'Our pandemic plans were grossly inadequate', inquiry finds

The COVID-19 inquiry finds significant shortfalls in Australia's response to the pandemic.

Transcript

00:00And the first lesson from this report is that, like most countries frankly, our

00:07pandemic plans were grossly inadequate for the scale of the challenge that

00:11COVID-19 presented to us. The report makes clear, for example, that our plans

00:16such as they were, included no plan that would deal with the closure of the

00:21international border, which was such a central part of our response. No plan to

00:26deal with quarantine, which was also incredibly important. No plan to deal

00:30with the workforce demands of a pandemic that went on for as long as it did. And

00:36as a result, to use the words of the report, our response to the pandemic was

00:42not as effective as it could have been. And as a result of the lack of plans,

00:47leaders particularly were placed in the invidious position, to use the words of

00:51the report, of having to build the plan while it was flying.