This policy brief addresses whether the Victorian government’s communication strategy and crisis team needs a re-think in light of recent experience.

Key points:

• Daily appearances by a single political leader, with or without senior officials by that leader’s side, may be viewed as serving one of the cardinal principles of crisis management. However, we might consider whether the Victorian Premier's strategy of appearing daily is working.
• There is a risk that any head of government, who is always going to be understandably political, may not be able to sustain the unusually high levels of public faith – that we see at the beginning of many crises – for any extended period of time.
• Ballooning COVID-19 cases raise issues about whether the Government is hearing internally from all the voices it should be heeding and whether other people need to be brought into the room.