Australia achieved world-leading headline health outcomes during the global pandemic. Yet that does not excuse the overly harsh policies that state governments imposed to supposedly keep communities safe, but which hurt people instead. That is the damning verdict of the COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report that was released on Tuesday.
Australia’s initial six-week national shutdown was justified amid the fog of war and the great uncertainty about the spread and virulence of the virus. However, the inquiry report found that as the pandemic dragged on, the restrictive measures imposed by state governments “became increasingly inappropriate” and “were too heavy-handed and controlling”.
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