Sky News host Chris Smith says while he is no fan of Premier Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s ombudsman “got it wrong” in relation to findings Melbourne’s public housing lockdown was in breach of human rights.
It comes regarding the lockdown of towers in North Melbourne and Flemington on July 4 as a result of spiralling COVID-19 infections.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass found there was a breach in human rights in the public housing lockdown and recommended the state government apologise to tower residents.
“I’m no fan of Daniel Andrews, especially the way he mishandled hotel quarantine, his arrogance in not following the National Cabinet guidelines and his mishandling of extending the lockdown,” Mr Smith told Sky News host Cory Bernardi.
“But I can tell you now that if they didn’t lock down those … towers involved in Flemington and North Melbourne it would have been a greater disaster than the disaster of hotel quarantine.
“They would have taken that virus all around the city of Melbourne and it would have been an absolute unmitigated disaster.”
Mr Smith said he thinks in this particular instance, the ombudsman “got this wrong” and Premier Andrews “did the right thing in making this decision to lock up those towers”.
