Review into Morrison’s pandemic actions – a storm in a saucer, not even a teacup

This begs the question – why has the Albanese Government invested so much energy into what is a seemingly a trivial offence?

The answer is obvious – it is the politics of revenge. By the Albanese Government focusing on this area it is emphasising its credentials in 'cleaning up' government. By so doing it seeks to delegitimise the previous administration, its leader, and the Coalition's key credential of respectability and conservative constitutionalism. This is reinforced by the Albanese Government's support for an anti-corruption body and its Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. These 'clean up' actions by the Albanese Government, as has occurred in other times and places, is nothing more than:

… political phenomena. Decisions to initiate them are political, as are their scope and initial targets … clean-ups are political instruments which may be used to … delegitimise the previous regime, to purge opposition, to manipulate the political agenda.

Interestingly when asked by the media at the press conference announcing the Bell Inquiry, Prime Minister Albanese averred appointing a full, independent inquiry to review Australia's response to the pandemic unlike the United Kingdom or Sweden. The reasons are clear. Any such review would necessarily assess looking at Labor administrations in Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia and the two territories.