Lockdowns and school closures are slammed in bombshell report into Australia’s Covid response

Australia cannot count on using the same measures it put in place for COVID-19 when the next pandemic hits because people have lost trust in authority, an inquiry into the nation’s response to the crisis has found.

Quickly establishing a national Centre for Disease Control is a priority recommendation of a 670-page report released on Tuesday, intended to prepare Australia for future pandemics.

The review found Australia fared better than other countries when considering its mortality rate and economic recovery.

But the pandemic response took a severe toll on the nation.

‘People worked beyond normal limits, and many of the public health professionals, frontline community service and health staff, political leaders, health experts and public servants we relied on to get through the pandemic are no longer in their positions,’ the report said.

‘This poses risks to our resilience to face another crisis.’

Part of the reason Australia was able to respond relatively quickly and successfully was a willingness among people to put the community ahead of their own self-interest.

But over time, the strain of the pandemic and absence of clear communication about why unpopular decisions were being made caused that community spirit to wane.

‘Trust has also been eroded, and many of the measures taken during COVID-19 are unlikely to be accepted by the population again,’ the report said.

In response, the report recommended that a future public health emergency response should consider ‘fairness and proportionality when implementing and enforcing restrictive measures’. 

The review was led by former NSW Department of Health director-general Robyn Kruk, Deakin University’s chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett and health economist Angela Jackson.

As well as a well-funded CDC to centralise future responses and communications, the review recommended taking a holistic approach to pandemic management that considers economic, social and equity, as well as health impacts.

It found vaccine mandates were effective at controlling the spread of the virus but has contributed to a reluctance among some people to get vaccinated since.

‘The combination of mandatory measures and the perception people had that they were unable to criticise or question government decisions and policies has contributed to non‑mandated vaccination rates falling to dangerously low levels.’ 

The report also said different approaches from the states caused distrust.

‘Initially, National Cabinet was united in its approach, but this unity waned over the course of the pandemic and at times there were contradictory explanations of decisions by leaders, further fuelling confusion and mistrust,’ it says.

‘While different approaches across states and territories could be appropriate where local conditions or different population risk profiles demanded them, some differences were not easily explained, and no rationale was provided.

‘This included the operation of state border closures that states enacted unilaterally and that lacked consistency and compassion in implementation.’

The report found frameworks should be put in place in peacetime so decisions don’t have to be made on the fly, for example with how to manage high-risk settings like schools and aged care. 

The report called out the strict lockdown enforcement tactics used by NSW and Victoria.

‘We heard that it eroded trust in the police and health authorities, had a disproportionate impact on specific populations, reduced the likelihood of future compliant behaviour, and in some circumstances led to violence – such as the violent anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne and violent threats against local councils.’

People felt Covid restrictions ‘became increasingly inappropriate over the long term and were too heavy‑handed and controlling, and that there was a lack of compassion and too few exceptions based on needs and circumstances’, the report found.

It also called out the impact of school closures on young Aussies.

‘School closures and remote learning also led to increased engagement with social media, triggering weight and body-checking behaviours among some young people. 

‘Access to education is essential for the development of children and young people, and is a protective factor in mitigating negative impacts during a crisis,’ the report said. ‘The impacts of disruptions to education on children and young people were consistently raised with the Inquiry.’ 

School closures – which were not recommended by health experts – caused long-term harm to children, given the inadequacy of replacement measures designed on the fly, with many schools unprepared to deliver remote learning. 

‘Research also suggests that lifestyle disruptions during lockdowns caused changes in brain biology in children and young people, with a greater impact on the adolescent female brain than the adolescent male brain.’

Health Minister Mark Butler said the report was ‘thorough and measured’ and vowed to implement its recommendations.

‘We have a responsibility, particularly as a government, we have a responsibility to examine our response to the pandemic, to learn what we did well, and in particular, to learn what we could have done better, and importantly, to build as this report describes it, a high level playbook for the next pandemic – because we know there will be the next pandemic,’ he said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said consequences of economic decisions during the pandemic, such as Jobkeeper, were still being felt.

‘Big decisions were taken and big mistakes were made. Those mistakes were costly and they were inflationary,’ he said.

‘The lack of planning, the delayed rollout, and the design choices of JobKeeper exacerbated skill shortages and inflationary pressures in our economy.’