‘It nearly crushed me’: Sutton opens up on personal toll of steering pandemic response

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who led the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response and oversaw tough measures including lengthy lockdowns, said the experience nearly crushed him.

“It’s the cumulative 16-hour days, it’s sprinting for six months without a day off. And throw in the vitriol and the death threats and the intrusions and the kind of barrage of lies that you see, particularly on social media,” he said.

Sutton, who announced his resignation on Friday after four years in the role, conceded there were things he would change about the way the pandemic response unfolded, but was adamant the government always tried to protect Victorians.

“Look, there shouldn’t be a person in the world who’s been part of the public health response, who wouldn’t reflect on things that they would do differently, things that they regret. I’m absolutely no different in that regard,” he said.

“We acted with the understanding and information that we had at the time, with the best of intentions, and with an eternally focused eye on protecting the health and wellbeing of Victorians.”

Sutton said everyone now recognised that quick, early pandemic responses were most effective.

He also said he wished the world knew earlier that COVID-19 was airborne, making indoor spaces with proper ventilation particularly important.

“I think knowing what we know [now] about the risk of transmission, indoors versus outdoors, the freedoms that we could allow outdoors are clearly greater,” Sutton said.

When asked specifically about shutting playgrounds during 2021 – a particularly controversial measure – Sutton told ABC radio: “I think it was a mistake ultimately.”

When asked about locking down Melbourne public housing towers in 2020, a move which the Victorian Ombudsman later said violated residents’ human rights, Sutton didn’t want to comment due to ongoing litigation. But he added that high-density, indoor settings were a “high-risk transmission area” requiring adequate ventilation and other mitigation measures.

Asked about an independent academic report that said mass school closures during the pandemic were a mistake, Sutton said schools should remain open when transmission is already rampant, but added: “It was a different time in 2020, but the recognition that there was lots of transmission that could take place in schools was the right one.

“Would I do things differently with the knowledge that I have now, with the understanding we have about the virus, about everything to do with it? Absolutely I would. But my intent was always – always – to protect the health and wellbeing of Victorians.”

Sutton – who was appointed chief health officer in 2019 – gained a significant public profile during the pandemic and became a divisive figure for backing some of the state’s most contentious restrictions, including the curfew and five-kilometre travel limit.

“Critiques are totally fine. Accountability is appropriate for any public officeholder, but the B.S. that is sometimes spouted out there is quite extraordinary sometimes,” he said.

Brett Sutton speaks to the media in May 2021.Credit: Getty Images

In a statement issued on Friday morning, the Department of Health said details of Sutton’s resignation were yet to be finalised, including a departure date and replacement details. He will eventually shift to a public health role at the CSIRO as the director of health and biosecurity.

Sutton served as an expert adviser to the government and as an executive decision-maker for the first two years of the pandemic, giving force to Victoria’s public health orders.

Pandemic health orders handed the chief health officer enormous power during the protracted health emergency, giving Sutton the right to veto state government decisions.

New pandemic laws passed in December 2021 ended the CHO’s dual role by enabling the health minister to issue pandemic orders, returning executive power to the government.

Sutton told reporters on Friday that the weakened CHO powers under the pandemic legislation were not inappropriate and that he maintained a good relationship with Premier Daniel Andrews.

“I have a great relationship with the premier,” Sutton said, adding that tensions between health measures and political considerations were not unique to Victoria.

“I come with my [public health] view and my filter. They [politicians] have broader considerations, and they have constituents that they are accountable to.

“But we talked it through, and we came to decisions collectively, and I took responsibility for the things that I signed off on.”

Andrews said the departing CHO had served the state and guided Victoria through some of the most difficult times.

“As CHO, Brett helped keep us informed, and above all, safe,” Andrews said in a tweet. “Thank you for your service, and all the very best for your next role.”

After appearing before the media almost daily at the peak of the pandemic, Sutton has rarely been seen in public in his capacity as CHO in recent months.

He told ABC radio he “might have wanted to have greater opportunities speaking in this role”, but said his reduced media appearances were no different to other state health officers.

When asked whether he was in the premier’s so-called “freezer”, Sutton chuckled and said: “Not that I’m aware of.”

Health department secretary Euan Wallace said that since joining the department, Sutton had helped to develop a strong and responsive public health team, as well as providing critical health information and advice on a wide variety of issues and emergencies.

Wallace said the experience would no doubt assist Sutton in his new role, where he would remain engaged in health and wellbeing at a national and regional level.

“It also provides a great opportunity for us to strengthen the partnership between our two organisations,” he said.

Brett Sutton explains his departure from the role of Victorian chief health officer on Friday.Credit: Joe Armao

“I want to thank Brett for his enormous contribution to this department and Victoria – and wish him well for his new role.”

Sutton gained celebrity status among some at the height of the pandemic, inspiring fan pages and a strong TikTok following among a group of fans that dubbed themselves “Suttonettes”. A number of designers went as far as creating a range of pillows, bedsheets and other homewares featuring the chief health officer’s face.

Former Labor MP and state health minister Martin Foley defended Sutton’s recently minimal media profile on Friday, saying neither he nor the government could be accused of being camera shy.

Speaking on ABC radio, Foley said Sutton would be remembered for his endless optimism and capacity for measured communication when responding to emerging COVID science.

Credit: Matt Golding

“I think that message reassured millions of Victorians and inspired tens of thousands of our public health workforce to continue on in what was an extraordinarily difficult period,” Foley said.

“We all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

The Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation credited Sutton’s leadership during the pandemic as saving thousands of lives.

In a statement, secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick thanked Sutton for “steering Victoria through the most tumultuous of times and protecting our precious health system”.

Fitzpatrick said that in the early days of the pandemic, Victorian nurses and midwives carried the responsibility of responding to a health crisis of an unknown scale.

“Professor Sutton’s public health decisions through the pandemic years, while not always popular, were always designed to protect the lives of all Victorians,” she said.

“He also acknowledged and had a deep understanding of the Herculean challenges nurses and midwives faced and embraced head on.

“Thankfully few of us will ever know the weight of the responsibility Victoria placed on his shoulders.”

Sutton told reporters he looked forward to his new CSIRO work and having beers with his health department mates once he formally left his job. He thanked his family and work colleagues for sticking with him over the past few years.

Looking to the future, Sutton said climate change causing more extreme weather was going to lead to new public health challenges, citing last year’s Victorian floods as bringing dangerous mosquito-borne diseases such as Murray Valley encephalitis to the state’s north.

He said he had many tips for his successor, but added he thought being authentic, honest and admitting mistakes helped his crisis communication.

“I know many people have struggled through this time, and again, I will carry that negatively for the rest of my days,” Sutton later said when concluding his ABC radio interview. “And it’s not about me, it’s about me reflecting on those awful consequences for people across Victoria.”

“By the same token, we did what was needed at a point where 10,000 lives were on the line – just in Victoria, and just in 2020-21 – and maybe 40,000 lives in Australia.

“[They were] really, really tough choices. Not always done well. But, I don’t want to be the person apologising to 220,000 Brits or a million US families.”

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