The Victorian hotel quarantine scandal inquiry: more tricks and delays

In fact, Ms Coate was not only not a member of the Federal Court, but rather a member of the Family Court. However, as a retired judge she is not entitled to the designation of "Justice" in any formal role.

The Victorian Law Foundation's guidelines on referring to retired judges makes this clear. This is not a mere technicality or innocent mistake because the Andrews government has kept claiming - even this week - that they have established a "judicial inquiry".

Public inquiries can be used for legitimate purposes to provide independent advice, to clarify facts, and to allocate responsibility.

However, as seems the case with the Andrews government with this inquiry, they can also be used for politically expedient reasons of being seen to 'do something', to minimise blame, delay decisions, and get a government off the hook.

When establishing the inquiry, Premier Andrews stated that "it is abundantly clear that what has gone on here is completely unacceptable and we need to know exactly what has happened."

It certainly was. And we certainly do.

The Andrews government's obfuscation has to stop and the inquiry be given the level of cooperation it deserves, so the public might at last "know exactly what has happened" - and even more importantly, who was responsible for the scandal that has affected so many lives.