Anthony Albanese backs national inquiry into government’s handling of coronavirus

Anthony Albanese says an inquiry into the way state and federal authorities have handled the pandemic is needed.

Anthony Albanese has backed a wide-ranging national inquiry into the way state and federal authorities have handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Opposition Leader said an inquiry was needed to ensure “mistakes won’t happen again”.

“I would be very surprised when all of this is over and life is returned to normal, if we don’t have a very compressive inquiry into the handling of this. Not just as a matter of academic exercise but so that we learn lessons to ensure that mistakes won’t happen again,” Mr Albanese told Sky News this morning.

“We know the expectation from the World Health Organisation that this might not be the biggest pandemic of our lifetime.”

They’re your words, Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/CuVzYbz3Ok

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 11, 2020

Mr Albanese also hit back at Scott Morrison’s claims Labor was engaging in “disgraceful fear mongering” over JobKeeper’s phasing out.

On Friday, Labor launched a website, Don’t Cancel JobKeeper, that shows how many jobs could be lost suburb-by-suburb if wage subsidies are not continued in September.

The Don’t Cancel JobKeeper website estimates how many jobs, businesses, and revenue will be lost, based on Treasury modelling and estimates.

Amid calls for Victorian businesses to receive greater support because of fresh shutdowns, the Prime Minister last week reiterated in Canberra that there would be a second phase of targeted income support and said Labor’s Don’t Cancel JobKeeker digital tool was “disgraceful”.

“The details of our decisions will be set out at the time of ­releasing the economic statement, as I have been saying for some weeks and there is no change to that timetable,” he said.

“I do note, regrettably, that the Labor Party has engaged in fear mongering during a pandemic. I think this is disgraceful. They are saying things that are blatantly untrue. I have made it very clear that there would be a further stage of income support and to make people feel more uncertain in this climate, I think it is disgraceful. I think it reflects badly on their leadership.”

Mr Albanese slammed Mr Morrison for holding back on the government’s plans for the next stage of JobKeeper.

“For goodness sake, this Prime Minister, when he speaks about the quiet Australians wants everyone else but him to be quiet, Mr Albanese said.

“He wants his to be the only voice in the national conversation.

“The truth is that this Prime Minister is sitting on a report that was given to him in June, delayed because of the Eden-Monaro by-election, and now he won’t tell all of these businesses … what is going to happen in September.

“That is providing a risk to the economy, it is providing a great deal of anxiety out there, and the Prime Minister, if he has a plan, he should say what it is.”