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Pandemic highlights need for national governing body

The pandemonium caused by snap border closures has increased the pressure on the federal government to create an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) – a national body responsible for research and advice on how to deal with outbreaks. 

Australia is the only OECD country that does not have a national CDC or equivalent. 

Dr Moy said the confusion over orders showed why Australia needs a national centre for disease control. 

“We’ve done well but there has been this inconsistency,” Dr Moy told The New Daily. 

There has been reluctance from the federal government to create another governing body, but Dr Moy argued it would help the nation respond to outbreaks of any kind in the future. 

“It would mean we would be ready,” he said. 

“We can pull out the playbook from the vault and hand it to the states, who can look at it, adjust it if they want, and off we go.” 

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