‘Politics ahead of lives’: The book that’s fuelled Neil Mitchell’s push for a Royal Commission

Neil Mitchell says a Royal Commission is needed to intensely scrutinise Victoria’s handling of COVID-19.

And his push for that to happen has only been fuelled further by a new book called Lockdown, written by The Age’s Chip Le Grand.

“The government was putting politics ahead of lives,” Neil Mitchell said on Monday.

“I read the book at the weekend and I just got angrier, and angrier, and angrier.

“We need a Royal Commission, I’m afraid.”

Press PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell’s thoughts and the book discussed

Le Grand said Victoria’s public health system was “so poorly” prepared for the pandemic, while the bungled hotel quarantine program created a “political imperative” for the government to get cases back down zero, which turned into an obsession.

“We kept going into lockdown as our first response to any outbreak,” he said.

“This notion we had then that a single case was intolerable, it was an intolerable risk to public health, I think now, when we think about where we are, that just seems plainly absurd that it was the accepted wisdom at the time.”