‘We desperately need more doctors making health policy’: Brendan Murphy announces retirement
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care has said he would advise his successor to ‘be bold’.
Professor Brendan Murphy was already planning retirement when he signed up as Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer in 2016, with a view it would be his last full-time job.
He then watched the COVID-19 pandemic tear up his plans.
In mid-2020, after leading the first phase of Australia’s pandemic response, he switched over to Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care — one of a minority of chief health bureaucrats to have treated patients at some point.
After three years, he has now announced a second attempt at retirement, planning to step down on 6 July.
