COVID-19: What Australia Did Right
- The government listened to scientists and physicians.
- They put partisan politics and ideology aside. Politicians on the national government level had consistent and clear messaging that “it’s a crisis, we will have trials, but we’re all in this together and we have to work together as a nation”. People complied (except maybe for the toilet paper panic buying). The state governments agreed and their messaging was equally clear. Whether #1 or #2 is more important is debatable, but I do know that having both #1 and #2 on board greatly helped their response.
- The national government shut down the borders. Only returning Australian citizens and permanent residents could enter the country, and once in the country they were told to stay put. They could not travel abroad (exemptions granted for compassionate care, etc. but these were few).
- State governments shut their borders to interstate travel in an effort to stop the spread. Some states were more strict than others.
- The government was prepared with subsidies and PPE stocks – they knew the pandemic was coming and (1) imported enough and (2) made enough.
- Control the virus first, then the economic recovery will follow. The economy took a big hit (tourism is huge in Australia, especially international tourism) but getting the pandemic under control helped the economy bounce back faster.
Yes there were mistakes (like the one that canceled my Adelaide trip last month – NB, the Adelaide resurgence in cases and my canceled trip both happened after this particular piece was written), but overall the country is doing a great job.
I’m sure there are other factors in play, but I think the non-partisan, coordinated, clear messaging and swift action with regard to border restrictions were – and still are – the major players here.
Will the rest of the world listen and learn, please? It might be too late for some countries but there are lessons from every time point in the efforts control the spread of COVID-19.
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