Tony Abbott calls for Covid-19 inquiry to prepare us for next pandemic

Tony Abbott says a royal commission into the handling of Covid-19 is needed because ‘there will be another pandemic’.

Former PM Tony Abbott. Picture: Getty Images

Tony Abbott has called for a royal commission into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic at state, federal and international levels when the coronavirus emergency has passed to “see what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong”.

The former Liberal prime minister said the “collective” government of Australia had done well in global terms but needed to examine what had happened since March last year because “there will be another pandemic”.

As a former health minister, Mr Abbott said he put health officials on a pedestal but when the pandemic was over it would be necessary to have a “long, hard look” at all aspects of the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensure that Australia did not become a “doctor democracy”.

“I do hope that at the end of this process, rather than just saying, ‘well, thank God that’s over’, and just wanting to forget about it, there will be a serious inquiry, a royal commission if you like, at the national level,” he said in the first of a weekly series of podcasts for the Institute for Public Affairs ­directed at “Australia’s heartland”.

“We need to look long and hard at what we did right and what we could have done better and compare the responses of different states, and indeed responses of different countries, because there will be another pandemic,” Mr Abbott said. “It might be in a year, it might be in a decade, it might be in a century – but there will be another pandemic, and it’s important that our successes have the benefit of our considered reflections on what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong in this one.”

After the 1919-20 Spanish flu epidemic, which killed more than 6000 Australians, a royal commission found differences between states, including allegations that Victoria had broken an agreement with the other states to declare when Spanish flu cases appeared. It also found confused medical ­advice had contributed to fatalities. Mr Abbott, who is in quarantine after returning from a trade visit to India, has previously ­described state-federal levels of responsibility as a “dog’s breakfast” but argued Australia’s leaders had done well compared to overseas.

“The pandemic has been completely unprecedented in the lifetimes of any of us, and I think all governments have struggled with getting the balance right between keeping us safe and keeping life going. Now, obviously the Australian government collectively has been pretty good at keeping us safe. We’ve had far fewer deaths from Covid than just about any other country,” Mr Abbott said.

“I think it’s been a very trying time for Australians. It’s been a very trying time for people all over the world. But nevertheless, it has been at a very considerable cost to the way we’ve actually lived. And I guess the slightly frustrating thing for so many Australians right now is that just at a time when we are seeing other countries opening up, largely thanks to vaccines, we are locked in this pretty much inter­minable cycle of lockdowns.

“To his great credit, the Prime Minister has persuaded national cabinet to substantially reopen when we get to 70 per cent vaccination and to very substantially reopen when we get to 80 per cent vaccination. But nevertheless, that’s still probably five or six or more months away.”

Daniel Wild, director of ­research at the IPA, said the podcast would be a voice for mainstream Australian values.