A royal commission into Australia's response to the pandemic?

This article explores the arguments for and against appointing a national inquiry in reviewing Australia's response to the recent pandemic. Although Australia had one of the lowest death rates in the world, and its economy bounced back faster than most, there were nevertheless concerns about several aspects of Australia's response to the pandemic. Could the number of deaths have been reduced? Were federal-state relations mishandled? Was there adequate parliamentary oversight? Did governments spend too much and were civil liberties curtailed too severely? Consequently, there have been calls for some sort of independent review, mostly in the form of a royal commission, into Australia's response to the pandemic. That countries such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand have appointed such inquiries into their pandemic response makes this an especially pertinent issue. Indeed, the final report of the Senate COVID-19 Committee released on the eve of the 2022 federal election, recommended the establishment of a royal commission. To date, none have been appointed. A range of different options are explored, and attention is given to the particular challenges in appointing a national royal commission in a federal system like Australia's.