SHAME: Jacinda Ardern and key ministers REFUSE to appear at Covid Inquiry
Jacinda Ardern has been slammed for evading a public Covid-19 inquiry after previously saying she would give evidence.
Jacinda Ardern has drawn sharp criticism after refusing to front at public hearings for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19, despite earlier stating she intended to assist.
Ardern, along with former ministers Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson and Ayesha Verrall, declined the commission’s request to appear in person during its second phase. The group argued the commission had strayed from standard practice by seeking public testimony rather than private interviews, claiming the broadcast of their submissions would likely be “tampered with” and misused to "spread misinformation."
🚩Jacinda Ardern has formally declined fronting the Covid Inquiry phase 11.
— Holyhekatuiteka (@2ETEKA) August 13, 2025
Hipkins, Robertson, Verral have also declined stating that a public interview would undermine confidence in conventions; it is performative (ironic)and the ultimate manipulators who bribed media to model… pic.twitter.com/AvI8fMwqmt
Commission chair Grant Illingworth KC said the aim was transparency. “We have been tasked with reviewing those decisions, and we thought it was important that the public see and hear for themselves important evidence about why some key decisions about the response to Covid-19 were made and for what reason,” he said. “The Government at the time, through its ministers, made decisions about how we as a nation responded to that pandemic, which had implications for all of us.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters slammed the decision, saying: “Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Roberston, and Ayesha Verrall have all colluded and decided to decline to give evidence at the COVID-19 Royal Commission public hearings.”
Peters branded the move a betrayal of public trust. “The ‘Podium of Truth’ has become the ‘Podium of Evasion’. These former ministers do not want to sit in a public hearing and answer the hard questions that every New Zealander deserves to know. If ever there was a definition for ‘a different kind of ‘abuse of’ power’ this is it.”
Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Roberston, and Ayesha Verrall have all colluded and decided to decline to give evidence at the COVID-19 Royal Commission public hearings.
— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) August 13, 2025
The ‘Podium of Truth’ has become the ‘Podium of Evasion’.
These former ministers do not want to sit in…
He accused them of “undermining the entire action and purpose of the inquiry to avoid public scrutiny” and said they “care nothing about public confidence, and worse, are treating the entire public with distain and contempt.”
“These former ministers were at the heart of decisions that affected hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders… yet they refuse to be held to account,” Peters said. “The public deserve an answer about why they are refusing to be held publicly to account.”
*Lockdown overlords missing in action from the Podium of Truth*
— David Seymour (@dbseymour) August 13, 2025
“Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson, and Ayesha Verrall’s refusal to front up to the COVID inquiry is a big change from invading our living rooms daily. What’s changed?” asks ACT Leader David Seymour.…
Although the inquiry has the legal power to compel witnesses to testify, Illingworth confirmed those powers would not be exercised.
Back in July, Ardern said she would assist the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 response.
At the time, there was speculation about whether the former prime minister, now living in the United States, would be called to appear.
A spokesperson stated then that she had every intention of providing evidence if asked.
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