Senior Business Leaders Reiterate Call For Longer Term Plan And Greater Transparency

The Government’s move to seek independent advice on its approach to COVID management has been cautiously welcomed by senior business leaders as a step in the right direction, but they reiterate calls for a longer-term plan and greater transparency.

Two weeks after calling for clarity on how the country would get to “COVID-normal”, a group made up of senior company directors and chairs, including Patrick Strange, Rob Campbell, Joan Withers, Prue Flacks and Scott St John, says it was pleasing to see the government committing to the continual improvement of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response.

Last week, Minister for COVID-19 Response, Chris Hipkins, named a group consisting of Rob Fyfe, Dr Debbie Ryan, Professor Phillip Hill, Dr Dale Bramley and chaired by Sir Brian Roche, to provide independent advice to the Government on the management and strategic direction of its COVID-19 response.

Patrick Strange commented that the Government’s establishment of an independent advisory group “was a start”, but it is vital their advice is transparent and recommendations for improvement are publicly reported and acted on decisively.

“Last September the Simpson Roche report highlighted a number of weaknesses in the surveillance and testing regime, which in hindsight proved to be spot on. However, it took several months for the report to be publicly released, and even today some recommendations haven’t been actioned.

“It’s important that when the Government seeks high calibre, independent advice that it also commits to regular, timely reporting from the group.”

Joan Withers said progress on vaccinating frontline border workers and health staff has been good to see, as is indications that saliva-based surveillance testing is now being actively considered.

“But when we look at saliva-based PCR testing, businesses have needed to go out independently and set up their own workforce trials in order to support the case for their staff accessing frequent, reliable, and less invasive surveillance testing. These are companies who want to ensure their staff have the peace of mind that PPE and operational procedures are working to protect them and their customers. It certainly feels like many innovations or smart thinking initiatives from the private or community sector are getting bogged down in Wellington bureaucracy,” said Ms Withers.

Rob Campbell said the decisive, evidence-based strategy laid out by the government a year ago when it was confronted with the health impact of COVID was extremely effective in guiding the country at a time of huge uncertainty.

“What we had was real clarity as a country around what we needed to do and why we were doing it. Our next steps require the same purposeful approach that incorporates expert advice within a clearly articulated recovery roadmap,” said Mr Campbell.

Scott St John said he also supports the call for a developed and clear strategy for the country’s return to COVID-normal particularly as vaccination gathers pace and countries around the world start executing on their own recovery plans.

“It’s clear we’re likely to be living with this virus, or a version of it, for a few years yet. Any lack of clarity on the strategy for our country will drag on the productivity and business confidence and undermine the economic gains we’ve collectively made.

“As we face into the challenges of the next few years our success will be built on collectively understanding the phasing and timing of critical steps on the path to recovery. Yes, we might be adjusting our sails as we go along but we need to be clear on the destination we’re navigating to,” said Mr St John.

Mr Strange reiterated that the Government needs to ensure it doesn’t waste the benefits provided by the independent expertise of the advisory group.

“It certainly feels like the Government has already lost some ground by not committing fully to implementing the more than a dozen recommendations from the Simpson Roche report of six months ago. I would strongly encourage it to prioritise any findings and opportunities for improvement identified by this group.

“Gaining honest, frank insights into New Zealand’s COVID-19 response will be enormously valuable for the Government as it seeks to manage both the health and economic consequences of COVID over the next few years. But for it to be truly independent there needs to be regular, timely, public reporting of key outcomes and for the Government to actively consider how these translate into action.

“They’ve done well gathering together such a strong panel of advisors, but without a mechanism for full transparency and regular reporting the group risks being viewed as a cynical government tactic aimed at dampening down criticism.”

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