Australia: COVID-19 Royal Commission 19 APR 2024

On 19 October 2023, the Senate referred the following matter to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee (the committee) for inquiry and report by 31 March 2024:

The appropriate terms of reference for a COVID-19 Royal Commission that would allow all affected stakeholders to be heard.

There was widespread support for the establishment of a COVID-19 Royal Commission. Of the 559 submissions received by the committee, only three did not support the establishment of a COVID-19 Royal Commission.

There are three chapters in this report:

• Chapter 1 provides background information and context to the inquiry;
• Chapter 2 details the perspectives of stakeholders who engaged in the inquiry; and
• Chapter 3 articulates the suggested terms of reference for a COVID-19 Royal Commission and puts forward the committee’s views.