Scott Morrison has had calls with several world leaders outlining a three-point plan for the World Health Organization

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

Australia is urging top allies to back an overhaul of the World Health Organization including recruitment of investigators akin to “weapons inspectors” to determine the source of major disease outbreaks.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has been raising the three-point plan in a series of telephone calls with the leaders of the US, France, Germany and New Zealand.

It is understood from an Australian source that so far there has been interest in the ideas but no declarations of support.

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Morrison wants reform of the governance of the WHO, with one element being removing the right of individual members to veto proposed health strategies.

He also wants an independent review organisation which would examine the performance of the WHO in a global health calamity, such as the current Covid-19 calamity, when it has ended.

Most controversially, Morrison wants to give the WHO the power to send a team of investigators into a country to determine the factors behind a disease outbreak. He likens them to weapon inspectors deployed to countries to verify disarmament programs.

On 17 April the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, demanded greater transparency from China on the origins of coronavirus.

“I think it is incumbent upon China to answer those questions and provide the information so that people can have clarity about exactly what happened,” he told the Nine network.

A governments newspaper in China this week accused Dutton of being “pitiful” while Australia was guilty of “ignorance and bigotry”.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra has accused Dutton of repeating American propaganda.

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An official said: “It is well known that recently some people in the US including high-level officials have been spreading anti-China ‘information virus’. Their aim is to shift blame and deflect attention by smearing China.”

Trump has stopped American funding of the WHO and criticised its work during the global pandemic. His administration also appears to believe the organisation is pushed around by China.

Australia has declined to match the funding withdrawal, arguing the UN body’s frontline personnel do good work in places such as the Pacific, where Australia has a special interest.

But the government has let it be known it as questions about the WHO leadership.

Further, there is skepticism about the organisation’s capacity to assess its own effectiveness in major operations. Australia has suggested an independent review authority without detailing who would set it up or how it would operate.

The shadow foreign minister, Penny Wong, Wednesday said strengthening the international rules-based order was a good idea.

“If the PM is serious about it, he’s going to have to a lot of work to get international agreement,” the Labor senator said in a statement.

“It means not just talking to our friends, like the US, but also doing the hard yards of talking to countries that aren’t always our friends.”

Wong said this week in the United Nations Australia “unfortunately” has isolated itself on a Mexico-led resolution about the global response to the pandemic “offering no explanation for failing to join the 179 countries supporting the resolution”.

“The prime minister and foreign minister are going to have to avoid alienating 93% of the international community if they’re going to get their ideas off the ground,” Wong said.

Morrison raised the idea with Trump during telephone talks on managing the coronavirus Wednesday morning.

He later tweeted: “Just got off the phone with US President @realDonaldTrump. We had a very constructive discussion on our health responses to #COVID19 and the need to get our market-led and business centres economies up and running again.”

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His office added in a statement: “And the need to work together to improve the ability of the international community – including the (World Health Organization) WHO – to respond to pandemics.

“The PM also raised our focus on supporting regional countries especially in the Pacific and SE Asia.”

Morrison this week has also had telephone exchanges with the French president, Emanuel Macron, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel and billionaire Bill Gates.

The Europeans have their own suggestion for an independent health commission although details are limited.

Morrison in Tuesday’s call with Gates discussed vaccines, the Indo Pacific and the WHO.

Last week Morrison spoke to the leaders of New Zealand, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.