Your correspondent is correct to point out governments’ failure to address systemic issues highlighted in royal commissions in aged care, disability services and child sexual abuse. Although royal commissions are the highest form of inquiry, with broad powers including the power to summons witnesses to appear before them, there is no obligation for governments to accept a royal commission’s recommendations. After 140 or so royal commissions in Australia, there are countless recommendations sitting in bottom drawers gathering dust.
First published as a letter to the editor, The Age on 5 July 2025