Ananish Chaudhuri: The collateral damage from our zero Covid mindset

Ashley Bloomfield was Knighted recently for the role he played in New Zealand’s Covid-19 response. His response relied primarily on the use of extensive and stringent lockdowns.

But were our lockdowns worth it and was our covid response appropriate? A Royal Commission of Inquiry is currently underway to establish lessons learned from the country’s Covid-19 response.

Eric Crampton: Enquiring into covid inquiries

The Royal Commission announced this week will not help voters provide better-informed brickbats or bouquets in 2023.

The inquiry will focus instead on lessons for future pandemics and will report back well after the election.

In a better world, the Inquiry’s work would have already begun. An interim report would help inform voters’ decisions. And a final report would draw necessary lessons for the ongoing pandemic response and any future ones.

Karl du Fresne: Why no royal commission on the Whakaari disaster?

It’s three years today since Whakaari/White Island erupted, killing 22 people. Netflix has made a documentary on the disaster that will screen next week.

In the meantime, a former IT manager with the New Zealand Fire Service has posed an important question: why no public inquiry?