Impact on children missing from COVID-19 inquiry, critics say

The national inquiry into COVID-19 is being urged to examine the social damage from school closures in a crucial test of its power after a furore over a federal move to block it from reviewing “unilateral” state decisions.

Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet joined health experts in calling for the inquiry to look into the impact on children from school shutdowns – a key subject missing from the terms of reference for the inquiry on Thursday.

Omar Kahil, 11, said he felt sad when remembering the months he spent isolated from friends when play equipment was removed from his local park.Credit: Wolter Peeters

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said political leaders must “put a spotlight” on the needs of children when Australia faced growing challenges with youth mental health, school refusal and academic performance.

“Kids have lost confidence, teachers and early childhood educators are saying kids are behind because they missed out on that social learning environment,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sparked a backlash from health experts and an attack from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton by seeking to exclude state decisions from the new inquiry, without any clarity on whether lockdowns and school closures were in its remit.

With pressure building on the government, Health Minister Mark Butler widened the scope for the inquiry on Friday by saying health measures such as social distancing, contact tracing, lockdowns, school closures and border closures would be examined.

None of these issues were named in the terms of reference issued on Thursday, which instead nominated federal measures such as vaccinations, quarantine and the supply of personal protective equipment.

Perrottet said “all decisions” should be examined because of the obligation of political leaders to learn from the past.

“We shouldn’t be concerned about looking into all decisions because we have a duty to examine what happened,” he said, in his first significant comments on public policy since losing office at the state election in March.

“This shouldn’t be about recrimination but reflection – taking an evidence-based approach to what worked and what didn’t so we are better prepared for the future.

“The long-term impacts on children being away from school, especially the mental health impacts, are something we should also look at.”

Omar Kahil was nine years old when police called for playground equipment to be removed from his local park in western Sydney, forcing him to play alone and shoot basketball hoops with his imagination.

Two years later and preparing to start high school, Omar said life was much better now but he felt emotional when he remembered the long period of being locked out of school.

“If I have to say from my heart, I was sad I couldn’t socialise with others, especially with my friends. What I mostly love to do is play with friends,” he said.

Omar Kahil in 2021. He was gifted a basketball from his parents, but the local court’s hoop had been removed.Credit: James Brickwood

“It is as if suddenly the cops knock at your door and throw you into a jail cell, and that jail cell digests your happiness.

“Although you still have your relatives in your cell, because you’re all in the same boat, you’re still being isolated from other families that contain your friends. That’s how your happiness is reduced.”

While the new inquiry is meant to exclude “unilateral” state decisions, the school closures were imposed by state and territory leaders after talks at national cabinet with then-prime minister Scott Morrison to decide the guidelines on lockdowns and shutdowns.

National cabinet is meant to be within the scope of the new inquiry.

Then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (right) addresses a national cabinet meeting in December 2020, alongside Scott Morrison, Daniel Andrews and Annastacia Palaszczuk.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Dutton has slammed the government for choosing a panel of experts to look into COVID-19 rather than setting up a royal commission, accusing Albanese of shielding Labor premiers from scrutiny.

“I’d say [Victorian Premier] Daniel Andrews and [Queensland Premier] Annastacia Palaszczuk have said to the prime minister, ‘bugger off, we’re not going to allow you to look at the decisions we’ve made’, and I think the prime minister should have exerted his authority and stepped up. Instead, he hasn’t,” he said.

Andrews said on Friday he was “happy to appear” at the new inquiry, while the federal government said it expected public hearings to be held.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher called for a royal commission into the pandemic when she led a Senate inquiry in April on the issue last year, but said “a fair bit has changed” since then. Gallagher’s report also recommended the government review the impact of the pandemic response on children – including their education, mental health and social wellbeing. Labor has not set up a separate review on this issue since forming government in May last year.

While the terms of reference for the inquiry explicitly exclude unilateral state decisions from review, Gallagher said it would be up to the three inquiry members – Robyn Kruk, Catherine Bennett and Angela Jackson – to work with the states and territories.

“How they choose to conduct their inquiry is a matter for them. And I would expect that if there is to be state involvement, state government involvement, that they will work with the states and territories on that,” she said.

University of Melbourne professor Patrick McGorry, a mental health expert and former Australian of the Year, said the inquiry should “absolutely” gather the evidence to help decide if the health benefits from shutdowns and closures justified the ongoing cost to young Australians.

“It would be great to have a comprehensive look at all the evidence and collect new evidence.

Patrick McGorry says the impact of COVID is evident in school refusal rates and disengagement from tertiary education.Credit: Jason South

“All the evidence that we have so far shows that it was particularly disastrous for teenagers and young adults, who bore the mental health brunt of the pandemic, and that’s why we call it the shadow pandemic, because it’s not in the spotlight,” he said.

“It hasn’t been properly scoped and analysed, but every piece of data that we have so far shows that it was quite severe.

“We’re seeing an aftermath from it in school refusal rates and in the disengagement from tertiary education.”

Jim Watterston, dean of the graduate school of education at the University of Melbourne, said the pandemic also revealed schools were missing a lot of digital and technological capacity that had not since been addressed.

Watterston, who served in leadership roles in the Queensland, ACT, and Victorian education departments, said 20 per cent of students were unable to participate in education during lockdowns because they did not have the technology they needed at home.

“I’m amazed that it’s not a national priority. There’s a lot we should be doing now,” he said. He said there should also be a national set of minimum standards that determine whether schools stay open or closed in future emergencies.

Hollonds said children had not been prioritised in pandemic management. “I know we were busy as a country. But we thought quite deeply about some areas – the economy, how to support businesses. One of the major missing pieces was putting a spotlight on the unique needs of children,” she said.

“School closures were, among other things, a really big part of the pandemic experience in Australia, in several jurisdictions. I’d like to see more attention to that sort of policy decision that primarily impacts children.

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds wants more scrutiny of the impact of COVID on children.Credit: Ben Symons

“School is about more just academic learning that can be replaced by zoom. It’s an inherently social environment. It’s important all the way through in kids’ development and learning. We just missed all of that.”

Hollonds, a psychologist and social worker before her career in government policy, said the rapid switch to online learning did not work well for children living in poverty, with a disability, whose parents didn’t speak English, or who only had one device to share with several siblings.

“We predicted at the time COVID would have a long tail for children, and we are seeing that now with increased rates of mental health disorders, school refusals, all of those things,” she said.

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