Covid-19 Royal Commission report released
The Royal Commission has released their second and final report. Some key aspects:
- a significant change in circumstances occurred in October 2021 when decision-makers realised that elimination was no longer achievable, even as vaccination rates were increasing – and they did not account for this clearly in the strategy and subsequent alert level decisions
- Macroeconomic impacts now appear worse than forecast at the time
- The Government did not make Rapid Antigen Tests easily accessible by the private sector until early 2022, after the existing PCR testing system had been overwhelmed.
Simeon Brown points out:
- “The Royal Commission has now confirmed that Chris Hipkins kept Auckland locked down longer than required, despite receiving advice that restrictions could end sooner.
- “The Royal Commission has also confirmed that unredacted Cabinet papers reveal the Ministry of Health warned Hipkins the Auckland boundary was unnecessary and impractical and should be lifted.
- Around half of Labour’s $60 billion COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund had nothing to do with the pandemic;
- Labour’s ‘shovel-ready projects’ failed Treasury’s test of being timely and temporary;
- Highly stimulatory fiscal and monetary policies pushed house prices far above comparable countries and fuelled inflation;