Hon Philip Scott questions the government regarding a review of WA's COVID-19 response following the retirement of the Chief Health Officer, drawing comparisons to Victoria and national figures who have expressed regret over pandemic measures. The government refers to a previously released independent review.

AnsweredQoN 1026Legislative Council
Asked
12 November 2025
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

Coronavirus—Government response—Review
1026. Hon Philip Scott to
the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister
for Health:
I ask the following
in light of the retirement of Chief Health Officer Dr Andrew Robertson.
(1) This year, Victoria's former Chief Health
Officer Dr Brett Sutton conceded many measures intended to stop the spread of
COVID-19 were probably never necessary and described the period as a "horror
show". When will the WA public hear a similar honest review of the WA
government's pandemic management from Dr Andrew Robertson or the Minister for
Health?
(2) Last year, the former national Deputy Chief
Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth issued an apology. He stated:
… were pushing vaccine mandates
and people were losing their jobs because they weren't taking the vaccine, that
really did erode trust.
Does the government concede the
vaccine mandates eroded trust in public vaccination policy?
(3) Will the government use Dr Roberston's
retirement as an opportunity to review the role of Chief Health Officer,
including if the CHO should again become an unelected dictator as we saw during
the last state of emergency?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has
been provided by the Minister for Health.
(1)–(3) On 8 August 2023, the WA
government released the independent Review of
Western Australia's COVID-19 Management and Response . The review, which
was tabled in the Legislative Council, remains publicly available.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more