14 - Recommendations Ngā tūtohutanga
Introduction | Kupu whakataki
This chapter sets out what we recommend the government and its agencies do to ensure Aotearoa New Zealand is pandemic-ready and resilient.xi As demonstrated in the Looking Back chapters, the challenge of responding well to a pandemic does not fall on central government alone – communities, iwi and Māori, non-governmental organisations, local government and the private sector all contributed enormously to the COVID-19 response and will doubtless do so again in another pandemic. These groups and others may well find aspects of our recommendations relevant and useful to their own pandemic planning. However, our recommendations are directed at central government.xii
The recommendations give practical effect to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are not specific to that event. As we know, the next pandemic could well originate from a different pathogen that spreads and affects people quite differently, and it could require other response measures altogether. Our recommendations have therefore been designed to meet a range of possible pandemic scenarios. Some are also relevant to other kinds of national risks and emergency situations.
Like the lessons from which they arise, our recommendations are grounded in the evidence gathered during the Inquiry, including what we learned about other countries’ COVID-19 responses. The recommendations take account of what worked well and also what did not. Some recommendations reflect the views and suggestions of stakeholders we engaged with directly or who provided submissions.
When we heard good ideas for improving pandemic preparedness and resilience, we took note and used them to inform our recommendations.
We cannot predict whether the next pandemic will be triggered by a virus known to us or by an entirely new pathogen, whether it will be more deadly than COVID-19 or less, or whether it will be short-lived or protracted. What we can do is be ready for a range of possible pandemic scenarios. We therefore urge the Government to consider and implement these Phase One recommendations as soon as practicable. The minister charged with leading this work should receive regular progress reports on how the recommendations are being implemented at the all-of-government level and by individual agencies, and keep Parliament informed.
Complete table of recommendations | Te tūtohi me ngā tūtohutanga katoa
Our recommendations are organised into six groups and call for action across many areas of government before, during and after the next pandemic.
All support a common overall objective: ensuring pandemic preparations and the response itself have a clear purpose and are people-centred. Doing so will give the Government and the people of Aotearoa New Zealand a clear sense of direction, a benchmark against which response decisions can be measured and decision- makers held accountable, and a lodestar when the going gets especially tough.
xi See section 5 of the Terms of Reference: ’Matters upon which recommendations are sought: The inquiry should make recommendations on the public health strategies and supporting economic and other measures that New Zealand should apply in preparation for any future pandemic, in relation to the principal matters within the inquiry’s scope, by applying relevant lessons learned from New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and the response from comparable jurisdictions.’
xii We have used the term central government as the decisions and actions associated with the recommendations will require ministerial or Cabinet decisions and do not sit solely with officials to implement.