A top health official has refused to rule out lockdowns if a new pandemic hits NSW.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant was asked on Monday whether, given what is known now, she would still recommend lockdowns and curfews.
Ms Chant did not give a straight answer.
“I don’t think these things can be answered with a simple question,” she said.
“And I think one of the most important lessons is that it’s important that we think about the future, but that we don’t base our plans for the next pandemic entirely on what we’ve experienced recently.”
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has refused to answer whether Covid lockdowns and curfews are the right way to manage a pandemic
Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced there would be a three-member inquiry into Australia’s Covid responses, but there would be no investigation into “actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments”.
Since Covid measures such as lockdowns, curfews and closing of internal borders have been decided by state governments, this means that the inquiry will not explore these issues in depth.
NSW Police fine a group of three women who breached state health orders by gathering in a group of three in August 2021
During the Covid period, the longest lockdown NSW has experienced was 107 days, which ended in October 2021, and that September saw curfews imposed on some of the suburbs hardest hit by the Delta strain of the virus.
As grueling as this was, it pales in comparison to the 262 lockdown Victorians had to endure, which involved more widespread curfews.
Dr. Nick Coatsworth, who served as the national deputy chief health officer during the pandemic, curtly noted that such exclusions mean the inquiry will ignore “pretty much everything they did” to respond to Covid.
He previously called for an inquiry into whether independent public health powers should remain with states and territories during a pandemic.
“Who determines the proportionality of the response to a pandemic and how are the social costs of pandemic restrictions assessed and balanced against the need for disease control?” asked Dr. Coatsworth.
He took aim at Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, who “believes Covid research should focus on vaccines, national medical supplies and personal protective equipment”.
‘None of these relate to the core question. Proportionality,” added Dr. Coatsworth added.
“It’s a word he would rather never enter into the historical record of our (and his) pandemic response. But that will happen.’
This criticism was echoed by other commentators and the opposition, who accused the Albanian government of protecting Labor prime ministers from scrutiny.
Political editor of the Australian Financial Review Filip Coorey accused Albanese of “treating the Australian people like idiots” by keeping the terms of the inquiry so limited.
“(The announcement) was so completely dishonest and patronizing that the government would have more credibility if it had just completely broken its promise and done nothing,” he wrote.
“That means that almost everything that continues to give people COVID nightmares — school closures, lockdowns, state border closures, vaccination mandates, botched contact tracing, and overzealous policing — is all off limits,” he wrote.
“These are the actions that have caused economic ruin, widespread heartache and mental health problems, and delayed the education of thousands of children.”
Liberal Party deputy leader Susan Ley branded the investigation a “sham” and claimed it “places the political interests of the Labor Party above the interests of all Australians.”
“This is the Prime Minister looking after his workers at the state government level,” Senator Ley said on Seven’s Sunrise programme.
“How can you have a study that doesn’t look at the whole of what this has done in a way that allows us to learn how to do better next time?”
Mr Albanese claimed on Thursday that the inquiry fulfilled his election promise, despite promising to set up a much more powerful royal commission into Covid while he was opposition leader.
“We said before the election and I have said since that given the enormous disruption, the stress, the loss of life and the economic impact of the pandemic – it is appropriate that when we reach a certain period, we should conduct an investigation Mr Albanese said.
‘We need to examine what went well (and) what can be done better, with an emphasis on the future, because the health experts and science tell us that this pandemic may not be the last to happen – and it is not likely to be . .’
Dr. Nick Coatsworth, who was the national deputy chief health officer during the Covid period, says Albanian government’s pandemic review rules out key issues
The watered-down Commission of Inquiry will lack the powers of a Royal Commission to compel witnesses to appear and testify truthfully.
It will be led by economist Angela Jackson, epidemiologist and regular Covid commentator Catherine Bennett, and public administration expert Robyn Kruk.
The inquiry’s 12-month timeframe to examine the sheer scale of actions during that period has also been criticized as insufficient.