Media Release

Neville Power, the newly appointed Chair of the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, has today pledged his commitment to helping businesses, jobs and livelihoods through the COVID19 pandemic.

“The role of the Commission is to minimise and mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on our businesses, our communities and our people,” Mr Power said.

“I was honoured to have been called upon by the Prime Minister for this important role. I see my job as working closely with businesses to prioritise and solve problems to support as many businesses and jobs as we can.

“Where there is a workforce that is no longer gainfully employed, we want to find a place where that workforce is needed. Where there is idle equipment, we want to find a way to repurpose it and where we have capacity in our supply chains we want to make sure it is fully utilized.”

The Commission will work across business-to-business and business-to-government networks to unlock resources, break through bottlenecks and fix problems so Australian families, businesses and communities are supported in the months ahead.

Mr Power and the Commission will also work closely with the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee to make sure this work complements the health response.

“I will be supported by an Executive Board of Commissioners which brings together a wide range of expertise to focus on mobilising and coordinating public, private and not-for-profit effort,” Mr Power said.

“Most importantly we want to bring hope for the future because once the virus is under control, we need to be well positioned to restore people’s lives and jobs as quickly as possible.”