This was published 4 years ago
Morrison calls for ban on wildlife markets and 'weapons inspector' powers for WHO
By Anthony Galloway and Mike Foley
World Health Organisation investigators would be given the same powers as weapons inspectors to forcibly enter a country under an Australian government plan to avoid a repeat of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The move to overhaul the world health body comes as Australia will on Thursday call for an international review of wildlife markets, which the government says pose a "big risk" to human health and food production.
A wet market in Macau, China. Live animals, including wildlife, are often sold in such markets.Credit: Getty Images
The new powers, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison raised with world leaders in recent days, would drastically alter the operation of the WHO by giving it the power to go into a country to investigate a disease outbreak without the express consent of the nation's government.
The United Nations body has come under criticism for not alerting the world sooner to the global coronavirus pandemic through most of January, and has faced allegations from senior politicians in Australia and the United States that it was too close to China.
The Australian government quietly lost faith in the WHO's global headquarters in late January and early February for uncritically repeating advice from the Chinese government.
Mr Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne have been pushing for a global review into the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, including the WHO's performance.
The Prime Minister discussed the prospect of a review with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning, while he also spoke with President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday night.
Mr Morrison and Senator Payne want the review to probe how the virus started and recommend how the WHO can reform.
The government does not hold faith in the WHO, or its decision-making body the World Health Assembly, to lead a probe into the pandemic. One option being floated is for the UN to appoint an independent investigator.
Australia did not co-sponsor a successful UN resolution put forward by Mexico calling for international cooperation in the response to COVID-19, but senior government sources said they were supportive of the motion.
Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said Australia had "isolated itself" by failing to join the 179 countries that co-sponsored the resolution.
"If the PM is serious about it, he's going to have to a lot of work to get international agreement," she said.
"It means not just talking to our friends like the US but also doing the hard yards of talking to countries that aren't always our friends."
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told a virtual meeting of G20 agriculture ministers on Tuesday night that a team of researchers must investigate the international trade in live wild animals.
Coronavirus is believed to have jumped from an animal host to humans at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan where live wild animals are slaughtered and sold.
"There are risks with wildlife wet markets and they could be as big a risk to our agricultural industries as they can be to public health so we have to understand them better," Mr Littleproud said.
"The G20 of Agriculture Ministers have a responsibility to lead the way and draw on global experts and engage international organisations to rationally and methodically look at the many significant risks of wildlife wet markets."