Australia Day honours: Caroline Edwards an unsung hero on the coronavirus frontline

Top commonwealth official Caroline Edwards is an unsung hero of the nation’s initial coronavirus response, having led the federal health team.

Caroline Edwards.

Top commonwealth official Caroline Edwards is an unsung hero of the nation’s initial coronavirus response, having led the federal health team and secured the nation’s masks, telehealth services and COVID-19 tests in the early days of the pandemic.

Ms Edwards, who was acting health secretary from February to July last year, has been awarded a meritorious citation for her work co-ordinating the government’s initial coronavirus response. The then chief medical officer Brendan Murphy was due to take over the department earlier last year but had to stay in his role as Scott Morrison’s chief health adviser and senior medical expert once it was clear COVID-19 was going to spiral into a pandemic.

Ms Edwards said on Monday that she and Professor Murphy ended up forming a partnership that was integral to running the Health Department in its worst crisis since the Spanish flu.

“I had actually left for another job in the public service when I was recalled back to Health because Brendan was needed in his chief medical officer role,” she told The Australian.

“I ended up acting secretary from February to July and we ended up running it as a partnership. Brendan was the public face while I did the departmental work.

“Those first few days were ­extraordinary.

“We had to secure the protective equipment, work on testing and get the telehealth system up and running.

“It was the most challenging time of my career, but also the most rewarding.”

While acting secretary of the Health Department, Ms Edwards drove the purchase of personal protective equipment for frontline health workers and an adequate number of COVID-19 tests to properly detect the spread of the virus throughout the Australian community.

The top health official also oversaw the transfer of doctors’ appointments online during the first wave of lockdowns, and has now ended up staying on at the Health Department as Professor Murphy’s deputy.

Ms Edwards on Monday said she was honoured but a “little embarrassed” by her Australia Day honour, and said it was a reflection of her team rather than her own work.

In those early days when it was unclear how many people would contract COVID-19 — or how many could die — Ms Edwards said the biggest challenge was dealing with a number of ­unprecedented policy calls in one single moment.

“You were really trying to do two or more things at once all the time and you had to make up the path as you went along,” Ms ­Edwards said of the response to the early phase of the pandemic.

“And you still had to make all those policy decisions while ensuring that there was still value for money, that there was still accountability.”