There seem to be a few royal commissions on at the moment. There is one about trade unions and the child sex abuse one. There was also the one about the insulation issue this year as well. Is there always this many on at one time?
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Answer by Kate Dodgson, Brisbane 4000 QLD
- Since Federation there have been 128 commonwealth royal commissions.
- The majority happened between 1910 and 1929 when there were 54 royal commissions.
- In the 1980-90s there were a number of inquiries into bad governance and corruption. The results of these commissions damaged the public’s perception of the government. This led to an overall trend of government’s calling less royal commissions.
- There are currently two commonwealth royal commissions:
- The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
- This commission is authorised to continue until December 2017.
- The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
- This commission is expected to submit its final reports and recommendations by 31 December 2014.