“Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg needed protection from their own party when they stepped outside of their ideology. Many of their big-business supporters and members of the parliamentary and broader party were horrified at their approach,” political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.  

THE chief medical officer and the chief health officers of the states and territories provided, and continue to provide, the health information. The National Cabinet, an important Prime Ministerial initiative, provides broader advice.

So, what was the purpose of establishing the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC)? The NCCC is from the big end of town. It is separate from ordinary folk and pushes the emphasis away from health, the individual and small business, to big business and corporations.

According to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, its purpose is to “co-ordinate advice to the Australian government on actions to anticipate and mitigate the economic and social effects of the global coronavirus pandemic” and to “ensure the government receives the most comprehensive advice to meet the challenges ahead to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus and help build a bridge to recovery”.

Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg needed protection from their own party when they stepped outside of their ideology. Many of their big-business supporters and members of the parliamentary and broader party were horrified at their approach. In this respect, appointing a big-end-of-town conservative bunch was the right move.

There are partial exceptions on the NCCC. Former Labor minister and union heavyweight Greg Combet will have some influence. However, Mr Combet is now chair of Industry Super Australia and chair of IFM Investors, a global asset-management business owned by the industry superannuation fund. Jane Halton was the head of the federal Department of Health and is a director of the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Norway). She also has a foot in big business as a member of the boards of the ANZ Bank and James Packer’s Crown Resorts.

The NCCC is overwhelmingly big-business oriented. Neville Power was the chief executive of the Fortescue Metals Group and is chair of the NCCC. The deputy chair, David Thodey, was chief executive of Telstra. Catherine Tanna is managing director of EnergyAustralia and on the Reserve Bank board. Paul Little was MD of Toll Holdings and is described in Wikipedia as “one of the richest people in Australia”.

The NCCC is supported by membership of the secretaries of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Philip Gaetjens, and Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo earning more than $700,000 per year.

Economics is health dependent. Failure in preventive measures worldwide has had the greatest impact on economies since the great depression. It is not good enough for Scott Morrison to say the role is to “advise the Prime Minister on all non-health aspects of the pandemic response”. Any response will have significant health impacts – and health will continue to have economic impacts.

How much more evident was this interdependency when Finance Minister Mathias Cormann blasted protestors attending the Black Lives Matter rallies? Yet he remains keen to see businesses up and running. The NCCC is certainly designed to make opening businesses the priority.

Where are the small business or trades representatives? Where are those with serious academic expertise in public health to support health administrator Jane Halton – who is also chair of the Council on the Ageing? Where are the other NGO representatives? Where are the representatives of the states and territories?

The Prime Minister must have been feeling the pressure regarding appointments to the NCCC and their lack of critical health expertise when he stated: “The board will work in tandem with the chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, who continues to lead the Commonwealth’s health response”.

This group cannot provide political protection for the Prime Minister. If he takes their advice to open businesses, no matter how cautious it is, “to unlock resources, break bottlenecks and fix problems for Australian families, businesses and communities”, he is still not protected. 

A second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will be blamed on advice from the big end of town!

“Our actions are guided by the best possible medical advice, while putting the economic and social wellbeing of all Australians front and centre of our response”. With the make up of the NCCC, this claim of the Prime Minister seems very shallow – his biggest failure, however, is the lack of integration with health.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.