Victoria’s former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, who resigned earlier this year amid the hotel quarantine debacle, has lashed out at the state’s leadership, accusing premier Daniel Andrews of having “paralysis in decision-making.”
Earlier today, Andrews announced that Melbourne’s planned reopening would be paused for several days, until the results of thousands of tests from the city’s northern suburbs come in. This means the immediate future of industries like retail and hospitality remains uncertain.
Jenny Mikakos was took to Twitter earlier today, first to congratulate the state on achieving a rolling average of under five ahead of schedule, saying “I’m so proud of Victorians and wat they’ve achieved – it’s been really tough but it’s time for some safe easing up.”
https://twitter.com/JennyMikakos/status/1320149987297144832
She then put the boot in Andrews, saying:
“Vic has met the under 5 threshold which some thought was unachievable. This was a very cautious target. 6/7 of new cases are related to a known outbreak so the risk is manageable. The set reopening is gradual & safe so any delay is unnecessary. It’s paralysis in decision-making.”
The premier himself offered no comment on his former minister’s remarks when asked about them today. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said that Mikakos is “entitled to that opinion”, but continued to urge caution, saying:
“We’re just asking for 24 hours, 48 hours (for) significant numbers of tests come back when we know that there are 11 households and still some clusters within the broader outbreak where the linkage between the households is not known.”
There is certainly no love lost between Andrews and Mikakos. The former minister resigned last month, after the premier told the hotel quarantine inquiry that she was “primarily responsible” for the failure of the scheme, which was behind Victoria’s second wave of COVID.
