Immunity for COVID-19 Inquiry?

Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Health spokesperson, 25 June 2020

Government Must Provide Worker Immunity for COVID Inquiry

Health workers and public servants who want to contribute to the independent inquiry into the North West COVID-19 outbreak should be guaranteed protection from having any actions taken against them.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation, and the Health and Community Services Union, have both called for the Government to provide this protection to workers. The Greens strongly support these calls and we urge the Government to do the same.

The Inquiry needs to hear full and frank accounts from health staff directly involved, to enable meaningful scrutiny of the conditions that resulted in the serious North West outbreak. This will not happen if workers are afraid of repercussions.

Tasmania is currently in a good situation regarding the control of COVID-19, but with the pandemic escalating globally we can’t be complacent.

We need a comprehensive understanding of what happened in the North West outbreak, and to do this we need to hear full and frank accounts from the people on the frontline.

The North West outbreak inquiry should focus on how our health system can be reinforced to ensure any second wave of the coronavirus does not leave us ill-prepared. The Government must provide a guarantee that any worker who makes a submission to the inquiry will be protected from legal or workplace action against them.

Media release – Anita Dow MP,Labor Member for Braddon, 25 June 2020

Premier must grant immunity to public servants for COVID-19 inquiry

The Premier must give a commitment to grant immunity to health workers and other public servants to participate in the independent inquiry into the North West COVID-19 outbreak.

Labor Member for Braddon, Anita Dow, said the Premier in question time today failed to provide a commitment to health workers and public servants.

“While the Premier today said the terms of reference for the inquiry includes a confidentiality provision, this does not go far enough to protect those public servants who want to speak up,” Ms Dow said.

“The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the Health and Community Services Union point out that hospital workers are already fearful to speak up after they were targeted and publicly blamed for the outbreak – including by the Chief Medical Officer and the Prime Minister based on false information.

“The State Service Act and the Public Interest Disclosures Act both do not provide sufficient protection for public servants to participate in inquiries.

“In the absence of explicit protections, public servants will be understandably concerned about reprisals if they disclose information that in many cases could be traced.

“The Premier’s refusal to commit to granting immunity calls into question the Government’s commitment to a transparent review. This is another reason why Labor has called for a Royal Commission, which would provide protection to witnesses.”

MEDIA RELEASES: Coronavirus Outbreak Inquiry.