Experts reject narrow Covid inquiry terms
The nation’s peak doctors’ group has rejected the narrow terms of the PM’s Covid inquiry, saying the probe will be operating with ‘one hand tied behind its back’.
The nation’s peak doctors’ group has rejected the narrow terms of Anthony Albanese’s Covid-19 inquiry, saying that carving out the unilateral actions of the states will mean the probe will be operating with “one hand tied behind its back”.
Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson is urging the government to expand the scope of the inquiry, saying the key issues that affected the health workforce and that continue to cripple public health systems in the wake of the pandemic relate largely to management and decisions of state governments.
“I am scratching my head as to how you can run an inquiry and come out with recommendations for next time that don’t include a lot of the state and territory stuff,” Professor Robson said.
“We really are concerned that while the intentions are good, if you’re running the inquiry with one hand tied behind your back … we’re not really sure it’s going to be achieving its stated aims. We’ll be bringing up all of the issues, whether they like it or not.”
The Andrews government quarantine hotel bungles that sparked a 112-day lockdown and killed some 800 people, curfews, travel limits and playground closures are key matters not likely to be adequately scrutinised in a federal Covid-19 inquiry in a move that has been strongly criticised.
Victorians endured a total of 262 days in lockdown between 2020 and 2021, believed to be the longest in the world, and some of the harshest restrictions compared with other states, along with standard Covid rules like school shutdowns and work-from-home instructions.
They included locking down hundreds of public housing residents in a snap decision – not based on health advice – that was found to have breached human rights, limiting people to spend two hours outside their home for exercise, shutting down playgrounds and banning alcohol consumption outdoors.
As well, 50 residents died in the country’s deadliest Covid outbreak at St Basil’s Home for the Aged in 2020, and in 2021 the city was overcome for nearly a week with violent protesters who clashed with police over a range of pandemic-related grievances.
Victoria’s former chief health officer Brett Sutton, who was at the helm of the state’s pandemic response, told the ABC on Thursday morning he would be “disappointed” if the inquiry did not examine the value of lockdowns and he expected to be called to give evidence.
“I would be disappointed if we didn’t go to those really important issues,” he said. “There shouldn’t be shyness about asking the tough questions for those things that were most disruptive.
“As they should about quarantine, as they should about international travel and the closing of the country, as they should about the right communications and the right policy settings to maximise vaccine coverage, how you deal with misinformation and disinformation and all the rest.”
ANU infectious diseases professor Peter Collignon said the main impact of a lot of the restrictions was on lower socio-economic groups, and he believed the benefit of stopping people from going outside was not commensurate with the social and mental fallout.
“Victoria was the first to adopt an elimination strategy in Australia. That hasn’t given a better medium to long-term result than just suppression,” he said.
The concerns were echoed by the nation’s leading public health social sciences professor Julie Leask, who described the carve-out of the states actions as “a major weakness” of the inquiry, given that the states were largely responsible for public health orders, lockdowns, enforcement, hospitals and school closures, which all had the biggest impact on people’s daily lives.
“People want a chance to be heard, they want to vent and that’s crucial for moving on and regaining some of the lost trust,” said Professor Leask from the University of Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute. “I don’t think this inquiry will enable that.
“We do Australians a disservice if we don’t properly account for how the pandemic was managed at all levels and learn from that.”
The GP lead on the Southwest Sydney Public Health Network Covid Working Group, Campbelltown doctor Ken McCroary, said the effects of harsh lockdowns that targeted the most disadvantaged areas were still being felt today.
“The lockdowns were unfair and they were unequal,” Dr McCroary said. “Our reality was a dystopia. If we don’t look at these issues, we’re not going to be prepared next time.”
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Nicole Higgins said it was disappointing that state governments would not be held specifically accountable by the Covid-19 inquiry, but the focus on the role of a national, independent Centre for Disease Control to advise the states was key.
“What the announcement does is it shows that we do need to have a nationally consistent response and the terms of reference address that,” Dr Higgins said.
“What it hasn’t addressed is how we’re going to have a locally delivered response.”
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