Chair Grant Illingworth KC says the second week of public hearings will not go ahead.
Photo: Screengrab / Covid 19 Inquiry
A week-long public hearing for decision-makers in the Covid-19 pandemic has been scrapped because former ministers – including former PM Jacinda Ardern – will not show up.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry aims to identify lessons learned from the government response in order to better prepare for future pandemics.
Inquiry chair Grant Illingworth KC says a second week of public hearings – set down for next week – is “no longer justified” because former ministers will not participate.
They include Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson and Ayesha Verrall – who have been interviewed in private, and have argued that repeating their answers in a public hearing would be “performative rather than informative”.
The commission said the decision to scrap next week’s hearings included a number of factors, such as a significant amount of information gained from former ministers and officials via private interviews, and the need to avoid unnecessary cost and delay.
The chair also said the inquiry had other mechanisms available to obtain necessary evidence and also to increase transparency and public confidence.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden said she was disappointed to learn those requested to give evidence publicly.
Van Velden said in light of the refusal she had sought assurance from the commission to assure they have the access they needed.
Illingworth said the hearings were intended to enhance public confidence in the Inquiry’s processes by enabling the public to see former Ministers questioned in public.
He said that they had critical insights into the pandemic response.
“The Covid-19 pandemic was a significant event that affected every New Zealander. The government at the time, through its ministers, made decisions about how we as a nation responded to that pandemic, which had implications for all of us.
“We have been tasked with reviewing those decisions, and we thought it was important that the public see and hear for themselves important evidence about why some key decisions about the response to Covid-19 were made and for what reason.”
He said it had given careful consideration to whether to issue a summons to the former ministers but had decided not to proceed with that course of action.
“On balance we are of the view that a summons is undesirable given that the former ministers continue to co-operate with the evidence-gathering of the Inquiry. It is our opinion that the use of summonses to achieve their participation at a public hearing would be legalistic and adversarial, which our terms of reference prohibit.”
The inquiry was giving further consideration to how it would collect evidence going forward and would provide more information about this as part of its regular communication.
It was due to report back to the Governor-General at the end of February 2026.
A week of hearings was held in Auckland last month, with a second week due to continue in Wellington this week.
The hearings were designed to gather evidence from key decision makers who led and informed the government’s response to the pandemic.
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