PM wants weapons inspector-like powers for WHO

Both leaders pledged to work together to improve the ability of the international community, including the WHO, to respond to pandemics.

Mr Morrison and Mr Trump expressed their mutual desire to get their economies up and running again. Mr Morrison also raised Australia's concerns about the virus taking hold in south-east Asia and the Pacific, where developing countries run the risk of their health systems being swamped in the event of an outbreak.

Mr Morrison also discussed the WHO's ongoing role in conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He and Dr Merkel highlighted the need for caution when travel restrictions are eased to prevent a flare-up.

A major factor in the government's thinking over the WHO's future is the several weeks of delays caused by China's refusal to allow WHO officials into Hubei province, where the virus is believed to have originated in a wild animal "wet market".

Inspectors were only granted entry after WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus flew to Beijing and met Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 28, a month after the virus began infecting people.

Dr Tedros has been accused of blindly accepting Beijing's assurances that the virus was not dangerous, most notoriously on January 14 when he relayed Chinese authorities' advice that there was no evidence of human to human transmission.

While Dr Tedros praised Chinese authorities for an aggressive response to the virus, Australian health officials were sceptical early on about both the information coming out of China and the WHO's handling of the crisis.

The organisation did not declare the virus a pandemic until March 11, a fortnight after Australia had said officially it believed it would become one. Mr Morrison also defied its advice not to impose travel restrictions and moved on February 1 to ban travellers who had been in mainland China.

Mr Morrison believes WHO officials need to be able to go into a country to investigate disease outbreaks of their own accord, similar to powers granted to United Nations weapons inspectors, rather than try to negotiate access as happened with China.

Another frustration is that it is shackled by a "lowest common denominator" approach, whereby any of its almost 200 members can veto decisions.

Also fuelling the need for reform of the WHO is its failure to act on recommendations for change following the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said it was a good idea to strengthen the international rules-based order, but questioned why the government did not support a Mexican-led resolution at the United Nations calling for co-operation on tackling COVID-19, despite 179 countries supporting it.

"If the PM is serious about it, he’s going to have to do a lot of work to get international agreement," she said.

"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."