Coronavirus: Melbourne curfew decision not mine, says Brett Sutton

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has confirmed Melbourne’s nightly curfew was not imposed as a consequence of his public health advice.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: AAP

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has confirmed Melbourne’s nightly curfew was not imposed as a consequence of his public health advice to the Andrews government.

An 8pm to 5pm curfew was imposed alongside Stage Four stay-at-home restrictions on August 2.

From September 13, the curfew will begin from 9pm, but it will remain in place until at least October 26, and only cease if Victoria reaches a 14-day daily average of fewer than five new coronavirus cases and a total during that period of fewer than five cases with an unknown source.

Professor Sutton has previously stated that the curfew was imposed to aid the enforcement of restrictions, rather than for any direct epidemiological purpose.

Quizzed on Tuesday over whether the measure was one he had recommended to the Andrews government, the CHO said it was not.

“The curfew came in as part of the State of Disaster, for example. It wasn’t a State of Emergency requirement, so that was something that was introduced, but it wasn’t something that I was against from a public health perspective,” Professor Sutton told 3AW.

“I was consulted on it, but it was a separate decision-making pathway,” he said.

Asked whether he would have introduced it had the decision been his, Professor Sutton said: “ I’m not sure. I haven’t reflected on it. I think it has been useful. If I put my mind to it, probably.”

Asked whose idea the curfew had been, Premier Daniel Andrews said the measure was “about enforcement”.

“It’s not about crafting the rules. It’s not about crafting public health measures, and I’m not quite sure what the point here is,” he said.

“There are only certain reasons to leave your home. If you don’t have a valid reason to leave your home, then you can’t leave your home, and the fact there’s a curfew applies, that does grow by an hour, it extends out to 9.00 quite soon, but it just means the job of Victoria Police is much, much easier.

“It limits movement, and it has been, I think, always hard to attribute one measure … what percentage of benefit it’d give you, but I think it has been significant. It’s made the job of Victoria Police easier, it has limited movement, there’s less people out and about, because only people who’ve got a lawful reason to be out are out.”

Asked whether the curfew had been requested by police, Mr Andrews said the government made decisions based on advice from a wide range of authorities.

“Some of that’s public health advice, some of it’s law enforcement advice,” he said.