Business leaders to be conscripted into Lt Gen John Frewen's Covid 'wargaming'

Lieutenant General Frewen, the COVID-19 taskforce commander, also began a wargaming process with states and territories on Tuesday to hone vaccine distribution channels and access points that can cope with higher volume later in the rollout.

Now he's looking to identify barriers and opportunities to get as many Australians vaccinated that can involve business and industry.

The heads of major banking and retail employers like Coles, Woolworths, Wesfarmers will join the likes of Qantas' Alan Joyce and Tanya Constable from the Minerals Council at the roundtable as they seek to establish a framework for how business will engage with the vaccine program.

They will play how to encourage workforces and communities to get vaccinated, with particular focus on regional areas, and developing consistent messages on the rollout.

The government wants the private sector leaders to agree to a national business partnership wargaming session to be held in the next fortnight.

The business community was a key partner of the economic recovery, Mr Frydenberg said, but more still needs to be done and crucial to the recovery will be the continued rollout of the vaccine.

"Throughout the pandemic we have partnered with the business community and we are looking to do so again to rollout out the vaccine in a safe and efficient manner.

"As we move our focus from suppression to living with the virus in line with the roadmap set out by national cabinet, our largest employers will play an important role in supporting Lieutenant General Frewen rollout the vaccine."

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The general explained why the government might be keen on wargaming and his appointment to take operational control and the messaging around the rollout.

"Military planners are always planning for the most likely scenario and what we call the worst case scenario," Mr Frewen told reporters on Tuesday.

"If you have a think about the sort of things that can go wrong early, it builds resilience into program.

"Perhaps a more broader sense of coordination to the plan [was expected] and the way my position has been set up also gives me greater flexibility to reach across the full range of government agencies and departments and some of the other stakeholder groups that hasn't been the case up until now."

The latest rollout figures show Monday recorded the highest daily increase in Covid vaccinations, with more than 146,000 doses administered. Thirty-one per cent of eligible people over the age of 16 have had at least one dose of the vaccine.

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