Expert perspectives on the changing dynamics of policy advisory systems: the COVID-19 crisis and policy learning in Belgium and Australia

Expert advice played a pivotal role in shaping the COVID-19 policy responses of different countries. Such measures had wide ranging impacts beyond health, including education, economy, law, and other societal aspects. Thus, analysis of how expertise was utilised and adjusted to adapt to changes during the crisis can draw valuable insights into how to better prepare policy advisory systems to respond to future crises. Here we examine the dynamics of COVID-19 policy advisory systems in Belgium and Australia through interviews with 34 experts directly involved during the first two years of the crisis. We examine the temporal changes in how expert advice was sought, provided, and utilised for crisis decision-making, and the various expert groupings and their relationships over time. In both countries, there was policy learning and adjustment, signalled primarily by an expansion in the breadth of perceived relevant expertise as the scope was re-framed from a 'health' crisis to an all-encompassing socio-economic crisis. In Australia, policy responses were shaped by a relatively cohesive inter-governmental group of senior health bureaucrats who became gatekeepers of the evidence presented to state and federal government leaders in the National Cabinet. In Belgium, the more fragmented and changing array of advisory groups reflected tensions within crisis management arrangements, resulting in divergent expert opinions both within the formal advisory groups and in the public realm throughout the crisis. Our findings build on the policy advisory systems and policy learning literature and suggest that more adaptive frameworks and principles be developed for specific contexts.