Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned (Te Tira Ārai Urutā) is a Royal Commission of Inquiry appointed by the New Zealand Government to look at its official response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. Its focus is to look at lessons learnt from the Government response to prepare for future pandemics. The inquiry examines the overall pandemic response with the exception of decisions made by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Monetary Policy Committee.

Launch

On 5 December 2022, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall formally announced that the Labour Government would be holding a Royal Commission of Inquiry into its COVID-19 pandemic response. The inquiry was chaired by Australian-based epidemiologist Tony Blakely, former National Party cabinet minister Hekia Parata, and former New Zealand Treasury secretary John Whitehead. The inquiry was launched on 1 February 2023 and expected to finish in mid-2024. Ardern estimated that the royal commission would cost about NZ$15 million.

Scope

The inquiry examined the overall pandemic response including the health response, border management, community care, isolation, quarantine, and the economic response including monetary policy. The inquiry also covered the impact of the pandemic on Māori interests within the framework of the Treaty of Waitangi relationship, its impact on essential workers and vulnerable populations and communities, and the legislative, regulatory and operational settings required to support NZ's immediate economic response to a future pandemic.

The inquiry also did not look at the Government's "individual decisions," the application of policies to individual cases or circumstances, judgements and decisions made by courts, tribunals and other agencies on COVID-19-related matters, private sector operations, and certain decisions made by the Reserve Bank's independent monetary policy committee. In addition the inquiry did not look at changes to court and parliamentary proceedings, and the conduct of the 2020 New Zealand general election.

Hearings

On 13 November 2023, Radio New Zealand reported that the first stage of the inquiry had been running for several months. The commissioners held private meetings with over 200 organisations including industry leaders from the farming and supermarket sectors, and small regional groups such as the Tolaga Bay Area School. According to Blakely, Ardern from the onset had decided against holding public hearings to promote a non-adversarial atmosphere that would allow the commissioners to have "free and frank" discussions with a range of people. By contrast, the UK COVID-19 Inquiry which had public hearings.

In addition to private meetings, the Inquiry planned to launch its second phase at the end of November where people would be allowed to make online submissions. Respondents could choose to remain anonymous and keep their information confidential.

On 1 December 2023, The Spinoff reported that Parata had resigned from the Royal Commission on 15 November 2023 following the electoral defeat of the Labour Government. In response to the incoming National Government's plans to introduce an independent inquiry, Blakely stated that he was open to the new Government reviewing the Royal Commission's terms of reference. That same day, the Royal Commission announced that it had delayed hearing public submissions until 2024 while the National-led coalition government reviews its scope. While National's coalition partner New Zealand First has advocated a separate independent inquiry, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has indicated his openness to expanding the scope of the Royal Commission.

Responses

While epidemiologist Michael Baker welcomed the inquiry as a means of preparing for the next pandemic, the Green and National parties regarded the inquiry's scope as too narrow and called for a separate review into its economic impact. While campaigning during the lead up to the 2023 New Zealand general election, the populist New Zealand First party's leader Winston Peters had criticised the Royal Commission's terms of reference for being "too limited" and called for an unrestricted COVID-19 inquiry that was not run by Parliament.

Following the 2023 New Zealand election, the incoming National-led coalition government announced that it would hold a separate independent inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. National had forged a coalition agreement with New Zealand First, which had campaigned on compensating people who lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandates or suffered vaccine injuries. As part of the National-NZ First coalition agreement, the independent inquiry would be conducted publicly with both local and international experts. This independent inquiry would cover the use of multiple lockdowns, vaccine procurement and efficacy, the social and economic impacts at both national and regional levels, and whether the Government's COVID-related decisions and steps were justified.

On 21 December 2023, lawyer Deborah Chambers KC advocated that the Royal Commission be scrapped, claiming that the terms of reference and methodology were "unfit for purpose." Chambers also opined that the leadership of the Royal Commission were not conducive to a broad, independent inquiry.

External links

Official website