Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a Royal Commission of Inquiry will investigate New Zealand's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The inquiry's terms of reference say its main purpose will be to strengthen the country's preparedness for, and response to, any future pandemic by identifying those lessons learned from the response to the current pandemic.
Ardern noted it had been 100 years since we experienced a pandemic of the scale of Covid-19, saying it's therefore critical to compile what worked and what we can learn from it, should such an event happen again.
“New Zealand experienced fewer cases, hospitalisations and deaths than nearly any other country in the first two years of the pandemic but there has undoubtedly been a huge impact on New Zealanders both here and abroad," Ardern said.
“A Royal Commission of Inquiry is the highest form of public inquiry and is the right thing to do, given the Covid-19 emergency was the most significant threat to the health of New Zealanders and our economy since World War II."
"The Royal Commission has been asked to look at the overall response, including the economic response, identify what we can learn from it and how that can be applied to any future pandemic," said Ardern.
The inquiry will be chaired by Australia-based New Zealand epidemiologist Tony Blakely, who will be joined by former National Party cabinet minister Hekia Parata and former Treasury Secretary John Whitehead.
The scope of the inquiry is the lessons learned from New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 that should be applied in preparation for any future pandemic in the following areas:
- The legislative, regulatory, and operational settings required to support New Zealand’s public health response to a pandemic;
- Communication with, engagement of, and enabling people and communities to mobilise and act in support of both personal and community public health outcomes over an extended period;
- The legislative, regulatory, and operational settings needed to ensure the continued supply of goods and services required to enable people to isolate or otherwise take protective measures for an extended period during a pandemic;
- The legislative, regulatory, and operational settings required to support New Zealand’s immediate economic response to a future pandemic;
- The decision-making structures and arrangements that might be used or put in place during an evolving pandemic of extended length;
- Consideration of the interests of Māori in the context of a pandemic, consistent with the Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationship;
- Consideration of the impact on, and differential support for, essential workers and populations and communities that may be disproportionally impacted by a pandemic.
The inquiry may also assess whether this country's initial elimination strategy and later minimisation and protection strategy and the supporting economic and other measures, were effective in limiting the spread of infection and limiting the impact of the virus on vulnerable groups and the health system.
It will be limited to investigating events that occurred between February 2020 and October 2022 and is tasked with making recommendations on the public health strategies and supporting economic and other measures that should be applied in preparation for any future pandemic.
However consideration of any decisions made by the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee during the pandemic have been ruled to be outside of the inquiry's terms of reference.
The Commission will begin considering evidence on February 1 next year and must deliver its report by 26 June 2024. An election is due late next year.
A summary of the terms of reference is here.
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