FOR - JAMES CAMPBELL
It seems like an eternity ago, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, all the restrictions - including border closures - were justified on the basis that we needed to suppress the virus to prevent our hospital system being overwhelmed.
As we now know of course, Australia suppressed it so hard that we became one of only a hatful of countries to have effectively eliminated the virus.
Although Governments never admitted they had switched from suppression to elimination, in reality the plan was to sit tight inside a virus-free Fortress Australia until the vaccines arrived.