Monday was Monday for the New Zealand government. It announced that it would initiate an inquiry into its handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This will allow future governments to learn from the experience.
According to a government statement, the Royal Commission, a public inquiry at New Zealand’s highest levels, would review the overall response. It would consider economic measures like fiscal and monetary policies responses but not particular central bank decisions.
The goal would be to learn lessons from a future pandemic.
“It’s been more than 100 year since we had a pandemic on this scale,” Prime Minister Jacinda ardern stated in a statement.
New Zealand is a national icon for fighting the coronavirus. Because of its quick response and geographic isolation, it was largely COVID-19-free from the outbreak until 2021. Ardern won strong domestic support.
Protests broke out earlier this year over mandates to give vaccines to people who work in health and education, as well as tight border closings. Some political opposition parties also blame the government’s response to financial crises for inflating three decades of high inflation.