‘We Ceased Being a Democracy’: Former PM Calls for COVID-19 Royal Commission

‘The last thing we’d want to be is locked up for several years, again,' Tony Abbott said

A riot police officer wields a weapon looking onwards at COVID-19 lockdown protesters near the Shrine of Remembrance, in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 22, 2021. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has raised fears Australia could be placed under lockdown again if a full Royal Commission investigation into the pandemic response is not held.

Mr. Abbott, who served in the top job from 2013 to 2015, said Australia stopped being a democracy for a couple of years during the pandemic.