Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called for a royal commission into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first of a series of podcasts for the Institute for Public Affairs Mr Abbott said a royal commission was needed to “see what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong”.

The former health minister said Australia had done well in global terms but when the pandemic was over it needed to have a “long, hard look” at all aspects of how it was handled.

“We need to look long and hard at what we did right and what we could have done better and compare the responses of different states, and indeed responses of different countries, because there will be another pandemic,” he said.

“It might be in a year, it might be in a decade, it might be in a century – but there will be another pandemic, and it’s important that our successes have the benefit of our considered reflections on what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong in this one.”