Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry

Making a submission to the Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry

Copy and paste the prompts below into a document, choosing the one/s that apply to you personally and skip the ones you don’t want to address, ready to submit (remembering the 3-page limit).

Fill out the form, attach your submission, choose your privacy preference and submit.

  • Don’t include sensitive, personal or commercial in confidence information

  • Do not include discriminatory content, foul or offensive language or refer to matters currently before a court

  • There is a maximum of 5 files with a 10 MB limit in total for all files combined. Anything in excess of this limit will not be received.

  • Only include Microsoft Word (.docx) files or PDF files produced from a Word document or similar text based software.

Click here to make your submission.

1.  Introduce yourself, and explain a little about why your voice is important

Examples: 

  • I am a healthcare worker who works in a public hospital as an ED nurse…

  • I  have two children in primary school and a vulnerable elderly mother in aged care…

  • I am a small business owner with an autoimmune disease…

2.  What are your suggestions and feedback about the role of the Federal Government, National Cabinet, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and/or other advisory bodies? 

(e.g. ATAGI/Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation; TGA/Therapeutic Goods Administration; ACSQHC/Australian Commission On Safety And Quality In Health Care)

Examples: 

  • My feedback regarding the role played by  <insert advisory body>  is that …

  • Advice given to government from Australia’s Chief Medical Officer was …

  • The personal impact of the decisions made by National Cabinet has been … My suggestion going forward is ….

3.  What are your suggestions and feedback about key health response measures, e.g. COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments, key medical supplies such as personal protective equipment, quarantine facilities, and public health messaging? 

Examples: 

  • In my personal experience, COVID-19 vaccinations and/or treatments have  …

  • Regarding PPE, in the future the federal government needs to …

  • The Federal Health department could improve Public Health messaging by … 

4. What are your suggestions and feedback about international policies with regard to securing vaccine supply deals?

Examples: 

  • The Morrison government’s approach to vaccine procurement impacted me by  …

  • The Albanese government’s vaccine procurement policy has been  …

  • The impact of the government’s vaccine procurement policy on me/my family has been  …

  • The impact of the government’s vaccine eligibility policy on me/my family has been  …

5.  What are your suggestions and feedback about financial support for individuals?

Examples: 

  • In my personal experience, the government’s policies regarding financial support during the pandemic have been …

  • The impact of the removal of isolation income support was  …

  • Financial support could be improved by …

  • I found JobSeeker was …

6.  What are your suggestions and feedback about support for industry and businesses?

Examples: 

  • I found JobKeeper was

  • Issues caused by labour shortages could be addressed by …

  • A sustainable approach to support businesses in pandemics would be to …

7. What are your suggestions and feedback about community supports?

Community supports include early childhood education and care, higher education, housing and homelessness measures, family and domestic violence measures in areas of Commonwealth Government responsibility. 

Examples: 

  • Regarding community supports such as <insert support> my experience has been …

  • My suggestion for community supports such as <insert support> is  …

8. What are your suggestions and feedback about targeted govt response to the needs of particular populations?

Populations including across genders, age groups, socio-economic status, geographic location, people with disability, First Nations peoples and communities and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities

Examples: 

  • My feedback is that <this group>  has experienced … due to pandemic and this could be addressed by the government  …

  • My personal experience of the pandemic inequities faced by Australians due to <group> has been … and I call on the government to respond with …

  • <insert group> faced challenges such as … and it would be helpful if the government supported us better with …

9. What are your suggestions and feedback for “improving Australia’s preparedness for (current and) future pandemics”?

The Panel says it will look to submissions for ideas to make recommendations on how the  Commonwealth should respond to future pandemics, so make a statement about whatever measures you think would help do this.

Are you passionate about Clean Air in schools, masks in healthcare, or the importance of better access to antivirals or timely updated vaccines? Do you have links to papers or advice from experts, e.g. Professor Brendan Crabb, the John Snow Project, OzSAGE or the US CDC?

Examples: 

  • Australia would be better prepared for current and future pandemics if the government  …

  • There is a gap in Australia’s response in … and there is an opportunity to rectify that with …

  • Things that worked well for my family/for me/for my business/other/… 

  • An example of best practice is … and the government could implement it by …

How to lodge your submission

  1. Copy and paste the prompts below into a document, choosing the one/s that apply to you personally and skip the ones you don’t want to address, ready to submit (remembering the 3-page limit).

  2. Fill out the form, attach your submission, choose your privacy preference and submit.

  3. Click here to make your submission. https://www.pmc.gov.au/covid-19-response-inquiry/consultation#how-to-prepare-a-submission