Do you remember the pandemic years? Do you remember inexorable – never ending – lockdowns? Do you remember people being investigated, fined, and dragged away for breaking curfew or even for Facebook posts?

Most Australians do. Australia’s harsh approach attracted attention overseas.

This attracted attention across the board. Even MMA fighters, such as Sean Strickland, have called Australia out for it. In a rather entertaining, and memorable, pre-match interview he decried Australia’s seeming lack of freedom of speech. It’s well worth a listen.

We can debate the merits of Americas approach to covid. But, there is no denying that there were errors in our response. Thus, many Australians also want to know why government made the decisions that it did; why the government was so heavy handed, whether many of the measures were genuinely necessary, and whether we could have done better.

Some time ago, Anthony Albanese had promised an inquiry into Australia’s approach to covid. Now, he it has been announced. Somewhat. But, the inquiry is a joke. Two major aspects stand out. It excludes state premiers, especially Dan Andrews and Annastacia Palaszczuk. The inquiry also looks rather toothless and is weirdly not a royal commission.

Let’s look into this.

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Focus

The first issue is what is within the ambit of the inquiry.

The inquiry focuses on the federal government’s response to covid, rather than that of the states. Albanese is sparing his ALP mates who run the states with the worst outcomes and who are still in power. Anthony Albanese is seemingly trying to target Scott Morrison. This seems like yet another political hit job rather than a real inquiry with a genuine interest in finding out the truth.

This is because the worse decisions during covid were at the state level. The Federal government certainly had issues. Perhaps covid relief payments could have been better structured. Perhaps they could have made better decisions about vaccine approvals. But, the federal government literally does not have the power to create lockdowns, curfews, or any of the other heavy handed things that people hated. These were all state-level factors, hence why they differed between states. In a federal system, such as Australia’s, the federal government cannot impose such lockdowns. These were all state decisions.

The decision to exempt state premiers from the inquiry is ridiculous. The Australian Medical Association – which itself was dogmatic during the pandemic – even criticized the decision.

Not all premiers were ALP premiers. Gladys Berejiklian was a Liberal premier. However, she is no longer in power. And, she was by far the least unpopular in relation to her covid response. NSW perhaps had the least draconian response but the better outcomes. One cannot help but wonder how embarrassing it would be for an inquiry to find that that the only Liberal premier might have done the best – or least bad – job.

That the inquiry will not investigate the worst of covid-related decisions, which just happen to be by Albo’s political allies, but is targeting his political enemies, is rather striking.

Type of inquiry

The second issue is the type of inquiry and how it is structured. For better or worse, he has also decided to not pursue a Royal Commission, suggesting that a judge does not have the relevant expertise to preside over it. This is asinine. Under that logic, a judge would never have the expertise to judge a medical indemnity case, a complex corporate case, or any other case that requires any form of technical expertise.

Anthony Albanese has also said that he avoided a Royal Commission in order to have a speedy outcome. This is a bit weird. A longer better outcome is better than a quick hamfisted one. The inquiry would also have fewer powers, and be more hamstrung, than a Royal Commission. There might also have been pragmatic reasons: state premiers might not have acquiesced into a Royal Commission into themselves.

But, this just appears to be an attempt to have a toothless inquiry so as to not embarrass ALP premiers. If the inquiry cannot properly compel witnesses, and is less thorough, and if its scope is limited, then the ALP premiers are off the hook. This is despite the fact that premiers were the biggest source of the pain. They caused the lockdowns. They caused the curfews. They imposed the draconian laws. These were not the federal government.

Australians are now stuck with this inquiry. There is not much we can do to change it. But, Australians can send remember this next time they vote. Australians would do well to at least ensure that the house and senate are not both controlled by the ALP so that the ALP cannot run roughshod over Australians. This is even more striking because the ALP won on preferences. This is how preferential voting works. The vote was legitimate. But, the ALP’s primary vote was lower than that of the Coalition. Our only solution is to send a clear message at the ballot box.