Prime Minister (PM) Anthony Albanese says a Royal Commission will investigate Australia’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic “as soon as practicable,” but the government will first deal with the current wave of the virus. Speaking to Sky News Australia on Aug. 21, Albanese said that while both federal and state government responses need to be looked at, the main focus would be on the former Liberal-National Coalition government’s handling of the pandemic.
However, the senator for South Australia, Alex Antic, has stressed that a Royal Commission is an “absolute necessity,” but needed to look into the response of the states, who were responsible for lockdowns, mandates (for masks and vaccines), and quarantine policies—most states and territories are run by the centre-left Labor Party.
PM Albanese revealed that the Royal Commission—a broad independent investigation—would look at the interaction between federal and state-level authorities. “Primarily, it would be about the federal government, that’s what we have responsibility for. But the interaction between the different levels of government of course were critical to the response to the COVID pandemic,” Albanese said.