The BBC documentary 54 Days details the information in the public domain, available since early December, concerning the Wuhan Virus and its spread. The BBC states that WHO officials had placed reliance on that open source intelligence to inform their decisions, for the Chinese Government attempted to conceal information about the extent of the contagion.
The collection and analysis of Open Source Intelligence is a special skill and the Australian taxpayer has spent in excess of AUD 90 Million to finance the creation of the Office of National Intelligence's Open Source Centre. The Centre ought to have had obtained all the intelligence about the Wuhan virus the BBC documentary described, and more. It is after all, part of a national intelligence apparatus.
That intelligence seems to have been relied on by the Government Of Singapore, which has its own quite extensive intelligence apparatus. Singapore began screening arrivals from Wuhan from 3 January 2021, and all visitors from China from 22 January 2021.
Australia on the other hand, under the direction of then Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy, did nothing until 22 January 2021. What followed seems to have been a panicked and very expensive response by Murphy, and the Government. There is some indication that Murphy allowed politics rather than evidence guide him.
The question then for Australian taxpayers who pay Murphy's wages and finance the ONI is this: Did the ONI fail to collect and analyse public domain information about the Wuhan Virus, and advice the government accordingly, or did Murphy despite being provided the intelligence ignore it and embark on a frolic of his own?
END
SEE ALSO
The two phone calls that ignited Australia’s pandemic response
In early January, while organisations involved in pandemic planning in Australia were just stirring, here's how Brendan Murphy pushed the go button at a political level.
Health Minister Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy at an April 21 press conference on the coronavirus response. Alex Ellinghausen
Jill MargoHealth editor
May 25, 2020 – 12.00am
Save
Four months ago, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt answered a phone call in the car that would initiate a change in Australia’s lifestyle and economy that no one could have imagined.
It was Monday, January 20, the country was burning and the bushfire crisis, with terrible loss of lives and property, was consuming the nation’s attention.
On the line, Hunt heard the measured voice of the nation's chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, suggesting there could be another crisis, too.
The trio at the top, Greg Hunt, Scott Morrison and Brendan Murphy. Alex Ellinghausen
He didn’t put it that way, he just quietly said he had confirmation of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus in Wuhan in central China.
Although Australia didn’t have a single case of infection with this virus, he told Hunt no one knew how it would travel, whether it would get out of Hubei province into the rest of China, and whether it would get out of China into the rest of the world.
It had the potential to be massive with major health risks and, on the highest expert advice, he intended to list it as a disease of human pandemic potential under Australia’s Biosecurity Act.
Calmly, he told the minister that he intended to make the listing the next day, January 21.
The significance wasn’t lost on Hunt. Once that had been done, he and Murphy informed Prime Minister Scott Morrison that very day.
Morrison's commitment
Morrison expressed a commitment that would form the floor on which Australia’s response to the global pandemic was built.
“He accepted that medical advice was paramount in guiding our action and that our first task was to save lives and protect lives,” Hunt told The Australian Financial Review in an exclusive interview.
Because it was so early in the evolution of this pandemic, there was nothing to see and Murphy's prescience could easily have been mistaken for paranoia.
But through their own online billboards and digital networks, global communities of public health physicians and infectious disease specialists had known for a few weeks that something unusual was happening in Wuhan.
These networks, however, are clogged with daily reports of small outbreaks of infection and disease in various places around the world, which makes it difficult to pick the one that will flare.
The World Health Organisation had already alerted but not alarmed the world about this virus, and in Australia organisations involved in pandemic planning were stirring.
But with this listing, Murphy pushed the "go" button at a political level and began a process that would save Australia from the devastation of the first wave of disease that hit so many other countries.
Tuesday, January 21, was a pivotal day in Australia's preparation for the arrival of the virus. It was announced passengers on high-risk flights from China would be screened for this virus.
Brendan Murphy gives Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Prime Minister Scott Morrison an update on the coronavirus in the National Incident Room on January 22. AAP
Murphy also stood up the Health Department’s National Incident Room, the National Stockpile and the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre.
On Wednesday, January 22, Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack visited the National Incident Room, which co-ordinates national responses to health emergencies.
On Thursday, January 23, Hunt visited the National Medical Stockpile, which holds the strategic reserve of drugs, vaccines, antidotes and personal protective equipment for use in health emergencies.
The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which is located in Darwin, was not visited. It is a key component of the federal government's disaster and emergency medical response and includes AUSMAT, the Australian Medical Assistance Team that deals with overseas evacuations.
Through all this, Morrison used cabinet’s National Security Committee to co-ordinate the emergency response and potential future steps.
