Independent expert voices to oversee pandemic response

A/Prof Joe Doyle

Congratulations to Associate Professor Joseph Doyle, who has been appointed to a newly formed Independent Pandemic Management Advisory Committee (IPMAC), for his expertise in infectious diseases and public health. A/Prof Doyle has joint appointments with Burnet Institute, Alfred Health and Monash University.

The IPMAC – formally established by the Victorian Minister for Health, Martin Foley and announced 15 Feb – will include members with knowledge and experience in fields such as public health, infectious diseases, primary care, emergency services, critical care, business, law and human rights.

Multiple members will also represent the interests and needs of traditional owners and Aboriginal Victorians as well as other vulnerable communities, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. More than half of the Committee’s inaugural members are women.

The members are:

• Penny Armytage AM (Chair) – former Chair of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health system and former Secretary of the Victorian Department of Justice
• Paris Aristotle AO – CEO of Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture  
• Pip Carew – health sector professional with 20 years of experience in clinical nursing and union representation
• Assoc. Prof. Joseph Doyle – infectious diseases physician and public health physician
• Belinda Duarte – education and training leader and CEO of Culture Is Life
• Dr Peter Harcourt OAM – sport and exercise physician and Chair of International Cricket Council (ICC) Medical Advisory Committee
• Michael Graham – CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Acting Chair of VACCHO
• Rabea Khan – barrister, previously a lawyer with Office of Public Prosecutions, IBAC and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
• Vivienne Nguyen AM – Chairperson of the Victorian Multicultural Commission
• Dr Amanda Rojek – emergency medicine registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
• Mark Stone AM – former CEO of Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Dr Helen Szoke AO – former Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, and member of Advisory Boards for the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Australia and New Zealand Obstetrics and Gynaecology

The Committee can review, provide advice and make recommendations to the Minister for Health on the exercise of the Minister’s powers. The Minister must consider any reviews initiated by the Committee and may also request its advice. The Committee’s reports to the Minister must be tabled in Parliament within four sitting days.

The Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee must request and consider the advice of the IPMAC before it can recommend that a pandemic order be disallowed in whole or in part.

The establishment of the Committee and the appointment of its members is part of the Victorian Government’s fit-for-purpose pandemic management framework, which also includes the publication of advice provided by the Chief Health Officer to the Minister for Health and the ability of the parliament to disallow pandemic orders.

Minister for Health Martin Foley said,“We’re drawing upon these expert voices to help oversee our ongoing pandemic response, guiding us with their knowledge of areas including public health, law, human rights and business.”