Health Minister Simeon Brown has accused Labour leader Chris Hipkins of “dodging accountability” after refusing to appear at the independent Royal Commission into the response to COVID-19.

The Royal Commission confirmed it would no longer proceed with a planned second week of public hearings after Hipkins, Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Ayesha Verrall all declined to attend.

“Chris Hipkins is dodging accountability by refusing to front the independent Royal Commission into the response to COVID-19, and Kiwis deserve better,” Brown said.

“As Minister for the COVID-19 Response, he made the decisions now under the spotlight at the Royal Commission. He failed to reopen borders quickly enough, stalling our economic recovery and keeping families apart. He oversaw one of the slowest vaccine rollouts in the world. And he locked Auckland down for months, crushing businesses, costing jobs, and leaving lasting scars on our city.”

Brown said Aucklanders have not forgotten the impact of prolonged restrictions.

“Months of punishing restrictions destroyed livelihoods and closed countless small businesses. Now Hipkins will not even turn up to explain himself,” he said.

The Minister also linked Hipkins’ pandemic leadership to failures across his other ministerial portfolios.

“School attendance collapsed because of prolonged lockdowns and disruptions while he was Minister of Education. Retail crime and ram raids increased as communities faced economic hardship and social strain while he was Minister of Police. And waitlists for elective surgeries ballooned while he was Minister of Health,” Brown said.

“Chris Hipkins cannot hide from the decisions he made. He owes New Zealanders answers, and he should have fronted up to the Royal Commission.”

Transport Minister Chris Bishop also targeted Hipkins over his absence, saying the refusal to attend came just days after a Treasury report revealed almost half of Labour’s $66 billion COVID-19 spending was unrelated to wage subsidies or health initiatives.

“Kiwis are living every day with the consequences of Labour’s wasteful spending, which drove up inflation and interest rates, fuelled the cost-of-living crisis and led to Kiwis losing their jobs,” Bishop said.

“Fresh from fobbing off Treasury’s report into Labour’s spending, Chris Hipkins is avoiding accountability by refusing to front up to the Royal Commission. Almost half of Labour’s $66 billion spend-up was not related to wage subsidies or health initiatives, but Hipkins does not think Kiwis deserve an explanation of why his Government kept spending when every light on the economic dashboard was flashing.

“As one of the previous Government’s most senior ministers, and then Prime Minister, Hipkins was in the front seat for some of the most destructive parts of the previous Government’s spend-up, including unprecedented levels of untargeted spending and prolonged Auckland lockdowns which led to widespread economic and social damage.

“By first dismissing Treasury’s report and now refusing to front, Chris Hipkins is telling New Zealanders he does not care about the effects his decisions have had on Kiwis.”

The Royal Commission was established in December 2022 to examine New Zealand’s pandemic response and recommend improvements for future public health emergencies. Its second phase, focusing on decision-making and governance, included plans for a public hearing where key ministers from the former Labour Government would be questioned in person.

According to the Commission, the intention was to allow the public to “see and hear for themselves” how major decisions were made during the pandemic, including the use of emergency powers, border closures, lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

The Commission said it considered issuing a summons to compel the former ministers to attend but decided against it, citing their cooperation through private interviews.

Critics say their refusal to appear in public undermines transparency and public confidence.

Hipkins, who led the COVID-19 Response from November 2020 and later served as Prime Minister, was a central figure in decisions that affected border policy, lockdown length, vaccine rollout and business restrictions. Auckland faced some of the longest lockdowns in the world, and New Zealand’s borders remained tightly controlled for more than two years.

The Royal Commission is due to report its findings to the Governor-General in February 2026.

Chris Lynch Media asked Labour’s press secretary Kimberley Rothwell for comment, but she did not respond.