While the raging Black Summer fires were centre stage for the nation and had drawn an international audience, backstage the government was at work against an unseen threat.
“Throughout that first week we met a number of times through the cabinet’s National Security Committee to discuss the gravity of the situation, most significantly the potential blocking of flights from China if there were human-to-human transmission outside of Wuhan,” says Hunt.
Greg Hunt in one of the warehouses of the National Stockpile, giving a rare glimpse of this high security facility . Twitter
On Friday night, January 24, a Chinese national who had flown into Australia five days earlier was tested for the virus in Melbourne.
The following morning, the results came back positive and January 25 was stamped as the date of Australia’s first case.
Advertisement
Life was getting busier for Hunt but not so busy that he couldn’t attend his son’s cricket match on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on Saturday morning, February 1.
“I was doing laps around the oval, calling out occasional bits of encouragement, when a text from Brendan Murphy came through.”
The words were clear: "We have evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of Hubei. I think we are going to have to close the border to China.”
This possibility had been discussed in the National Security Committee and Hunt described it as "the sentinel event" it was looking for and had prepared for.
Hunt called Murphy who, once again, was backed by the experts on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, AHPPC, which comprises the chief medical officers of all states and territories, and other experts.
RELATED
ScoMo faces career-defining moment
For Hunt, this committee, served by specialist expert subcommittees, is the paramount source of medical advice for the nation, and he was satisfied with what Murphy was saying.
"I then called the Prime Minister. Then the three of us discussed Brendan’s advice," says Hunt.
This is his recollection of the conversation:
PM to Murphy: "So, what are you saying has happened?"
Advertisement
Murphy: "There is evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of Hubei."
PM: "What is your recommendation?"
Murphy:"That we close the borders with China."
PM: "Would that be the broad view of the medical expert panel?"
Murphy; "Yes, I believe so."
PM: "I'll convene the National Security Committee for 2pm. Brendan, are you able to get the medical experts together at midday to give us a formal consolidated, written view?"
Murphy: "Yes."
From the oval, Hunt spoke again to Murphy multiple times, to Morrison twice and to other relevant ministers whose portfolios covered this issue, such as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to discuss border force requirements.
The National Security Committee met as arranged at 2pm where, for two hours, they discussed not so much the idea that the border should close, but how quickly it could be done.
At 5pm, Morrison announced the border closure would commence that night at 9pm. Hunt later described this as one of the biggest one-day decisions a government had made in 50 years.
Together with Russia, the US, Singapore and Italy, Australia was among the first countries in the world to do this.
Some countries had taken different actions earlier, such as Taiwan, which began by banning residents from Wuhan, and North Korea, which closed its borders to all foreigners.
This has clearly been the most intense period of my life.
— Greg Hunt, federal Health Minister
In Australia, the border issue was under constant surveillance with the AHPPC being questioned every few days on whether further closures were necessary. Soon closures were applied to Iran, Italy and South Korea.
By March 20, the borders were closed to all non-citizens and non-residents.
“The mantra in the public health world was that you don’t close borders in a pandemic because it really doesn’t help. Well, it absolutely helped us,” says Murphy.
“The World Health Organisation criticised us for it, but once we completely closed and started putting people into quarantine, we got on top of it because we were just being killed by large number of returning cases.
”Only 85 per cent of people were were quarantining properly at home. The other 15 per cent were going out and spreading.”
Fearless CMO 'a blessing'
Hunt says Australia is “blessed to have in Brendan Murphy, a very experienced, no-nonsense, fact-based, but above all else a fearless chief medical officer".
“We had established very early in our relationship that his duty was to provide fearless advice and he didn’t need much encouragement, because that’s who he is naturally. He is low-key and high-integrity.
“And as his deputy he had Professor Paul Kelly, who is an internationally ranked epidemiologist, which meant he had that specialised capacity with him.”
For Hunt, Morrison's trust in medical advice and the closing of the borders with China were two foundation pieces in Australia’s response to the pandemic.
The third was to come in the shape of the national cabinet in mid-March. There had been some fracturing between the states and this cabinet brought the premiers and chief ministers together, under Morrison's leadership, so the country could try to speak with one voice.
For Morrison, Hunt, Murphy and all those who stand alongside them, the pressure of these last months has been unrelenting.
RELATED
Murphy recalls 'game changer' moment in virus fight
"This has clearly been the most intense period of my life, " says Hunt.
"But we have been fortunate because we really have this incredibly tight cabinet and leadership team, close-knit and backing each other.
"There are strong relationships with senior leadership in the department and a strong office. These have been very important supports."
At the height of the pandemic, though March and April, there was little time for sleep, and when Hunt did get to bed, concern about the pandemic often kept him awake.
