Re-opening the economy
SBS: Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said recently that Melbourne appears to be ahead of schedule for reopening using a University of Melbourne modelling. Isn’t that a success story that the Victorian Government should get some credit?
Michael O'Brien: You have hundreds of our fellow citizens who have unnecessarily died because of the second way that we never should have had. I do not regard it as a success because the second wave shouldn't have happened. We know why it happened and it’s because of Hotel Quarantine and of bad contact tracing.
The government is now trying to make up the lost ground and I welcome low numbers. I do not want to see any high numbers in terms of positive test results and in terms of deaths. I see low numbers because I want to see Victoria get out of this as soon and as safely as possible.
I am not saying we should get rid of all restrictions straight away. I don't think that would be sensible at all because then would risk a spike in cases.
Deaths in Aged Care and the role of Jenny Mikakos
SBS: Isn’t the Federal Department of Aged Care also responsible for the deaths in aged care institutions?
Michael O’Brien: We have just heard from an enquiry that over 99 per cent of all the deaths in our second wave, there were directly traceable back to the Hotel Quarantine. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who could have done things better, but we know that there's only one reason Victoria had a second wave and no other State did and that's because of those mistakes were made at Hotel Quarantine.
SBS: What is your message to the families of the dozens of elderly Greeks Victorians who lost their lives in aged care facilities due to the second wave of the pandemic.
Michael O’Brien: You (Greek Victorians) have suffered so much not just because you've lost your family members but because, in many cases, you were not able to be with them as they were dying, or you have not been able to give them the funeral that you wanted to give them.
My heart and my sympathy go to all the Victorians and especially the Greek Victorians good lost family members.
The rhetoric of the Liberal Party
SBS: Victorian Liberal MP Richard Riordan on a tweet he referred in Victoria as “the new Banana Republic with Martial Law”. Liberal MP Tim Smith also calls Premier Andrews as “Dictator Dan” and “maniac”. Do you agree with these characterisations?
Michael O’Brien: People are getting very frustrated with the way this government has acted. I understand that. I use my own words to describe the Premier. Premier has got legislation in the Parliament now, which would allow the government to detain somebody, to arrest somebody, not because they've committed an offence but because a public servant thinks they might commit an offence in the future.
The Liberal Party completely opposed to that. No government official should be able to detain you because they think you may break a public health director in the future.
I had my political disagreements with Jenny (Mikakos) but I would say this; I don't believe Jenny Mikakos made the decision to put in private security guards into Hotel Quarantine and I don't believe the Jenny Mikakos made the decision to say ‘no’ to the Australian Defence Force troops.
It's a bit of a problem in Victoria when the former Health Minister says that the Premier was not giving the correct evidence to the Tribunal and I think that means Victorian still are searching for answers to how this situation occurs.
SBS: A Roy Morgan survey suggests that most Victorians approve of the way Premier Andrews is handling is the job. Do you agree with them?
Michael O’Brien: You can get different servers that give different results. Other surveys suggest Victorians are very angry. I think is that Victorians want us to get through this. Victorians do not want their government to fail because if the government fails then Victorians have failed, they want their governments to succeed.
But it doesn't mean the Victorians do not blame the government for why we are the only state that's had a second wave.
Surveys, economy and taxes on the upcoming budget
SBS: Victoria's peak business body, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce said that the State Government's business support package that was recently announced is vital for businesses to get through the pandemic. But you said it is not enough. What would you and a Liberal government have done more for the Victorian business world?
Michael O'Brien: Small businesses have been really let down by Mr. Andrews and his government. Over 90 per cent of sole traders get no support whatsoever from the State government. Many of them were not allowed to work due to the COVID-19 restrictions and until this week and they were not getting any compensation from the government.
With the upcoming budget, I'm just hoping the Premier will stop his habit of increasing the taxes, especially the property taxes. This Premier loves his property taxes, this is the wrong time to be taxing Victorians more.
I get many letters from my constituents, many of them are Greeks, and they feel very very concerned about what's happening with property taxes. So my message to the Premier is that people are paying too much as it is, please don't tax them more.
SBS: Are you an optimist about the future of Victoria and its people?
Michael O’Brien: I am optimistic that the infection numbers are coming down, I certainly hope our death rate comes down, we’ve lost too many people already.
I understand this is going to be a very hard road back for Victoria. There is a 33 per cent increase in children presenting to hospital with self-harm injuries.
This state has got good people, hard-working people, resilient people. We've overcome challenges before, and I've got no doubt that we will overcome this challenge.
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«Aπαντήσεις θέλουν οι κάτοικοι της Βικτώριας για το πώς φτάσαμε ως εδώ»
Read and listen former Vic Health Minister Jenny Mikakos interview
“The vaccine is not around the corner"
