Australia has had an independent review into their Covid-19 response

Despite it being the most costly event in modern NZ history, both fiscally and in terms of deaths, Labour has not set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into NZ’s response to Covid-19. I suspect at some stage they will succumb to the pressure, but of course they will hand pick reviewers who will be favourable to them.

In Australia civil society decided not to wait for the Government to do a review, and three foundations funded an independent review, which is here. Wouldn’t it be great if in NZ we had NGOs willing to step up and do the same?

A summary of the findings in Australia were:

The review has found that key groups were excluded from financial support, some lockdowns and border closures were avoidable and schools should have remained open. It sounds a warning to governments against the perils of overreach when dealing with future health crises. Low socio-economic families, women, children, aged care residents, people with disabilities, temporary migrants, multicultural communities, and others already experiencing disadvantage bore the brunt of the pandemic.

I can only imagine what a NZ review would find!