Brett Sutton, polarising face of the pandemic, receives Order of Australia honour

For a man who spoke in excruciating detail about COVID-19 in televised press conferences for more than a year, Professor Brett Sutton has few words to share about his latest achievement.

Victoria’s former chief health officer, who became a loved and loathed face of the pandemic in the state, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the people of Victoria through public health administration, governance and medicine.

Former chief health officer Brett Sutton.Credit: Joe Armao

“I feel profoundly grateful to receive this honour,” the 54-year-old, who was awarded Victorian of the Year last year, said in a statement.

“To me, this is recognition of the extraordinary work of thousands in public health in Victoria and of the amazing value of their work, their passion, and their deep commitment to the health of Victorians – indeed, Australians – especially those most in need.”

The short statement left others to speak about his legacy and character. Former colleagues and other public health experts described Sutton, now the head of health and biosecurity at CSIRO, as a man of integrity who remained calm during the darkest days of the pandemic.

Professor Ben Cowie, who served alongside Sutton as an acting chief health officer, said it was a moment after Victoria lost control of COVID-19 in 2021 that stands out to him.

In its sixth lockdown, much of the community was despondent, but no one was feeling it more than Victoria’s exhausted public health team.

“Some people were crying. Some people were really self-castigating almost and [wondering], ‘What was it all for?’”

Across countless online meetings with Health Department teams, Sutton reminded his colleagues that they had delayed the virus from taking hold before vaccinations became widely available and convinced them to “get back in the fray”.

“People really did believe what Brett was saying, because he believed it too,” Cowie said.

Cowie also recalled an instance, in 2020, when Sutton joined a virtual meeting of doctors at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Some of them popped up on screen clutching items with the chief health officer’s face printed on them, including mugs and cushions they were “snuggling up to”.

Sutton, he said, was in obvious discomfort. This merchandise is still being sold online, albeit at a discount, to Sutton fans enamoured by his looks.

Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Terry Slevin said Sutton guided a frightened public through a challenging time.

“He was a relatively new chief health officer,” he said. “He was thrown into the deep end.”

During the early days of the pandemic, Sutton had to make big decisions based on thin information, Slevin said.

“We didn’t know the nature of the virus, how virulent it would be, the threat it posed to human life,” he said.

“That is a tough area to navigate. Some may laud him for it and some may have a different view, but he was out there helping to make those judgments on a day-to-day basis.”

But the state opposition’s health spokeswoman, Georgie Crozier is not a huge fan.

“I wish him well, but I’m not going to praise him or rush out and buy a pillowcase,” she said. “I would like to see more volunteers being recognised for their work rather than people just doing their job.”

Crozier described Sutton as a bureaucrat who was controlled by the state government.

She would have liked to have seen more transparency over the advice Sutton and other health officials provided the government, such as suspending elective surgery and directing all staff at St Basil’s aged care home into quarantine, which left residents without vital care.

“I will never forget the terrible circumstances where people were not allowed back into their own state to visit dying loved ones,” she said. “They were not even allowed to return home for medical treatment.”

Businesses groups were reluctant to speak publicly about Sutton, who oversaw tough pandemic restrictions including the lengthy lockdowns.

“He made decisions that made it very difficult for businesses … we felt he didn’t work closely enough with us,” one business leader said. “At the same time, I know he was doing the best job that he could.”

When Sutton resigned as chief health officer last year amid speculation his public appearances had been curtailed by the government, he said the job had almost crushed him.

Professor Catherine Bennett, a panellist for Australia’s COVID-19 inquiry and a pandemic figure in her own right, said she saw the honour as recognition of Sutton’s commitment, more than a judgment on specific decisions that were made.

“I think it was an unenviable task for anybody to be a chief health officer in the pandemic, but particularly in Victoria,” she said. “Professor Sutton did well to build trust in the community from the outset.”

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