The Victorian Government has defended its deputy chief health officer, who compared COVID-19 to Captain James Cook’s arrival in Australia.

Public health physician and general practitioner Dr Annaliese van Diemen drew ire after writing on Twitter:

“Sudden arrival of an invader from another land, decimating populations, creating terror. Forces the population to make enormous sacrifices & completely change how they live in order to survive. COVID19 or Cook 1770?”

The comments were posted online on Wednesday, the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival in Botany Bay. The explorer’s extensive mapping of Australia’s east coast was later used as a guide for British settlement led by Arthur Philip.

Victoria’s Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said the tweet was embarrassing.

“Daniel Andrews’ Deputy Chief Health Officer should be working on giving Victorians a pathway out of Labor’s lockdown, not giving us ‘woke’ political commentary on Twitter,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

“No wonder many Victorians are questioning why our lockdown has no end in sight; the Government is too busy playing politics on Twitter.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said Dr van Diemen should resign over the “highly inappropriate” comments.

“How can Victorians have confidence in the advice being provided to them when our most senior bureaucrats are making such ideological public commentary that has nothing to do with the crisis that we are all facing,” Crozier said.

But Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said criticism of Dr van Diemen was “irrelevant”.

“The Deputy Chief Health Officer is doing an outstanding job protecting Victorians from this deadly pandemic,” Mikakos said.

“Criticism from angry MPs is irrelevant to the fight against this virus.”

Image:  YouTube / Sky News