With the announcement of his COVID-19 inquiry, the Prime Minister has put political interest over Australia\u2019s national interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has rolled over to Labor Premiers and in doing so, the Prime Minister has broken a key promise that he took to the Australian people at the last election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He promised that he would hold a royal commission or deep inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, looking at the response of all governments across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is incredibly disappointing that the Prime Minister has walked away from his commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our response to the pandemic followed a uniquely Australian path, and it allowed us to come out of the pandemic with health and economic outcomes that were world leading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is no denying how critical it is that, now the worst of the pandemic has passed behind us, we learn from the lessons that COVID-19 provided and how we could have improved our response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is in our national interest, and it is about our preparedness as a country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, what we have from the Prime Minister is a quasi-inquiry into the pandemic, concocted with a Terms of Reference that specifically excludes the states and territories, and with an approach that looks like a witch-hunt against the former Coalition Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any inquiry into Australia\u2019s COVID-19 response that does not involve the states and territories should be seen for what it is \u2013 purely a protection racket for Dan Andrews and Anastasia Palaszczuk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the absence of any powers to compel the involvement of state and territory governments, the Prime Minister\u2019s inquiry is a wasted opportunity to be proactive about Australia\u2019s preparedness for future pandemics should they arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Light must be shone in on all of the decisions that were taken following the outbreak of COVID-19 in our country, particularly considering the significant role played by the states and territories, who were often responsible for decisions that most impacted on Australians lives and on their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actions like lockdowns, testing regimes, state border closures and other restrictions that were placed on the Australian people, which we know are still having ongoing implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And despite what the Prime Minister may seem to believe, an inquiry must also recognise that the pandemic did not end on 22 May 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, under the current government, we saw more Covid-related deaths in aged care in 8 months than in the entire first two years of the Pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for this inquiry have any integrity and credibility, international comparisons and Australia\u2019s standing relative to other countries must also be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of these factors must be looked at as part of a proper and thorough investigation that is genuinely aimed at bolstering Australia\u2019s pandemic preparedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Otherwise, all we have here is a half-baked inquiry, merely aimed at distracting from Labor\u2019s shambolic handling of today\u2019s issues and expunging Labor Premiers\u2019 past decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the announcement of his COVID-19 inquiry, the Prime Minister has put political interest over Australia\u2019s national interest. He has rolled over to Labor Premiers and in doing so, the Prime Minister has broken a key promise that he took to the Australian people at the last election. He promised that he would hold a … Continue reading “PM\u2019s Covid Inquiry puts political interest over national interest”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23070,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069\/revisions\/23070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}