Calls for a royal commission after the Bondi shootings reflect public anger and distrust, but decades of experience suggest such inquiries rarely deliver lasting reform or accountability.

The manifold failures of 26 Australian Royal Commissions since 1980 to do anything much about the underlying sins, wickedness, and malfeasance that they were supposed to address should caution us against a repeat with the Bondi shootings.

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who promised accountability and transparency, has delivered too much secrecy and opacity over the past four years. Voters are seeing right through that opacity, and a cornucopia of concerned citizens have joined the call for a royal commission as a cleansing act and panacea.

Their only really valid point is that past form suggests the Albanese government would not be open about anything that would suggest even the slightest failure on its part and would use the “national security” smokescreen to its advantage.

Nor could it be trusted to implement any recommendation that might erode its voter or financial base. Examples are the ignoring of many of the recommendations of the special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal and those of the joint committee on gambling harm.

But before we say “here we go again”, it might be worth looking at just what we might expect of a royal commission, based on the 26 we have had since 1980.

A Bondi royal commission would include an inquiry into security and intelligence services. Well, since 1980, we have had four royal commissions into........

© Pearls and Irritations