Do we like them?

Do we like Brendan Murphy?

Our score: 6 out of 10. A long public-service career with no harmful words or acts turned up, but a contested pandemic record and a thin evidence trail keep it in the middle.

Brendan Murphy is a kidney specialist by training. He rose through St Vincent's in Melbourne from renal physician to chief medical officer, then ran Austin Health for more than a decade. He joined Canberra as Australia's Chief Medical Officer in 2016, reportedly planning it as his last full-time job. Then COVID arrived.

He became the face of the national pandemic response, front and centre next to the PM and the health minister. In 2020 he became Secretary of the health department, and he was the first medical doctor to hold that job. His retirement was announced in April 2023, and it took effect that July.

The pandemic is also where the heat came. In 2021 he was in the firing line over a slow vaccine rollout, after his 'not a race' line went around. Critics said he leaned too far towards the government of the day, with some accusing him of being Scott Morrison's mouthpiece. He defended the rollout and defended Morrison's leadership.

On aged care he took it on the chin. In 2020 he told a Senate committee that some aged care deaths might have been avoided if the response had been faster, while also rejecting the claim that the government had failed to plan. Whether that reads as honesty or damage control depends on who you ask.

On the harm check, we found nothing nasty from him. Nothing we read had him going after LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet. His farewell speech even called for a review of some border closures and restrictions, which is more thoughtful than most. Our record here is thin, though: we couldn't open the full articles, so we're leaning on summaries.

The good stuff is the career itself. He spent decades in hospitals and health policy, and urged more doctors to make health policy on his way out. He then took on volunteer-style chair and board roles in kidney health and the Red Cross blood service. That is a solid, unglamorous record of service.