Kiwis demand public answers from former ministers in Covid-19 inquiry – Editorial

Just 28% agreed with their stance and 19% were unsure, according to the poll by Curia Market Research for the Taxpayers’ Union.

Is it any surprise that most of us want to hear an explanation? We will all carry the scar tissue from those years.

We lost our businesses, our children stuttered academically as schools were shut down, we missed the funerals of our best friends, and our families were strained to breaking point.

Aucklanders in particular were asked to endure a lot, through the strictest and longest lockdowns in the country. You can feel its residents still carry the resentment from the final lockdown, which felt like our own Groundhog Day.

They were extraordinary days, and our Government was given extraordinary powers over almost every aspect of our lives.

To see flawless leadership in such a pressurised environment is of course unrealistic, and no honest Kiwi can expect that even in the best of times.

But some of the decisions made by Ardern and her senior ministers were questioned by many immediately and were later proven to be the wrong course to take.

There were also contentious and harmful claims made by several politicians that were revealed to be simply untrue, including about individual New Zealanders, such as Hipkins’ false statements involving journalist Charlotte Bellis.

It took Hipkins six months to correct the public record for that one.

One of the reasons Labour’s overwhelming support so quickly eroded after winning an unprecedented MMP majority Government in 2020 was because they lost our trust.

The reputations of many in the Beehive during the Covid-era may never be repaired. Many will refuse to forget or forgive.

But if Hipkins wants to be Prime Minister again – and current polling suggests he has a decent chance – then he should want to do anything to rebuild that trust with the public.

We all remember the daily 1pm briefings, and New Zealanders want to see those who stood at the podium of truth answer questions publicly now. It may well go a long way to helping soften the continued resistance to the idea of Hipkins returning to the ninth floor, particularly among Aucklanders.

A collective reason given by the former ministers to avoid the public aspect of the inquiry was concern their comments will be used to spread misinformation.

Yet the opposite can be argued to be true. For what was the self-proclaimed most transparent Government ever, staying silent only invites speculation and yes, fuels the most bonkers conspiracy theories online.

The second phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry relates to February 2021 to October 2022. It has a focus on vaccines, including the use of mandates and vaccine safety, lockdowns such as the one in Auckland in late 2021, and the use of public health tools.

There remain many unanswered questions about these issues.

The commission said the former ministers had provided a “significant amount of information” privately, answered a wide array of questions and had agreed to answer more.

The problem with that is we don’t know what they are and, importantly, how those questions were asked and answered.

The inquiry is due to report back at the end of February 2026.

It will be well-read and scrutinised.

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