The head of Australia’s Covid inquiry has signalled her panel will examine the procurement of PPE after revelations that a $100m deal with a relatively obscure online retailer left the government with 46m unusable masks.
The Guardian revealed on Wednesday that the former government had signed two contracts with the online retailer named ABM to supply Australia with 50m masks and 7m gowns during the early months of the pandemic.
ABM had little apparent pre-pandemic experience in supplying PPE and had predominantly sold massage guns, bedding, air fryers and robot vacuum cleaners before winning the work through limited tender.
ABM then signed contracts with two Cyprus-based companies, Neumer Trading and Neumer Holdings, to secure the PPE, which was sourced largely from manufacturers in China. The Neumer companies made about $40m on the deals, according to contracts and other documents seen by the Guardian.
Five of the seven mask manufacturers whose products were supplied to Australia were later found to be noncompliant. The government decided it could not use 46m masks imported through the deals, because they were delivered to the national medical stockpile on mixed pallets and it was too difficult to separate compliant and noncompliant products.
Earlier this year, the government announced the establishment of an inquiry into Australia’s response to Covid-19, to be conducted by an independent panel.
The panel’s chair, experienced public servant Robyn Kruk, told Guardian Australia the inquiry would examine PPE procurement.
“The inquiry will consider health and non-health responses to the pandemic, which were the sole responsibility of the commonwealth government or jointly with the states and territories,” she said. “For example, the provision of key medical supplies to Australians – which would include PPE procurement.”
Asked whether the inquiry would consider the ABM deals specifically, she responded: “A range of reviews and ‘lessons learned’, including on procurements, have been undertaken by commonwealth, state and territory government agencies and other non-government organisations that the independent panel will use as inputs to inform opportunities for improvement.”
The health minister, Mark Butler, also confirmed on Wednesday that the inquiry would examine PPE procurement.
“The government has established an independent inquiry that will be held into Australia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic to help better prepare and protect our country for the future,” he said. “The inquiry will include looking at the procurement of PPE.”
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The Australian Medical Association president, Prof Steve Robson, said the experience of frontline health workers in accessing PPE must also be a subject of the inquiry.
“The Covid-19 inquiry must consider all the lessons to be learned from Australia’s response to the pandemic to ensure our healthcare system is prepared for any future pandemic,” he said.
“The experiences of doctors who were on the frontline of the pandemic and dealt with all that the pandemic brought, including the need for PPE, must also be taken into account.”
The Guardian is not suggesting any of the parties involved in the $100m ABM deals engaged in wrongdoing.
ABM did not respond to questions.