Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has said the people who led Australia through COVID-19 do not need to apologise, following damning findings into the government’s response to the pandemic.
An inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic found extensive delays to the vaccine rollout resulted in some deaths and a $31 billion blow to the economy.
It also found that a lack of transparency and the high level of confidentiality around the advice that informed decision-making eroded public trust.
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Butler was on the airwaves this morning when he was asked whether officials should apologise to rebuild that trust with Australians.
“I have enormous respect for all of the leaders who led our pandemic response, whether it was Scott Morrison, Dan Andrews, Gladys Berejiklian, who were in particularly hard-hit jurisdictions,” he told ABC’s AM.
“They worked enormously hard, they made some incredibly courageous decisions. It doesn’t mean they got every decision right.
“I think the key takeaway from this report is that our leaders did not have the tools that they needed.
“There were not the pandemic plans in place when this thing hit and we have to make sure the next generation of leaders … are much better equipped.”
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When Butler was pressed further about an apology, he simply said: “No.”
“Our contribution to rebuilding trust is going to be to put in place a Centre for Disease Control.”
The formation of a Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is one of the 26 recommendations handed down in the report.
A taskforce has been established to begin implementing those recommendations with a CDC flagged as a priority.
CDC operations will be based in Canberra and are set to commence at the start of 2026.
The recommendations are hoped to better prepare Australia for the next pandemic, which Butler has stressed there definitely will be.
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