covid-19 contact during an outbreak of coronavirus in parliament last year.

Mr Hazzard then accused Mr Latham of being a “bully”, raising his voice and pointing his finger at him.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard called the One Nation MP a ‘bully’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“He’s quite obsessed – not only obsessed with bullying female MPs and ex-MPs, he’s also obsessed with anything to do with this,” Mr Hazzard said.

“You are a bully … you should be out of parliament.”

Mr Hazzard was initially told to self-isolate as a possible close contact after being in proximity with a Nationals MP who tested positive to Covid-19 in June last year.

The parliament outbreak came shortly before the state entered a strict lockdown which limited the ability of residents to move about and socialise, a state of affairs which didn’t end until October.

Mr Hazzard tested negative to Covid-19 at the time, and was deemed a casual contact by the NSW Health contact tracing team.

Health Minister @BradHazzard accuses @RealMarkLatham of bullying & objects to questioning about whether he received preferential treatment & avoided isolation after exposure to a covid positive colleague at a dinner at NSW Parliament#[e-mail]/oq8MqoylbB

— Lachlan Kennedy (@lachlan_kennedy) September 7, 2022

Mr Latham asked a NSW Health public servant present at the hearing why it was that Mr Hazzard was considered a casual contact rather than a close one, given he had spent time in the presence of an infected person.

The public servant, Northern NSW Local Health District visiting medical officer Michael Douglas, said he supported the assessment.

“The classification of a close contact depended on a number of factors … if (the contact tracing) team had made the decision based upon all the facts in front of them … I support the decision,” he said.