States evade scrutiny under Covid inquiry

“A royal commission is usually presided over by a judge or someone with a legal background,” he said.

“What we have here is an inquiry that is led by a leading public servant who understands the way that the public sector works at Commonwealth and state level, a leading health expert, Professor Bennett and a leading health economist in Dr Jackson.”

As the Coalition suspected, the inquiry will focus almost exclusively on the actions of the Morrison government, including the issues with vaccines, quarantine and the provision of protective equipment.

The establishment of national cabinet and the responsibilities of state and federal governments will also be on the agenda, as well as the provision of mental health supports, the closure of the international borders, community supports such as temporary free childcare and income supports, especially JobKeeper and Jobseeker.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Mr Albanese had broken a promise by not holding a Royal Commission and had been “rolled by the premiers”.

“If we don’t learn the lessons of what happened during the course of COVID, good and bad, by every level of government, how do we expect to go into the next pandemic not understanding what had happened in the previous one?

“It should be a royal commission, there’s no question about that.

“It should cover every state and the Commonwealth. That’s what the Prime Minister promised. And now he’s gone back on his word again.

“It’s witch hunt against Prime Minister’s predecessor with whom he’s obsessed.”

Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, slammed the carve out for the states.

“However, it is difficult to rationalise (the rest of the inquiry) against the specific exclusion from the scope of the inquiry of actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments.

“If the purpose of the Commonwealth Inquiry is to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics, then excluding unilateral state actions is a major oversight to say the least,” he said.

“While this inquiry is at one level very welcome, it falls short of the root and branch review that is required to ensure that governments work cohesively and respond holistically during the next inevitable pandemic.

“We need a better understanding of the impacts on communities and business of some of the longest and most damaging lockdowns in the world and of the unilateral and damaging actions of states to lock down everything from buildings and suburbs to entire states.

“If we don’t come to grips with the consequences of those actions we ignore the impacts across our community.”

Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, concurred.

“There are many lessons to be learned but clearly many of these stem from the action of the states and territories which should not be beyond reproach.”

Mr Albanese said the inquiry should be forward looking.

“What it is about though, is very much, and I think Australians will want it to be concentrated on, what can we do better in the future?” Mr Albanese said.

“How do we get better preparedness?

“That is what we need to do here because I, like other Australians, there wouldn’t be too many Australians who would put their hand up and say we saw what was coming in 2020.”

Mr Albanese said the inquiry was free to look at issues outside the terms of reference if it wished.

“The independent inquiry can look at the full gamut of issues,” he said.

During the pandemic, a Labor-led Senate committee established during the pandemic to ensure accountability in the absence of parliament sitting, recommended a royal commission.

“The committee recommends that a royal commission be established to examine Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to inform preparedness for future COVID-19 waves and future pandemics,” it said.

Mr Morrison said again this week than any inquiry that did not examine the role f the states would be obsolete.

There are three remaining state leaders from the pandemic, all Labor; Victoria’s Dan Andrews, Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk and the ACT’s Andrew Barr. The latter two have elections next year.

Mr Albanese said those advocating the inquiry be able to quiz current and former state leaders and officials were looking for conflict.

“Part of the lesson of the pandemic is that Australians need to work together,” he said.

Mr Albanese said the states were happy with the structure of the inquiry when he ran it past them at national cabinet in August.

Mr Andrews, whose state suffered the most during the pandemic, said he was happy to cooperate if asked, but he had no regrets at the way his government handled the pandemic.

“I am not looking backwards,” he said.