Brooke van Velden: Internal Affairs Minister on the second phase of the Covid Inquiry

The Internal Affairs Minister says the second phase to the Covid Inquiry will expand the terms of reference.  

It's due to start in November and will continue until February 2026.  

Minister Brooke van Velden says phase one centres mostly on the health response and the Government's communication.  

But she told Mike Hosking that phase two will focus on factors like vaccines and lockdowns as well as any disruptions to health, education and business.  

She says it will be a bit broader in range and will answer more of the questions that are top of mind for people. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Morning, seven past seven. So we get two COVID inquiries.
The current one will complete its work this year, and
then Part two begins asking the sort of questions Part
one should have but didn't, and then that is the
politics of it all. Of course. The Minister of Internal Affairs,
brook Lynvelden has well, it's very good morning to you.
Good morning mate, David Seymour Gavid Away. I think on
this program a couple of weeks ago when I asked
him about it in generally he talked about the sanctity

(00:22):
of what is already underway and the importance of that,
and you just can't muck with that. Is that part
of what's driven your decision?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, that is part of my decision making. Look, I
know that there are some concerns with the original now
phase one of the inquiry, but there's a larger question
at play here, and that's how much do we wish
to respect our democratic institutions? And that's really important for me.
It's unprecedented to end a Royal Commission. So what will
happen now is the Royal Commission or now Phase one,

(00:52):
will report back to me in November and in new
terms of reference, with new Commissioners will now take its place,
coming back in February twenty twenty six, and I think
that is really the only forward as quite an elegant solution.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
How much of a jack up do you see Part
one as I.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Think there are actually quite a few areas that will
be quite important for Part one to focus on, and
I think the Commissioners will actually do a good job
in realm looking at things like the health response of
the government and the government's communication where I think people
are looking for more focus. And what Phase two will
focus on are things like the government's response and how

(01:32):
that was weighed up against education, health, business inflation, what
it's response did to debt and business activity, the social
division that was caused in our society, and importantly also
touches on New Zealand first commitment where they wish to
look into vaccine efficacy. So it's a bit broader in range.

(01:54):
I think answers a lot of those questions that will
be on the top of people's minds. Was the government
to fixate on just one aspect of its response?

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Do you have sympathy for Peter's.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh, look, I think I think many many people have
concerned about the current commissioners. But look, what I would
say to that is I've actually had some really really
good discussions with both of the current commissioners. They were
both very open, very honest, and that's how we've led
to having now two phases where the two current commissioners
will be resigning in November, and now we'll have new

(02:30):
commissioners and a new path forward which everybody is united by.
I think there's just one little discrepancy on how much
we wish to pay weight on the time and the
resources and the evidence gathered to date for Phase one.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Fly on the wall, you and Peters in a room
together explaining it to each other. How grow did it get?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Look, I actually have really good relationships across government, so look,
I don't I don't tend to get aggressive in any
real situation. What I would say is that we just
have three parties that are working really well together. You'll
note that we're all united in the past forward. It's
just that we had a little disagreement on one of
the aspects of the past. So you know, I think

(03:14):
actually we work quite well as the government.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Okay, who's going to lead and what sort of person
will that be? Part two?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, what I'm looking for for the new commissioners is
a range of experience in a legal background as well
as economics background and ideally having a health background as well.
So that's the ideal mix up. In August, I'll be
coming back with the exact names and the terms of
reference all signed off, but at this stage I can't

(03:45):
say who exactly will be there. We're still working our
way through those details.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Nice to talk to you, Brook van Belden, out of
the Act Party, Minister for Internal Affairs. Eleven minutes past seven.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
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Speaker 1 (04:00):
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