The Victorian opposition has obtained an email exchange under Freedom of Information which shows then-premier Daniel Andrews announced Melbourne’s first COVID curfew before it was recommended by public health experts.
The email shows health department officials did support a curfew, but had not advised cabinet to impose it.
What’s next?
The opposition is calling on premier Jacinta Allan to explain the government’s actions.
The Victorian opposition says it’s obtained evidence showing the Andrews Labor government’s decision to enforce night curfews during the coronavirus pandemic was not based on health advice.
The government said it “did what was needed to protect Victorians” when it banned 5 million Melbourne residents from leaving their homes without authorisation between 8pm and 5am during lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Melbourne was the only Australian city to be placed under a COVID curfew, which coincided with the state government declaring a state of disaster due to outbreaks.
The Freedom of Information documents, seen by the ABC, reveal an email exchange between former chief health officer Brett Sutton and public health commander Dr Finn Romanes after the first curfew was announced in August 2020.
They reveal they did not propose the lockdown measure, although they did support the move.
” … the idea of a curfew has not arisen from public health advice in the first instance,” Dr Romanes 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.”
In his response, Professor Sutton said “there appears to be merit in it limiting opportunities for transmission, perhaps especially in high‐risk cohorts”.
‘Decision made prior to scientific information’
The opposition’s upper house leader, David Davis, has been involved in a five-year legal battle to access COVID lockdown documents.
He said the email exchange clearly showed it was Daniel Andrews and his cabinet — which included now premier Jacinta Allan — who made the decision to impose the restrictions, not the health experts.
“What it shows is late in the afternoon, after — after — the curfew has been announced by Daniel Andrews at a press conference in the middle of the afternoon, Finn Romanes seeking approval from Brett Sutton to declare a curfew through the use of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act powers,” Mr Davis said.
“Both powers require scientific decision-making, proper decision-making.
“It’s clear that the decision had been made by Daniel Andrews prior to any of this scientific information being presented.”
Mr Davis said the exchange contradicted Mr Andrews’s repeated claims during the pandemic that his decisions and announcements were based on health advice.
“This is quite serious, in many respects, because of the huge impact of the curfew on businesses, on households, older people, young children,” Mr Davis said.
He said Jacinta Allan now needed to explain the Andrews cabinet’s actions.
“The whole of Victoria was being controlled and run by a gang of eight,” he said.
“She’s the only one that remains and I think it’s time for her to come clean on why this occurred.”
Source: ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/melbourne-covid-curfew-foi-documents-health-advice/105194726
