A way out

In recent years, as the democratic process has fallen into worsening odour with its constituents, one increasingly-adopted solution has been to hive off truly dreadful problems to royal commissions and the like.
The advantages of such an approach, for a politician:

First: Someone more respected than you are ends up making the call

Second: Once an independent investigation has begun, you can fold your hands earnestly and say that it wouldn’t be fair to the investigative process for you to say anything further at this time.

Annabel Crabb ABC Australia