Dominic Dwyer (Jan 29, 2020): This virus is probably not too much of a problem, but you know, we've got to monitor. .. I mean, we know that there are over 4,000 cases in China, most of which will be that province (Hubei), but when you consider what the population of Wuhan is ..10 million or so people, the likelihood of people being infected is still extremely low.(Jan 29)

ELEANOR HALL: Some people inside China are saying that there is actually a greater spread of the virus than we're being told.

DOMINIC DWYER: We've got to remember that it is wintertime in China. They're going through their normal influenza season. So just because people say they're seeing people who are sick, doesn't mean they have this new coronavirus. .. (S)ome of the reporting and the kind of social media stuff is a bit over the top.

Dominic, your unquestioning support of the CCP’s version of Covid was/is over the top. That’s a pity - coz if you could have warned the world earlier that we may be dealing with a juiced-up super-virus escaped from a lab, then the world would have been on its toes.

ELEANOR HALL: Australia's government is looking .. to evacuate those Australians trapped in Wuhan, but the WHO is warning foreign governments against pulling their citizens out. What do you think is the right approach?

DOMINIC DWYER: My personal opinion is … they're probably actually okay. ..I think the sort of rushing in of planes to pull people out, I don't think helps sort of allay the general anxiety of the population.

‘Allay the general anxiety of the population’ - so that was your goal? When the big moment came and we’re all relying on our highly-paid experts, you down-played it, thereby causing a disaster to erupt.

“We’ve got to remember” that you were in Beijing in 2004 when SARS-1 escaped twice - so you must have known that a lab-escape was a strong possibility. If you had reported that information and raised the alarm, the virus would have been stamped out early - when it was still possible (such as Taiwan did - by not believing a word you or the CCP said). That would have saved 4 million lives and averted a global catastrophe.

But you did the opposite. Your advice allowed the virus the crucial space it needed to spread around the world. Good job.

Are you ok being held accountable for that?

(Full disclosure: i got the severity wrong as well in the beginning - but that was back in Jan 2020 when i still listened to the experts on the ABC.)