The Covid-19 inquiry report, released on Tuesday, looked at vaccine approval and safety, mandates, lockdowns and tracing technology over 2021 and 2022. The fourth largest component of the fund was the ‘shovel-ready programme’, described by the inquiry as “not targeted to costs arising from the pandemic”. That included Cabinet papers providing more information about the health impacts than about social and economic impacts. The report said Reserve Bank quantitative easing and other measures used during the pandemic had “significant costs”. Instead, Labour set up a $60 billion fund spread across 821 programmes, with around half unrelated to the pandemic.

Source: Stuff March 10, 2026 16:02 UTC