"The things that worried me were a mass outbreak and a breach of supply lines."
Staying in touch with family was crucial. "If I could get a run-in, or speak to or see my family – those are the human things that kept me going."
The biggest stories in business, markets and politics and why they matter.
Need to know. Our daily reporting, in your inbox.SIGN UP NOW
Save
Jill MargoHealth editorJill Margo is the health editor. She writes about medicine and health from the Sydney office. Jill has won multiple prizes, including two Walkley Awards and is an adjunct associate professor of the University of NSW, Sydney. Connect with Jill on Twitter. Email Jill at jmargo@afr.com
The two phone calls that ignited Australia’s pandemic response
In early January, while organisations involved in pandemic planning in Australia were just stirring, here's how Brendan Murphy pushed the go button at a political level.
Health Minister Greg Hunt and Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy at an April 21 press conference on the coronavirus response. Alex Ellinghausen
Jill MargoHealth editor
May 25, 2020 – 12.00am
Save
Four months ago, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt answered a phone call in the car that would initiate a change in Australia’s lifestyle and economy that no one could have imagined.
It was Monday, January 20, the country was burning and the bushfire crisis, with terrible loss of lives and property, was consuming the nation’s attention.
On the line, Hunt heard the measured voice of the nation's chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, suggesting there could be another crisis, too.
The trio at the top, Greg Hunt, Scott Morrison and Brendan Murphy. Alex Ellinghausen
He didn’t put it that way, he just quietly said he had confirmation of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus in Wuhan in central China.
Although Australia didn’t have a single case of infection with this virus, he told Hunt no one knew how it would travel, whether it would get out of Hubei province into the rest of China, and whether it would get out of China into the rest of the world.
It had the potential to be massive with major health risks and, on the highest expert advice, he intended to list it as a disease of human pandemic potential under Australia’s Biosecurity Act.
Calmly, he told the minister that he intended to make the listing the next day, January 21.
The significance wasn’t lost on Hunt. Once that had been done, he and Murphy informed Prime Minister Scott Morrison that very day.
Morrison's commitment
Morrison expressed a commitment that would form the floor on which Australia’s response to the global pandemic was built.
“He accepted that medical advice was paramount in guiding our action and that our first task was to save lives and protect lives,” Hunt told The Australian Financial Review in an exclusive interview.
Because it was so early in the evolution of this pandemic, there was nothing to see and Murphy's prescience could easily have been mistaken for paranoia.
But through their own online billboards and digital networks, global communities of public health physicians and infectious disease specialists had known for a few weeks that something unusual was happening in Wuhan.
These networks, however, are clogged with daily reports of small outbreaks of infection and disease in various places around the world, which makes it difficult to pick the one that will flare.
The World Health Organisation had already alerted but not alarmed the world about this virus, and in Australia organisations involved in pandemic planning were stirring.
But with this listing, Murphy pushed the "go" button at a political level and began a process that would save Australia from the devastation of the first wave of disease that hit so many other countries.
Tuesday, January 21, was a pivotal day in Australia's preparation for the arrival of the virus. It was announced passengers on high-risk flights from China would be screened for this virus.
Brendan Murphy gives Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Prime Minister Scott Morrison an update on the coronavirus in the National Incident Room on January 22. AAP
Murphy also stood up the Health Department’s National Incident Room, the National Stockpile and the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre.
On Wednesday, January 22, Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack visited the National Incident Room, which co-ordinates national responses to health emergencies.
On Thursday, January 23, Hunt visited the National Medical Stockpile, which holds the strategic reserve of drugs, vaccines, antidotes and personal protective equipment for use in health emergencies.
The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which is located in Darwin, was not visited. It is a key component of the federal government's disaster and emergency medical response and includes AUSMAT, the Australian Medical Assistance Team that deals with overseas evacuations.
Through all this, Morrison used cabinet’s National Security Committee to co-ordinate the emergency response and potential future steps.
While the raging Black Summer fires were centre stage for the nation and had drawn an international audience, backstage the government was at work against an unseen threat.
“Throughout that first week we met a number of times through the cabinet’s National Security Committee to discuss the gravity of the situation, most significantly the potential blocking of flights from China if there were human-to-human transmission outside of Wuhan,” says Hunt.
Greg Hunt in one of the warehouses of the National Stockpile, giving a rare glimpse of this high security facility . Twitter
On Friday night, January 24, a Chinese national who had flown into Australia five days earlier was tested for the virus in Melbourne.
The following morning, the results came back positive and January 25 was stamped as the date of Australia’s first case.
