Australian Covid inquiry to scrutinise states but politicians unlikely to face public hearings, chief says

Exclusive: Robyn Kruk says incredibly broad' investigation won't be adversarial' but premiers have already been contacted to participate

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The head of the federal Covid inquiry says the probe will be incredibly broad" and include a focus on how state and commonwealth governments interacted, saying premiers have already been contacted to participate and rebuffing criticisms that state government decisions would not be examined.

But Robyn Kruk AO, the experienced public servant tasked with chairing the year-long inquiry, said she did not plan for the process to be adversarial", indicating politicians and officials would be engaged for interviews and roundtable meetings rather than public inquisitions.

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