Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deaths, loss of jobs, businesses closing, $300 billion plus of public expenditure, border closures, lockdowns: COVID has had the biggest effect on Australian life since World War II. It has also involved some of the biggest public policy decisions ever undertaken in terms of the quantum of money spent. Some things in the pandemic have gone well; some things have not. Nearly 20 months since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia is paying a heavy price for massive public policy failure on international quarantine and the procurement and distribution of vaccines.

Those who do not learn from the past are often doomed to repeat it. A royal commission inquiry is needed to establish precisely how Australia got into the position in which we find ourselves and to learn all the lessons we can from COVID-19 and the response to it. Only a royal commission would have the authority to cover the breadth of issues and actions of both the federal and state governments. Only an independent, non-partisan and fully empowered inquiry can cut through government spin and secrecy to get the truth. A royal commission should call for the so-called records of not only the national cabinet but other cabinets, both state and federal, even national security claims. Only a royal commission can extract the truth from reluctant ministers and bureaucrats. Only a royal commission can deliver authoritative findings to serve as a guide for future policy. It is an essential part of our COVID-19 response.