Lisa Wilkinson's 'bin fire' Covid comment panned by ex-medical officer

A former top health official has reacted to Lisa Wilkinson's derisive comments she made about Australia's response to the Covid-19 pandemic on The Project.

After Lisa compared the country to a 'bin fire' on Sunday night, Dr. Nick Coatsworth, who is the former Deputy Chief Medical Officer re-tweeted several viewers' tweets criticising the panel host.

Ex-Today star Lisa made the remarks following New Zealand PM, Jacinda Ardern's move to introduce a potential 24-day quarantine for household contacts of those diagnosed with Omicron.

Lisa suggested that Ardern was spurred to implement the tough 'red light' restrictions — which forced her to postpone her own wedding — after witnessing the fallout from Australia's Omicron outbreak.

Of the tightened rules, Lisa said; "If that doesn’t give you an indication that Jacinda Ardern has looked across the ditch at our bin fire and gone, 'Not doing that!' Wow."

While Dr. Coatsworth did not share his thoughts directly, he did re-share a few tweets from viewers.

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One viewer took to Twitter to write; "Lisa Wilkinson praising NZ for putting close contacts in 24 days of isolation just shows her inner city, multimillionaire, guaranteed wage privilege."

"I wonder what she'd say if Ardern was PM of Australia and Morrison was PM of New Zealand," they added.

Another Twitter user argued that Lisa "only ever criticises one political party", meaning that her opinions could be somewhat biased.

As of midnight on Sunday, New Zealand will shift from "orange" to the stricter "red" settings on its traffic light-style system for COVID-19 management.

Red settings require additional mask use in public settings, require hospitality venues to cap indoor patrons at 100 and seat them all, a cap that also applies to events and gatherings.

Ms Ardern's wedding, reportedly set to host around 180 guests, falls foul of those gathering limits.

Jacinda was due to marry long-term partner Clarke Gayford later this month in a ceremony near Gisborne, on the North Island's eastern coast.

She could proceed with a smaller event - however to do so would have risked a backlash, and runs contrary to her public health ethos.

Ms Ardern and Mr Gayford, a television presenter, celebrity fisherman and DJ, have one daughter, three-year-old Neve.

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