Explosive document reveals Melbourne’s Covid curfew was not based on medical advice

The draconian decision to make millions of Melburnians live under a Covid curfew was not based on medical advice, according to an explosive document released this week after a 4½-year legal fight.

The draconian decision to take away the freedom of Melburnians and make millions live under a Covid curfew was not based on medical advice.

An explosive document released this week after a 4½-year legal row shows former Premier Daniel Andrews and his government’s unprecedented decision to lock Victorians in their homes between 8pm and 5am for two months in 2020, was “not occurring on public health advice but is a decision taken by Cabinet”.

An email exchange between former chief health officer Brett Sutton and then public health commander Finn Romanes prove that the extreme lockdown measure had not been proposed by health experts, although they ultimately supported the move as a way to limit transmission of the virus.

The letter is expected to put pressure on Premier Jacinta Allan, who at the time was part of the seven-member crisis cabinet that signed off on the curfew.

Of the seven people in that room, Ms Allan is the only one who remains a member of parliament.

Former premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Ian Currie

Opposition upper house leader David Davis, who has been locked in a Freedom of Information fight to access the documents since September 2020, said the document highlighted that Mr Andrews had acted like a “Lone Ranger”.

“It is not just the former Premier Daniel Andrews to explain but also Jacinta Allan, as his hand chosen successor,” he said.

“She can’t hide under a rock given the damage that was done to Victorians by decisions she was intimately involved in.”

On August 2, 2020, Mr Andrews declared a state of disaster in Victoria, which gave then Police and Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville broad powers to make sure people are complying with public health directions.

That same day, Mr Andrews announced that Victorians would be forced to stay inside their homes from 8pm for six weeks as part of stage 4 restrictions to limit movement.

“These are tough choices but they are the decisions I’ve taken because they’re the decisions that will keep us safe,” he said in his press conference.

Opposition upper house leader David Davis has been locked in a Freedom of Information fight to access the documents since September 2020. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

At 5pm that day, just hours before the curfew came into effect, Dr Romanes – as public health commander employed by the Department of Health and Human Services – wrote to Professor Sutton to seek his approval to issue a public health direction to mirror the government’s curfew plan.

“I note that I have been advised by (Department of Justice and Community Safety secretary) Kate Houghton and others that the action of a curfew is a clear action within the State of Disaster and there is a clear desire within government to mirror that within the State of Emergency, however note that the idea of a curfew has not arisen from public health advice in the first instance,” he wrote.

“In this way, the action of issuing a curfew is a mirror to the State of Disaster and is not occurring on public health advice but is a decision taken by cabinet and announced today, as an important step in the response.

“On those terms, that cabinet has formed a view and announced that view, do you agree that a Direction can be issued by me indicating a curfew?”

Professor Sutton revealed in September 2020 that it was not his call to implement a curfew. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Professor Sutton responded half an hour later to give Dr Romanes the green light to issue a public health direction in support of the curfew.

“Your assessment is correct as I understand it,” he responded.

Despite Professor Sutton agreeing “there appears to be merit in it (the curfew) limiting opportunities for transmission”, the correspondence, which the government has for nearly five years fought to keep secret, exposes that it was a decision made by government.

In September 2020, Professor Sutton revealed publicly that it was not his call to implement a curfew.

At that time, Mr Andrews said he was unable to say “exactly which person at what moment” suggested the curfew but ultimately took responsibility for the draconian measure.

“These are decisions ultimately made by me,” Mr Andrews said in September 2020.

Amid a complaint to the Human Rights Commission that same month, Mr Andrews again defended the curfew, saying: “This is not about human rights, it’s about human life.”

Mark Knight’s take on the former premier being caught in the curfew.

Mr Davis said the latest emails were “more evidence of Andrews acting as a cowboy, as a Lone Ranger, but not on proper, fulsome, scientific health advice”.

“For four years and seven months, Labor used every legal trick and manoeuvre in the book to block the release of these emails, fighting VCAT orders all the way to the Victorian Court of Appeal. They lost,” he said.

“Andrews was calling the shots but he lied to the Victorian people about acting on health advice when he was not. Andrews was making it up as he went, acting daily in front of the cameras with a big lie behind the imposition of a devastating curfew of more than five million people.”

The letter is expected to put pressure on Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: David Crosling

Last month, the Court of Appeal refused the Department of Health’s application for leave to appeal a landmark Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling which determined in June last year that Mr Davis be granted access to the documents.

Government officials had argued the documents should not be released as they were not of public interest, and would inhibit frankness and candour in written communications by senior public officers in the future.

A government spokeswoman defended the actions of the former premier, saying the measures were “necessary to protect all Victorians and save lives, especially the most vulnerable in our community”.

“We did what was needed to protect Victorians in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic — working closely with public health experts on a response to Covid-19 that protected the lives and livelihoods of Victorians during an unprecedented event,” she said.

Mr Andrews was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Explosive document reveals Melbourne’s Covid curfew was not based on medical advice