Now, public inquiries aren t courts. they can t find people guilty or innocent or assign compensation. they re simply meant to find out what happened and make recommendations to make sure it doesn t happen again. but even those basics fundamentally rely on public trust in the process. without that trust, it becomes incredibly hard to create an undisputed record of the truth or create a sense of catharsis for those affected. one of the principal characteristics of a public inquiry is that, although it may take a very long time, may cost a lot of money, it may come up with many recommendations, unless it has the authority that allows those recommendations to be accepted, it may all be a waste of time and money. and fundamental to that is the trust of the public in the process of the inquiry, and in all sorts of different ways. take what happens after