Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended travelling to the UK where he took a swipe at Australia's coronavirus response, slamming Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for running a "health dictatorship".
Speaking in London to the UK think-tank Policy Exchange, Mr Abbott said some of the lockdown measures taken in Australia had gone too far.
"My plea is for us to be very careful about further lockdowns because the consequences of lockdowns are enormous," Mr Abbott said.
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He accused Mr Andrews of wanting to extend a "health dictatorship" by pushing for an extension of state of emergency powers in Victoria, a bill which passed in the Upper House overnight.
"There is absolutely no doubt that we had got to the stage in Australia of virtually zero community transmission, until the extraordinary ineptitude of the Victorian Government in the management of its hotel quarantine system produced what has been the biggest outbreak in Australia so far, responded to with the most severe lockdown tried anywhere in the world outside of Wuhan itself," Mr Abbott said.
He also blamed the media for spreading "virus hysteria".
"From a health perspective, this pandemic has been serious. From an economic perspective, it's been disastrous," he said.
It's believed Mr Abbott is in UK because he's set to join Britain's Board of Trade.
https://twitter.com/Policy_Exchange/status/1300723025772457985?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwMr Abbott later addressed a UK Parliament committee where he was asked about those reports.
He did not confirm or deny his plans, but did say that talks were underway.
Mr Abbott has defended his trip to the UK, saying he applied for an exemption to Australia's international travel ban in the "normal way".
He said the visit was privately funded and that he will foot the bill for his two-week hotel quarantine on return.
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