While I was reporting in some of the worst-affected coronavirus suburbs in outer Melbourne in July and August, it was clear to me that too few local resources were available to deal with the pandemic.
Mayors were complaining about it, public health experts were privately alarmed and not enough of the right messages were being pumped through to the right people.
So as the Victorian government enters — hopefully — the final phase of extinguishing the second wave, Daniel Andrews is acting local.
It is incredibly frustrating and symptomatic of a centralised health bureaucracy that has failed to do its job.
The Victorian Premier retreated twice yesterday. First, and most significantly, by announcing new suburban response units designed to help contact tracing in the worst-affected areas to enable localised responses for future outbreaks.
Who would have thought that local knowledge and boots on the ground would have helped?
Andrews does not deserve to be the victim of a relentless pile-on because it won’t help fix much.
But it is looking a lot like he is reacting to the shemozzle that was Sunday’s roadmap out of lockdown and what has been an overall patchy response by his government.
He has lost a huge amount of political skin.
The decision to send an expert Victorian delegation to NSW to examine its contact tracing system is also a pretty significant concession that maybe there are important things to be learnt.
Andrews is not normally a man for turning but it is plain that a primitive and initially under-resourced contact tracing system has been a deadly flaw.
It speaks volumes that Andrews is trying desperately to plug these holes as the coronavirus numbers wind back.
For all the fury, it’s important to point out that the rate of new infections is starting to collapse over time and the state is in a much better position to deal with outbreaks once the economy is opened up.
The coronavirus is one of those political challenges that starts small and rapidly becomes acute as caseloads gather pace.
The Victorian government has deserved to be hammered for what has happened but let’s not forget there is a lot of Canberra spin amid Scott Morrison’s attacks.
Morrison is positioning himself for the inevitable economic collapse and the fallout that follows.
He just doesn’t want to be blamed for Victoria’s failures.
Who can blame him?
PM pledges to splash millions on project in marginal seat
Anthony Albanese has promised federal funds to revamp a tourist hotspot he describes as ‘one of the most picturesque parts of Australia’.
Not quite as bad as Gough but it’s close
The Albanese government provides no rationale or narrative for its disconnected actions. Everything is spin. We’ve seldom seen a government this poor in such critical fields at such a dangerous time.