Government right not to extend Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women inquiry

Some members of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls say they are "disappointed" that the federal government has disallowed their request for a two-year extension to the Inquiry's work (and an additional $50 million in funds, effectively doubling the original financial allocation), granting instead just an additional 6 months. One member said she would "take a few weeks" to consider her continued participation in the inquiry after the decision...

Two years? Seriously? Are they sure they don't want a job for life? Such a culture of entitlement! I'm sure there are many more depositions they could have obtained from many more indigenous contributors, but what would be the marginal returns? Surely, they have more than enough evidence now to make some pretty strong and specific recommendations, and that, after all, is the job they were selected to do. Action is needed now, and leaving it until after the next federal election would be a gross mistake. Stringing this long-delayed inquiry out even longer would be doing a disservice to the very people it is designed to help.

The government is quite right to cut it short. The very request for a two-year extension just smacks of "gravy train" and "jobs for the girls". Just do your job, get it finished, and let's see some results and some action. This is not an academic exercise. It is not research for some museum display. It is an inquiry with a very specific function. Let's help these people now, and not at some unspecified point in the uncertain future (maybe).