Forgive me but didn’t I see state premiers adorn my TV screen throughout 2020 and 2021 telling us how they were keeping you and me safe as we faced the COVID pandemic?
Wasn’t it mainly the premiers and their chief health officers telling us what to do and not to do? Weren’t they the ones imposing restrictions on distances allowed to be travelled and closing schools and facilities?
So how can Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announce an inquiry into the COVID response without including the states that were largely, if not overwhelmingly, responsible for the response?
Quick fact check—the federal government doesn’t operate a single hospital. They are run by the states.
Having promised to have an investigation while campaigning for office Mr. Albanese had to deliver. So strongly did he feel about the need for such an inquiry he suggested it would be like a Royal Commission.
The announcement made on Sept. 21 stopped far short of such a thorough all-embracing inquiry.
Instead, we get three non-legally trained people to gather evidence and report. No requirement to give evidence on oath. And it will specifically exclude unilateral decisions by the states.
How this can be justified is mind-numbing.
How often did we see the so-called National Cabinet meeting make decisions on the national level? Consisting of the prime minister, six premiers, and two chief ministers, the inquiry as of necessity will be denied access to eight-ninths of the National Cabinet decision-makers.
It will deny access to decision-makers who locked up their people, demanded mask-wearing, and arrested pregnant mothers in their homes for questioning decisions on social media.
The inconsistencies between the State and Territory responses need to be fully examined.
Allegedly taking their advice from alleged experts, some states closed schools. The Northern Territory didn’t and without any adverse consequences.
How come the high death rates in aged care facilities seemed to be in Victoria? Why did some states close racetracks and golf courses whereas others didn’t?
Relieving States of Accountability
Excluding the states allows the Victorian Labor premier to be fully unaccountable for his, at times, manic approach to the pandemic from 2020 to 2022.Recall the Black Lives Matter march was not a public health risk but a veterans’ march was such a threat that it had to be stopped.
Opening up the email trail on the “expert advice” decision-making on that one would be eye-opening and, one suspects, reveal inexplicable discrepancies.
The inquiry has all the indicators of a protection racket to look after the political wellbeing of the prime minister’s Labor state mates.
The prime minister’s aside during the announcement about the then-federal government’s initial support for mining magnate Clive Palmer’s High Court challenge to the West Australian government’s ongoing border closures gave the game away.
Let’s look into the former Liberal government’s activity in that regard but not that of his Labor state mates. Full marks for keeping a straight face Mr. Prime Minister.
The simple facts are clear to most people. This was a pandemic the likes of which had not been in anybody’s lived experience. Decisions were made on the run. They had to be.
But dressing them up as based on “expert advice” requires the experts to justify their assertions and decision-making.
Who can forget the Queensland premier’s cruel refusal to allow access to her state’s medical system for a dying child? Who doesn’t have a family member or friend who was denied access to a dying loved one?
Were there any funding incentives to report deaths from COVID-19 as there were in the United States?
The vaccine mandates would be another area for fruitful investigation.
Were they actually effective, let alone necessary? Given the shortage in various professions including our own military, how many people were unnecessarily dismissed? Should they be provided with compensation?
The closure of schools has disrupted many a child’s education. But that of course is in the jurisdiction of the states and beyond the inquiry as well.
The lack of any self-help advertising by the government provides another avenue for a diligent inquiry. Like being outdoors and in the sunlight because it provides the best disinfectant and helps the immune system.
Talking of sunlight, the inquiry will be conducting its work under a mammoth shade cloth denying the much-needed sunlight which is not only conducive to good physical health but the development of good public policy and accountability.
