Dan Andrews is slammed by Australia’s former health minister Greg Hunt over Covid rules

Australia’s former health minister has slammed state and territory leaders who implemented their own rules during Covid outside of national cabinet agreements.

Greg Hunt, in a submission to the government’s inquiry into the Covid-19 response, has called for a new national code that would require premiers and chief ministers to publish the medical advice they are acting on when making public health mandates. 

Mr Hunt urged the states to reaffirm their commitment to personal freedoms by agreeing to not make ‘unilateral decisions made against national cabinet decisions unless there is signed medical advice’. 

The retired politician called out Victoria’s former premier Dan Andrews in particular for going it alone with tough rules as it battled the brunt of Australia’s Covid waves. 

‘Unilateral decisions of some states outside of the national cabinet framework, such as Victoria’s curfews or 5km movement restrictions, were not the subject of Commonwealth advice,’ he said in his submission, reports The Australian.

He added that: ‘Nor to the best of my ­knowledge had the medical advice for such restrictions been released or affirmed at state level’.

The Labor government announced its inquiry into the response to the Covid-19 pandemic last year. 

It is helmed by top bureaucrat Roby Kruk AO, Deakin University’s Epidemiology chair Professor Catherine Bennett and leading health economist Dr Angela Jackson. 

The inquiry’s report is to be delivered by September 30. 

The inquiry itself was slammed after it was announced because of its narrow terms of reference

The decisions of State and Territory leaders and advice of their chief medical officers is not under scrutiny.

Rather the inquiry will focus on broader public health issues such as quarantine and vaccine responses, economic impacts and the Morrison government’s actions.

It will, however, look at the general effectiveness of the government response – including division of responsibilities between state and federal governments, how national cabinet functioned and the role of advisory bodies. 

Mr Hunt said publication of medical advice underpinning policy was standard in his government but was not a requirement – with many state leaders forgoing this step.

He is urging the inquiry to pursue a regulatory framework to standardise how public health mandates are decided upon. 

Also of concern to Mr Hunt is the falling level of booster vaccinations, particularly in Indigenous communities, and a 164 per cent surge in Covid deaths in aged care facilities since 2022.  

‘This indicates the need for … support in the form of PPE, infection control and training, workforce support and vaccination support for staff and residents,’ he said.

Mr Hunt said the Coalition’s decision to close the country’s border with China in early February, more than a month before it closed to other countries, was arguably the most important peacetime decision that has been made by an Australian government. 

Only a handful of other countries had already done so – against the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) who recommended increased border screening. 

‘No country escaped unharmed; however, very few countries emerged with a lower loss of life and less economic damage than Australia,’ he said.