Key stakeholders have universally supported establishing a COVID Royal Commission while many slam the Prime Minister’s COVID review panel as a toothless tiger. 

Doctors, unions, human rights lawyers, vaccine injured and Royal Commission experts were among the witnesses to give evidence at a Senate inquiry tasked with proposing terms of reference for a future COVID Royal Commission as pressure mounts on the Albanese government.

In a rarity for parliamentary inquiries, every single witness was united in their support for an expansive, fully empowered Royal Commission into the Federal and State Governments’ response to COVID.

Senator Malcolm Roberts, who established the Senate inquiry said the evidence heard on Thursday meant it was only a matter of time before the Prime Minister’s hand was forced.

The largest government economic and health response in the wake of COVID deserves a fully empowered Royal Commission.

Nearly four years after the start of COVID-19, Australians still don’t have answers about why the government took some of the most draconian measures in Australian history.

Anthony Albanese’s COVID review panel is made up of insiders who have vocally supported the harshest lockdowns in the world. It’s a toothless tiger made to whitewash everything the federal government did while turning a blind eye to anything state governments did.

The Albanese government took less than three months to call its first Royal Commission. With the government’s second anniversary approaching without a COVID Royal Commission, Australians are asking the Prime Minister, What have you got to hide?

Only the Royal Commission can answer why the government had vaccine mandates for a vaccine that didn’t stop transmission, secret health advice that was never published, established plans for pandemic response that were ignored, and the longest lockdowns in the world called over a virus as severe as some flus.

We cannot afford to make the same mistakes again. Anthony Albanese must call this Royal Commission so we can get to the bottom of it all.