Brett Sutton Called Joe Hildebrand’s Latest Op-Ed The Worst Take He’s Read All Pandemic

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and Joe Hildebrand are publicly beefing after the journalist and world’s biggest baby called Australians “a bunch of bed wetters”.

In an opinion piece on news.com.au over the weekend, Hildebrand asserted that it’s “time [Australians] found our balls”.

“There are two Australias: One is the rugged, relaxed and confident character of our national mythos and the other is the anxious, angry and cosseted character who demands unconditional protection from all life’s slings and arrows,” he wrote.

Throughout his op-ed, Hildebrand says the two options are “lockdown and lockout forever” or “accept that eventually most of us will get COVID in some form”. And while it’s not incorrect to assert that we need to live with COVID, this doesn’t necessarily mean we should be tossing out every prevention measure we’ve introduced thus far.

Sutton — who quite literally specialised in epidemiology as part of his Master of Public Health and is therefore qualified to share his thoughts on the pandemic — was quick to call out Hildebrand’s op-ed as the worst take he had seen throughout the entire pandemic, noting that simple measures could drastically reduce the spread without really impacting our lives that much.

“We’ve all had our bad takes in this pandemic, but this takes the biscuit for me. There are actions that simply save lives; simple measures that are about protecting ourselves and others. Masks, ventilation, boosters, testing,” he tweeted alongside a screenshot of the article.

We’ve all had our bad takes in this pandemic, but this takes the biscuit for me. There are actions that simply save lives; simple measures that are about protecting ourselves and others. Masks, ventilation, boosters, testing. pic.twitter.com/pQrLnoFLer

— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) December 18, 2021

“If we only care about ourselves, these actions are *still* a great idea. They protect us. An Omicron wave is coming and will be very, very challenging. Let’s do all we can now to navigate it. For the millionth time — COVID is not a ‘little flu’,” Sutton added.

Hildebrand isn’t incorrect in noting that we have fuelled a sense that “the government is wholly responsible for our health and wellbeing”, but you can’t mention this without acknowledging the fact that without mandates for wearing masks and checking in, many Australians have well and truly proven that they won’t do it.

So until we can all grow up and do the right thing — like wearing a mask, getting vaccinated, and washing our damn hands — because it’s the right thing to do, we shouldn’t be name-calling those who have provided the advice that has kept us all safe and healthy thus far.