Western Australia pandemic inquiry – but where’s Australia’s?

Other countries have done it better.

Sweden, appointed a judge led expert review at the beginning of COVID and in the United Kingdom  a statutory based public inquiry chaired by a former senior judge is underway. Only last December New Zealand announced a royal commission into the pandemic because there “had been criticisms of NZ’s preparedness to deal with COVID-19, of the organisation of its response, and of particular health measures and their impact on people’s lives”.

There are many challenges in forming a royal commission into the pandemic in Australia. It needs to be a joint federal-state inquiry, have wide ranging terms of reference, and a mix of independent expert members. It has to be done if we really want to learn the policy lessons from the pandemic rather than just to play the blame game that now dominates current politics.  And in our increasingly politicised system of government, only a royal commission will do. They are, after all, the ‘institution of last resort’.