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Secret Covid documents in Victoria to be released after almost 4 year fight

Secret government documents behind Victoria’s controversial Covid lockdowns are set to be released after the state’s Department of Health lost an almost four year long fight to keep them concealed.

Melbourne had some of the toughest Covid rules in the world and the longest lockdown on the planet.

A judge at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week ordered the department to process freedom of information requests it had refused for the briefings provided to the Chief Health Officer, Deputy Chief Health Officer and Minister for Health relating to public health orders made in 2020.

Liberal MP David Davis made four requests for the briefings to be handed over back in 2020 under the FOI Act – three requests within ten days in July and the fourth request made in December.

The department refused them all, saying the work would substantially and unreasonably divert resources.

Then Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton at a Covid press conference in 2020. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Davis sought a review by the Victorian Information Commissioner but the commissioner did not reach a decision within the statutory time frame. The MP then took the cases to VCAT in late 2020 and early 2021.

Then Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar claimed it would take an estimated 169.4 to 208.4 working weeks (about four years) to process Mr Davis’ combined FOI requests, in a statement dated October 2021.

Michael Cain, the department’s manager of FOI and legal compliance, then claimed it would take 61 to 74 work weeks, in a statement dated November 2023. He argued the cost would run into tens of thousands of dollars.

But Judge Caitlin English, who is Vice President of VCAT, didn’t accept this as grounds for refusal.

Then Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar claimed in October 2021 it would take four years to process the request. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

In her decision, she said she was not convinced the department had reasonably estimated the resources required to process the requests, and noted the “strong public interest” in the information.

She acknowledged the resources required to process the request were substantial, but said it was manageable for the department. 

“The Department, bearing the onus, has not satisfied me on the evidence that the work involved in processing the request would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations,” her order stated. “I direct the agency to process Mr Davis’s requests in accordance with the FOI Act.”

More than 115 briefs supporting the state government’s public health orders could be released, at an average of 40 to 60 pages each.

Mr Davis argued there was high public interest in release of the documents because of the nature of the way the pandemic was dealt with in Victoria compared to other states.

He said there was limited public information justifying the reasons on which certain public health orders were based, and there was significant public interest in the reasons for, and data and rationale behind them.

“The second wave as it surged into effect in July 2020 drove my series of freedom of information requests on 7 July, 13 July and 17 July of the then Department of Health and Human Services for the briefings behind the decisions to impose the public health orders,” he said.