Advertisement
Life was getting busier for Hunt but not so busy that he couldn’t attend his son’s cricket match on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on Saturday morning, February 1.
“I was doing laps around the oval, calling out occasional bits of encouragement, when a text from Brendan Murphy came through.”
The words were clear: "We have evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of Hubei. I think we are going to have to close the border to China.”
This possibility had been discussed in the National Security Committee and Hunt described it as "the sentinel event" it was looking for and had prepared for.
Hunt called Murphy who, once again, was backed by the experts on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, AHPPC, which comprises the chief medical officers of all states and territories, and other experts.
RELATED
ScoMo faces career-defining moment
For Hunt, this committee, served by specialist expert subcommittees, is the paramount source of medical advice for the nation, and he was satisfied with what Murphy was saying.
"I then called the Prime Minister. Then the three of us discussed Brendan’s advice," says Hunt.
This is his recollection of the conversation:
PM to Murphy: "So, what are you saying has happened?"
Advertisement
Murphy: "There is evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of Hubei."
PM: "What is your recommendation?"
Murphy:"That we close the borders with China."
PM: "Would that be the broad view of the medical expert panel?"
Murphy; "Yes, I believe so."
PM: "I'll convene the National Security Committee for 2pm. Brendan, are you able to get the medical experts together at midday to give us a formal consolidated, written view?"
Murphy: "Yes."
From the oval, Hunt spoke again to Murphy multiple times, to Morrison twice and to other relevant ministers whose portfolios covered this issue, such as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to discuss border force requirements.
The National Security Committee met as arranged at 2pm where, for two hours, they discussed not so much the idea that the border should close, but how quickly it could be done.
At 5pm, Morrison announced the border closure would commence that night at 9pm. Hunt later described this as one of the biggest one-day decisions a government had made in 50 years.
Together with Russia, the US, Singapore and Italy, Australia was among the first countries in the world to do this.
Some countries had taken different actions earlier, such as Taiwan, which began by banning residents from Wuhan, and North Korea, which closed its borders to all foreigners.
This has clearly been the most intense period of my life.
— Greg Hunt, federal Health Minister
In Australia, the border issue was under constant surveillance with the AHPPC being questioned every few days on whether further closures were necessary. Soon closures were applied to Iran, Italy and South Korea.
By March 20, the borders were closed to all non-citizens and non-residents.
“The mantra in the public health world was that you don’t close borders in a pandemic because it really doesn’t help. Well, it absolutely helped us,” says Murphy.
“The World Health Organisation criticised us for it, but once we completely closed and started putting people into quarantine, we got on top of it because we were just being killed by large number of returning cases.
”Only 85 per cent of people were were quarantining properly at home. The other 15 per cent were going out and spreading.”
Fearless CMO 'a blessing'
Hunt says Australia is “blessed to have in Brendan Murphy, a very experienced, no-nonsense, fact-based, but above all else a fearless chief medical officer".
“We had established very early in our relationship that his duty was to provide fearless advice and he didn’t need much encouragement, because that’s who he is naturally. He is low-key and high-integrity.
“And as his deputy he had Professor Paul Kelly, who is an internationally ranked epidemiologist, which meant he had that specialised capacity with him.”
For Hunt, Morrison's trust in medical advice and the closing of the borders with China were two foundation pieces in Australia’s response to the pandemic.
The third was to come in the shape of the national cabinet in mid-March. There had been some fracturing between the states and this cabinet brought the premiers and chief ministers together, under Morrison's leadership, so the country could try to speak with one voice.
For Morrison, Hunt, Murphy and all those who stand alongside them, the pressure of these last months has been unrelenting.
RELATED
Murphy recalls 'game changer' moment in virus fight
"This has clearly been the most intense period of my life, " says Hunt.
"But we have been fortunate because we really have this incredibly tight cabinet and leadership team, close-knit and backing each other.
"There are strong relationships with senior leadership in the department and a strong office. These have been very important supports."
At the height of the pandemic, though March and April, there was little time for sleep, and when Hunt did get to bed, concern about the pandemic often kept him awake.
"The things that worried me were a mass outbreak and a breach of supply lines."
Staying in touch with family was crucial. "If I could get a run-in, or speak to or see my family – those are the human things that kept me going."
The biggest stories in business, markets and politics and why they matter.
Need to know. Our daily reporting, in your inbox.SIGN UP NOW
Save
Jill MargoHealth editorJill Margo is the health editor. She writes about medicine and health from the Sydney office. Jill has won multiple prizes, including two Walkley Awards and is an adjunct associate professor of the University of NSW, Sydney. Connect with Jill on Twitter. Email Jill at jmargo@afr.com
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