NZ Government Ponders How to Loosen the Reins of COVID-19 Response Inquiry

Published on February 27, 2024

Back in December 2022, New Zealand’s then-prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced the country would hold a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it “the highest form of public inquiry and … the right thing to do.” It was to be chaired by Australian-based epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely, alongside two members, former Cabinet Minister Hekia Parata and former Treasury Secretary John Whitehead, an economist. Since then, Ms. Parata has stood down for personal reasons, and new Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is considering whether the Commission’s terms of reference are too restrictive and whether Mr. Blakely, a New Zealander, is the right person to lead it....

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