All Bets on the Executive(s)! The Australian Response to COVID-19

This chapter examines the response of Australian Federal and State governments to COVID-19 pandemic. While successful in limiting spread virus, caused significant challenges from a rule law perspective. Executive powers were exercised after declaration states emergency quasi-vacuum checks balances, with little parliamentary or judicial scrutiny no clear end date. The prolonged international isolation, coupled uneven distribution consequences attached intermittent restrictions, put institutional legal framework Australia test. picture emerging is one where all bets are on executives exercise their effectively as reasonably possible. But few substantive accountability mechanisms place while pandemic (at time writing July 2021) still ongoing so emergency.