Coronavirus Victoria: Daniel Andrews open then shut on expert advice

Experts declared it safe for hundreds to attend the races but the government backflipped after a public backlash.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews backtracked from allowing attendees at the Cox Plate this weekend. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Victorian health authorities declared it safe for hundreds to gather at an outdoor event, but the Andrews government has abandoned this advice in the face of a public backlash.

The decision to allow 500 people to attend Friday night and Saturday races this weekend had been approved by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s team and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as by Daniel Andrews’ crisis cabinet.

Despite this advice, and repeated claims that the state’s lockdown was guided by health recommendations, the Victorian Premier and Racing Minister Martin Pakula on Tuesday backtracked from allowing attendees at the Cox Plate this weekend.

The Moonee Valley Racing Club’s 300-page proposal, which included biosecurity protocols, had also been given the green light by Racing Victoria and the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions.

It received final approval about 5pm on Tuesday. But hours after the announcement, public anger swept social media, with many people contrasting the decision with the ongoing restrictions on religious gathering and the shuttering of retail and hospitality venues.

Mr Andrews said on Wednesday the matter “went through normal process and there was public health advice”.

“I’m not here to provide medical advice,” Mr Andrews said.

“It went through a normal process that was deemed safe ... we were not sitting on top of each other or next to each other, they would have been spread out and in smaller numbers over the course of the day. It was the wrong decision.”

The move would have allowed 500 horse owners and their connections to attend Saturday’s 100th edition of the Cox Plate.

The Victorian government expects to ease restrictions again — including allowing ¬restaurants and shops to reopen — this Sunday as the number of new COVID-19 cases eases. “We did genuinely hope on Sunday to be able to make some announcements ... if these numbers stay on trend we will be able to do that,” Mr Andrews said.

“There will be a place for many different events but rather than one particular event being treated differently, they will be perhaps a greater freedom across many different events and hopefully that meets with significant support.”

The backflip on the Cox Plate came despite the DHHS noting last weekend that “every decision we’ve made since the beginning of the pandemic is based on data and advice from the public health experts and as we take cautious steps towards COVID Normal”.

There were three new coronavirus cases recorded on Wednesday, leaving the rolling daily average over the past fortnight at just 6.2.

Nancy Tullio — who lost her 89-year-old mother, Concetta, to COVID-19 — at her home in South Morang, Melbourne, on Wednesday. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr Pakula said it was “my bad” and said he worked to cancel the event following the widespread backlash.

“I was made very quickly aware of the reaction of the community,” he said. “I spoke to the Moonee Valley Racing Club and (I was) very happy to put my hand up and say ‘my bad’ and the decision was reversed last night.”

He said the event had been workshopped by the DHHS and the DJRP, and that a COVID-19 plan had been developed.

Nancy Tullio, who lost her 89-year-old mother Concetta to COVID-19 in August, said she was appalled by the announcement to allow crowds at the Cox Plate. “It’s totally disgusting,” Ms Tullio said. “I couldn’t even go see my mother when she was dying in hospital.”

Ms Tullio’s mother had been a resident at the Epping Gardens aged-care facility until she was moved to hospital. Ms Tulio is part of the class action launched against the facility’s operator.

Ms Tullio said her mother had four children who had children of their own, as well as siblings who couldn’t attend the funeral because of COVID-19 limits in Victoria of just 10 mourners.

“What could we do? It was dreadful, it was just terrible,” she said. “No one could do anything. It’s not fair, not fair at all. For funerals obviously something else could have been worked out.”

Moonee Valley Racing Club chief executive Michael Browell said: “It is not as if we’ve slipped through the cracks and taken a shortcut here.

“We ticked every box, but the one box we didn’t tick was public sentiment.

“I understand and I appreciate it may have been a different outcome if hospitality and other places were open as well.

“It wasn’t going to be a party with champagne flowing, there was no fashions on the field happening, you wouldn’t have been able to put any bets on.

“It was as sterile as an environment as you could possibly imagine, in what was going to be an extremely controlled environment.”

Under Victoria’s original roadmap out of coronavirus restrictions, curfew would have been lifted on October 26, weddings and funerals would be allowed with a small number of attendees, while restaurants, bars and shops would be allowed to reopen.

The evening curfew ended in late September, but the schedule for the reopening of hospitality and retail has been pushed back until at least Monday.

There remain just 10 cases in Melbourne without a known source. Restrictions were originally expected to have been lifted once the average daily case numbers over a fortnight fell below five.