Dan Andrews defends Victoria Covid lockdown after report slams school closures, public health rules

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has lauded his Covid decision making in the wake of a new report that shone a light on pandemic failures, including the overuse of lockdowns and border closures.   

The independent review into Australia’s Covid response slammed politically driven health orders and the excessive use of lockdowns – finding they ultimately failed to protect the nation’s most vulnerable people.

The 97-page review, spearheaded by former secretary to the prime minister’s office Peter Shergold, urged federal and state governments to learn from their mistakes and overhaul their processes in order to restore trust.

Yet on Thursday, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews defended his Covid restrictions, which resulted in the state enduring the world’s longest lockdown – lasting 262 days.

Victorian premier Dan Andrews doubles down on his Covid decision making as a new report shines a light on pandemic failures, including the overuse of lockdowns and border closures

‘There are many things, many, many things that we wish we didn’t have to do, many many decisions we wish we didn’t have to make,’ Mr Andrews said.

‘Obviously that is why when I say these decisions were not made lightly and they were the subject of debate and discussion and very careful consideration, it’s for exactly those reasons, because there are consequences.

‘We made a decision as a community that we would make the difficult, challenging sacrifice to avoid (the consequences) and that is exactly what we did. 

‘The challenge is to weigh up those consequences versus having death rates like they did in Italy, in most of the United States and like they did in the United Kingdom.

‘We certainly avoided some of the scenes, some of the things that we saw in different parts of the world.’

Dan Andrews boasted about how Victoria tackled Covid with the world’s longest lockdown saying,  ‘we showed the rest of the country’

Mr Andrews then applauded his state before taking aim at how the rest of Australia mocked Victoria saying, ‘we showed the rest of the country’.

‘We have always said they are very difficult decisions, none of them were easy, none of them are lightly made and that is why we are so deeply proud of every single Victorian who did so much,’ he said.

‘We showed the rest of the country, many of whom thought it was good sport to have a go at Victorians, that when we stick together and have that sense of unity, we can achieve anything and that is what we did.’

The Covid report, funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, John and Myriam Wylie Foundation and Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation, concluded that the closing of the country’s schools was wrong. 

An independent review into Australia’s Covid response found actions taken exacerbated existing issues within the country, noting ‘overreach’ must be avoided in future crises

‘It was wrong to close entire school systems, particularly once new information indicated that schools were not high-transmission environments,’ the review said.

‘For children and parents [particularly women], we failed to get the balance right between protecting health and imposing long-term costs on education, mental health, the economy and workforce outcomes.

‘Rules were too often formulated and enforced in ways that lacked fairness and compassion. Such overreach undermined public trust and confidence in the institutions that are vital to effective crisis response.’

Mr Andrews said to ensure all school children catch up on any work they missed due to school closures, his state was going above and beyond by engaging ‘thousands of tutors’.

‘We can be optimistic about the future and there is direct supports to make sure every child gets every chance,’ he said.

‘That is why we have thousands of tutors working in every school making sure every child gets every support to catch up on anything they might have missed.’

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‘It was wrong to close entire school systems, particularly once new information indicated that schools were not high-transmission environments,’ the review states

Mr Andrews said while there were things his state could have executed better, the pandemic was not an ‘academic’ challenge and there were always learnings to come from any crisis.

‘There are always learnings, and there are many, many reports,’ he said.

‘There was nothing academic about this event, it was very, very real.

‘This is all a continuous process of improvement and learning.’

The Fault Lines review was carried out over a six-month period and involved more than 350 confidential submissions and consultations from health experts, economists, public servants, business and community groups. 

It consisted of more than 160 submissions, 3,000 hours of research and policy and data analysis.

The 97-page Fault Lines review urged federal and state governments to learn from their mistakes and overhaul processes in order to restore trust in the decision making process

The review concluded various lockdowns and shutting of borders should have been used as a ‘last resort’.

‘Too many of Australia’s lockdowns and border closures were the result of policy failures in quarantine, contact tracing, testing, disease surveillance and communicating effectively the need for preventive measures like mask wearing and social distancing,’ the review stated.

‘Lockdowns, especially when targeted at a particular location, brought a deep sense of inequity among those who were most restricted. Lockdowns, overall, created a universal feeling that the pandemic was being policed rather than managed.

‘As with lockdowns, border closures – particularly between states and territories – should be used sparingly and only in extreme situations. They should be applied with greater empathy and flexibility.’ 

The review noted despite the pandemic affecting everyone, ‘its burden was not shared equally’. 

The review concluded various lockdowns and shutting of borders should have been used as a ‘last resort’ 

It stated that the failure to plan adequately for the ‘differing impact of Covid’ meant the disease ‘spread faster and more widely’.

The review also noted while Australia had early success in limiting infection rates and deaths, in comparison to other countries, this success ‘started to falter in 2021’.

‘Cases and deaths have risen even further during 2022, dramatically reversing our early competitive advantage,’ the review notes.

‘As of September 30, 2022, Australia has recorded 378,617 cases per million people in 2022.

‘The latest available official data shows that by May 2022 excess deaths in Australia had spiked to almost 359 per million people in 2022.’

The document also said the ‘absence of transparency’ in the expert health advice ‘helped mask political calculations’.

‘Political calculation was never far from the surface of COVID-19 decisions,’ the review stated. 

‘It is neither realistic nor desirable to remove politics from decision-making in an accountable democracy.

‘But the absence of transparency in the expert advice going to leaders helped mask political calculations.

‘It was difficult to gauge the trade-offs that were being considered between health and economic outcomes. It made it easier for leaders to be selective in the ‘expert advice’ they followed.’

The review also noted while Australia had early success in limiting infection rates and deaths, in comparison to other countries, this success ‘started to falter in 2021’