Chris Hipkins made the Covid response calls at the height of the pandemic

Chris Hipkins was Minister for the Covid Response, but not Prime Minister until February 2023, nor was he Health Minister, Finance Minister or Director-General of Health. His role was to coordinate and implement decisions made collectively, and periodically communicate them to media and the public.

Simeon Brown has argued Hipkins should personally answer for pandemic-era calls; e.g., reopening borders, the vaccine rollout, and Auckland's extended lockdown.

He has also criticised him for declining to front the Royal Commission hearings, despite knowing full well that he did attend these hearings.

He also claims that Covid-borrowed money was misappropriated rather than spent on the response. This was debunked in the Phase 2 Report, which found it was used for economic stimulus, creating jobs and closing an infrastructure gap while keeping the economy functioning in an "all hands on deck" crisis.

National supported that economic policy at the time and wanted more spending.