Prior to 2020, the rule of thumb was that good policy was good politics. That orthodoxy was turned on its head when the pandemic came along and state and territory leaders, under the mantra of keeping people safe, were rewarded for terrible policy decisions that did anything but.

As the COVID-19 inquiry pointed out, much of this was necessary at the outset but as the pandemic wore on and evidence-based advice was being ignored, people felt the restrictive measures “became increasingly inappropriate over the long term and were too heavy‑handed and controlling”.