This is the best summary I could come up with:

The scope and powers of the inquiry have already sparked a war of words with the Coalition, with shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, labelling it a “cop-out” and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, accusing Labor of running a “protection racket” for state premiers.

The prime minister rejected the criticism as “absurd” but deflected questions about whether the inquiry would have the power to compel premiers to appear, telling reporters that seeking “conflict” is “completely contrary” to its aims.

“So much of the healthcare delivery and pandemic response was done by the states and territories … [that] a wide-ranging system-wide inquiry would make more sense,” he told Guardian Australia.

The infectious diseases physician Prof Peter Collignon agreed it was “problematic if [the inquiry] can’t look at what states did in Australia”, particularly because of the difficulty making international comparisons.

Prof Nancy Baxter, a clinical epidemiologist and the head of the University of Melbourne school of population and global health, said she understood the government did not “want this to be bigger than Ben Hur but we are likely to miss important learnings”.

“If the purpose of the commonwealth inquiry is to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics, then excluding unilateral state actions is a major oversight to say the least,” Willox said.“While this inquiry is at one level very welcome, it falls short of the root and branch review that is required to ensure that governments work cohesively and respond holistically during the next inevitable pandemic.”

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