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Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen has been cleared after she posted a tweet likening the impact of the arrival of Captain Cook to COVID-19.
Key points:
- The head of the health department found the tweet, posted on a day off, did not breach the Victorian public sector code of conduct
- Dr van Diemen has deleted Twitter from her phone and received counselling about the risks of social media use
- The Opposition MP who lodged the complaint with the Victorian Public Sector Commission said the behaviour did not "pass the pub test"
The social media post infuriated Liberal MPs, who called for her to be sacked for undermining public confidence in the health system and even drew criticism from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who called the tweet "very disappointing".
Dr van Diemen has since deleted Twitter from her phone and has undergone counselling about the use of social media and its risks.
The state's acting public sector commissioner, Julia Griffith, cleared Dr van Diemen following a formal complaint from Brighton MP James Newbury.
In her report, Ms Griffith said Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) secretary Kym Peake concluded that the tweet did not constitute a contravention of the code of conduct for Victorian public sector employees.
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"Annaliese plays a key role in the department as a public health physician. In the context of the COVID-19 public health response she now has a higher profile role in the community,'' Ms Peake said.
"We have discussed the sensitive nature of any public communication and provided her with more communications support. I trust that this addresses the matters raised."
Dr van Diemen posted the tweet on a day off.
"The Secretary has advised the Commission that Dr van Diemen recognises the risk of diverting attention from the critical public health messages to the community and has subsequently removed her Twitter account from her phone,'' Ms Griffith said.
Despite allegations that the tweet had undermined confidence, the investigation found this was not the case.
"The Commission is advised by the Secretary that the community remains engaged in the importance of the program with increasing numbers of people attending COVID-19 testing over the latter part of the week," Ms Griffith said.
"Further there are no reports of any change to levels of community or business cooperation in the management of outbreaks."
But Mr Newbury has slammed the response to his complaint.
"This behaviour does not pass the pub test,'' he said.
"Victorians shouldn't be paying for public servants to also be extreme left-wing activists."
Premier Daniel Andrews and his Government have stood by Dr van Diemen.
Asked about Dr van Diemen at a press conference this morning, Treasurer Tim Pallas said she was doing an "exceptional job" in responding to the pandemic.
