The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned Te Tira Ārai Urutā, has had a remarkable level of public engagement in its Phase Two, with 31,000 submissions received by the Sunday, April 27th deadline. Despite the massive public interest and the importance of learning from the Covid response the inquiry has been largely overlooked by major TV networks and most of the New Zealand media.

Phase One of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned | Te Tira Ārai Urutā received over 13,000 submissions despite excluding important questions such as vaccine safety and efficacy.

This almost tripling of submissions for Phase 2 highlights the public interest in areas the government would prefer to have ignored.

The one media report that has covered this was RNZ Morning report, where reporter Corin Dann questioned the Royal Commission Chair when questioned over issues like Vaccine Safety said.

"Just Like any court hearing we have to look at both sides of the story."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018984943/submissions-closed-for-phase-two-of-covid-inquiry

The 2025 "Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand" report from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD) shows a marginal decrease in overall trust in news, from 33% in 2024 to 32% in 2025. While still low, this suggests a slowing down of the sharp decline observed in previous years.

"It's not surprising that the public has lost trust in news media news" says Aly Cook, Publicist board member and media spokesperson for NZ Outdoors and Freedom Party "if mainstream media fail to cover such important news as this public inquiry with unprecedented level of public engagement, the public will look elsewhere for news.”

“The 31,000 submissions to Phase Two of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned | Te Tira Ārai Urutā, is potentially the largest ever for such an inquiry in New Zealand. It's inexplicable that it has not been headline news." Said Sue Grey Leader, of the NZ Outdoors Party and a specialist in complex emerging issues who has law science and public health qualifications .

Aly Cook, mother of a formally diagnosed & ACC accepted vaccine-injured son , previously saw her petition to Parliament, which called for a Royal Commission into COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy (a topic excluded from the first inquiry), garner significant public support with 23,098 signatures https://petitions.parliament.nz/7e760f56-5aa0-448e-8c2b-9652f7fe3215 that petition also experienced apparent media silence.

Adding to the concern over the lack of media coverage of significant public engagement with the Royal Commission, there's also been a similar lack of reporting on the level of vaccine injury and deaths recognised by ACC. ACC's latest proactive release, as of January 2025, shows 5 ACC recognised deaths in New Zealand linked to the COVID-19 vaccine, alongside $12.6 million in ACC payouts to those who have experienced vaccine-related injuries. This significant data on acknowledged adverse events has also seemingly been underreported by major news outlets. https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-responses/covid-19-vaccination-claims-refresh-january-2025.pdf

The New Zealand Outdoors and Freedom Party believes that in 2025, four years after the pandemic's onset, it's crucial for the media to present balanced perspectives, as Grant Illingworth said in his interview “Just Like any court hearing we have to look at both sides of the story." This balanced approach is essential for the media to regain public trust and support, especially considering the perceived lack of coverage surrounding significant public engagement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry and ACC data on vaccine injuries and deaths.

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