Anthony Albanese has announced a Covid-19 inquiry to consider commonwealth responses to the pandemic but excluding “actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments”.
On Thursday, the prime minister announced the one-year inquiry will be headed by epidemiologist professor Catherine Bennett, health economist Dr Angela Jackson, and the former director general of the NSW health department Robyn Kruk.
The scope and powers of the inquiry have already sparked a war of words with the opposition, which has warned it is “a complete waste of time” if states cannot be compelled to give evidence, a criticism Albanese dismissed as “absurd”.
At a press conference in Adelaide, Albanese repeatedly deflected questions about whether the inquiry will have compulsory powers, telling reporters that seeking “conflict” is “completely contrary” to its aims.
The proposed scope of the inquiry includes “the role of the commonwealth, responsibilities of state and territory governments, [and] national governance mechanisms”, including the national cabinet.
Potential topics for the inquiry include: vaccine supply; “broader health supports for people affected by Covid-19 and/or lockdowns”; financial support for individuals, industry and business; community supports; international policies to support Australians at home and abroad; and “mechanisms to better target future responses to the needs of particular populations” including First Nations Australians.
But the scope excludes “actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments” – which would exclude state border closures and could exclude the length and severity of lockdown restrictions – and “international programs and activities assisting foreign countries”.
Asked if the length of lockdowns will be considered, Albanese told reporters the three inquiry heads “can look at whatever they like”. “That is point of an independent inquiry.”
Albanese said he wanted a “process of learning from the pandemic [that] is constructive, rather than destructive”.
“We need to make sure that this is forward focused and consider all of the commonwealth responses to the pandemic.”
Asked if participation will be compulsory including by state leaders, Albanese said “I should imagine that everyone will want to participate in this”.
The inquiry will run for 12 months, with a final report to be delivered by 30 September 2024. Albanese explained a shorter inquiry was favoured because “a lot of the work has already been done, there have been 20 different inquiries”.
Albanese confirmed that premiers and chief ministers had been briefed about the proposal at the last national cabinet and had “welcomed” the idea.
Despite Albanese promising a royal commission “or similar inquiry” ahead of the election, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, accused him of a “significant broken promise” on Thursday.
Dutton said that Australians would be “stunned” to learn that premiers “who were responsible for lockdowns” were excluded from the inquiry, which he labelled a “protection racket for [Victorian premier] Daniel Andrews and [Queensland premier] Annastacia Palaszczuk”.
The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, said the inquiry was “a witch-hunt against a previous Coalition government” and “a copout” because of the exclusion of states and territories.
“Many of the decisions that were made during the pandemic by the states and territories are the ones that probably impacted Australians the most,” she said. “Whether that be the lockdowns, border closures, mandates and the like which all had a very significant impact on Australians.”
Earlier, Albanese rejected the criticism the inquiry would protect Labor premiers as “absurd”, noting that the Liberals were in government in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.
Albanese told FIVEaa radio the government opted for an inquiry rather than a royal commission because the latter “can take more time” and is “normally headed by a judge”.
“The advice we have received is that this is the best form of inquiry,” he said.
Andrews said a Covid-19 inquiry was a “very good thing to be doing”.
He suggested it should examine improvements to the national medical stockpile, supplies of vaccines and personal protective equipment, which are mostly commonwealth responsibilities.
“I think what is most important is to have that really important forward focused planning work, so what did we learn?”
“Can we avoid not having enough vaccines when we need them?”
The former commonwealth deputy chief medical officer, Nick Coatsworth, suggested the inquiry should focus on the “proportionality” of governments’ responses to Covid-19.
Premier Dan Andrews thinks that the COVID inquiry should focus on vaccines, national medical stockpile and PPE. None of those are related to the core question. Proportionality. It is a word that he would prefer never enter into the historical record on our (and his) pandemic…
— Dr. Nick Coatsworth (@nick_coatsworth) September 21, 2023
