Victorian Premier’s false justification for locking down regions

Information about a Covid sewage detection in Daniel Andrews’ hometown turns out to have been incorrect, but 1.6 million remain in lockdown.

People queue for COVID vaccination at a clinic set up at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A key piece of information used by Daniel Andrews to justify locking down 1.6 million regional Victorians turns out to have been false.

The incorrect information about Covid sewage detections in the Premier’s home town of Wangaratta came as Victoria recorded six new locally-acquired cases in the 24 hours to Friday, all of which were in close contacts of the two mystery outbreaks detected on Wednesday and Thursday.

Genomic sequencing has confirmed both outbreaks are the Delta strain of the virus, but more detailed genomic sequencing was yet to be completed to determine the likely sources of acquisition.

Test results were expected to be received on Saturday for a family who recently returned from hotel quarantine in NSW and are believed to have had contact with one of the recent positive cases.

All of Thursday’s cases were linked to the index cases for the two latest outbreaks, namely a teacher at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina in Melbourne’s west, and a warehouse worker from Maribyrnong who works at a warehouse in Derrimut, also in the western suburbs.

Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar said on Friday approximately 30 per cent of the 2500 students and teachers at Al-Taqwa had been tested on Thursday, and he remained hopeful the vast majority of the remaining community members would come forward for testing in coming days.

On Thursday, the Premier highlighted the recent detection of virus fragments at a wastewater treatment facility in Wangaratta, 240km northeast of Melbourne, just off the Hume Highway, in seeking to explain why he had chosen to make Victoria’s sixth lockdown statewide, despite no known coronavirus cases outside Melbourne.

“We have a sewerage test that has detected Covid-19 in the northeast, Wangaratta, a sewerage test has pinged, firstly positive, then it went negative, now it’s gone positive again,” Mr Andrews said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announces a snap seven-day lockdown at Parliament Gardens. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“With one sewage detection we have to assume there are cases, so that’s why it’s statewide.”

On Friday morning, Wangaratta mayor Dean Rees told The Weekend Australian he understood from North East Health that there had been one positive detection a week ago, followed by two negatives, indicating there were no ongoing infections in the area.

Asked at his daily Covid press conference whether it was the Premier or North East Health who had the wrong information, Health Minister Martin Foley repeatedly failed to give a direct answer, denying the Wangaratta wastewater detection had been the justification for making the lockdown statewide.

“It wasn’t the justification, it’s part of the rich tapestry of the public health information that is delivered,” Mr Foley said, listing cases and exposure sites during Victoria’s fifth lockdown in areas including Mildura, Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Phillip Island and East Gippsland.

Mr Weimar told the press conference he was unable to shed further light on whether it was the Premier or Northeast Health who had the wrong information.

“I didn’t bring my file with the Wangaratta results this morning with me. I should have checked this morning but I didn’t,” Mr Weimar said.

Asked whether there was a single primary or secondary close contact isolating in regional Victoria as a result of the most recent outbreaks, Mr Weimar said: “I don’t know the answer to that,” but undertook to follow up in seeking one.

A short time after the press conference, Mr Weimar rang Wangaratta council CEO Brendan McGrath, confirming that there had been a positive detection in the town from a sample taken between July 29 and 30, followed by two negative detections.

“We feel that Dan (Andrews) has accidentally been given the wrong information and has portrayed that,” Mr Rees told The Australian.

“I don’t think they’d give us false information purposely, but it’s clear it was false information.”

Mr Rees called for the lockdown of regional Victoria to be reconsidered.

“It sounded like it was the basis for putting us into lockdown, so I think a reversal would be fair and reasonable,” he said.

Mr Andrews grew up on a farm at Londrigan, 15km east of Wangaratta, where his mother still lives. He was educated at Wangaratta’s Galen College.

Mr Weimar said authorities remained concerned about more recent coronavirus detections in wastewater samples from a number of locations all over Melbourne, including in the northern suburbs, bayside Mordialloc and Cranbourne in the outer southeast.

“The general message is we did not go into lockdown for trivial reasons and we didn’t do it because we were worried about a small number of cases in the western suburbs,” Mr Weimar said.

“We’re worried about a Delta penetration again here in Victoria. We’re worried it might be seeding out quite widely. We’re worried it might be going to places we haven’t yet seen.”