Australia’s COVIDSafe app, originally likened to digital sunscreen of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was demoted by the Senate committee tasked with reviewing the federal government’s pandemic response.
“By failing to recognize the app’s fault or seek to fix it, the government continued to monitor an app that was not fit for its intended purpose, costing millions of dollars and providing limited public value,” the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 said in its final report.
The entire committee, with the exception of one member of the Union, supported this view.
This finding was carried out as a study conducted by the commission, which ended in February, which found that the use of COVIDSafe in New South Wales between May and November 2020 detected only 17 more close contacts. have not been identified through conventional contact tracing methods.
As a percentage, the 17 close contacts detected by the COVIDSafe app amounted to 0.1% of all close contacts identified in the state during that time period.
The commission added that the federal government did not want to provide an update on the number of additional contacts the COVIDSafe app identified, choosing instead to declare states and territories responsible for reporting. number of cases identified.
In light of the inefficiencies of the COVIDSafe app, the commission recommended that the federal government stop any future public spending on the failed COVIDSafe app.
Committee chairwoman and Labor Senator Katy Gallagher said: “The evidence over the past two years consistently shows that the Morrison Government was unprepared before the pandemic hit, reacting too slowly, ignoring advice. experts and take no responsibility when things happen”.
The Commission also called for the establishment of a royal commission to examine Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to inform its preparedness for future COVID-19 outbreaks and pandemics.
As of October 2021, 9.2 million Australian dollars was spent by the federal government to run the COVIDSafe app, amounting to an average of AU$200,000 per month. While the Digital Transformation Authority (DTA) says the cost to run the app has dropped, but still around AU$60,000 per month.
Relevant scope
