The 12 month long inquiry will be led by three experts. But it won't include individual state or territory decisions on lockdowns or border closures.
Before the 2022 federal election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised an inquiry into Australia's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic."Given the enormous dislocation, the stress, the of course loss of life, the economic impact of the pandemic, it is appropriate that when we reached a certain period that we would have an inquiry. It’s a commitment I made before the election, and one of the things that we have been doing is ticking off all those commitments that we have made.
"We also said though that the response would take place after the worst period of the pandemic had receded. And we wouldn't start an inquiry while our health systems, our governments, were still focused on pandemic management. While COVID is no doubt still with us, the impact of COVID right now on the community, on our health system, is at the lowest really through the whole three and a half years - certainly the lowest on our health system since Omicron emerged about 22 months ago.
He says he hopes the inquiry will examine the need to clearly pass information on to, and better engage with, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Opposition leader Peter Dutton says the inquiry will be pointless if states cannot be compelled to give evidence, and because it will not examine lockdowns and border closures announced by individual states and territories.
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