Minister to sit on Covid Royal Commission report for months

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden will withhold findings from the first phase of the Royal Commission into the Covid-19 response for many months after she receives it in November.
It is possible that the report, written by epidemiologist Tony Blakely, economist John Whitehead and litigator Grant Illingworth KC, may even be kept private by the minister until the second phase reports back in February 2026.