I agree that party politics should play no part in managing a pandemic. I will praise and criticise, a-politically, as follows.
I would give the VIC Government a big fail for their implementation of hotel quarantine. But not for the same reason as most. There is nothing inherently wrong with private security. We use private security at airports. Banks use private security. But that particular operation in VIC didn't work. Regardless of who the inquiry will eventually find to be accountable or responsible, the success or failure of quarantine is measured by its ability to actually quarantine people. They had one job. But who were "they"? They don't seem to even know. That's a problem. Is it a problem unique to this particular government? I think that's what they are still trying to work out.
I would also give the NSW, SA, QLD and WA Governments a big fail for the implementation of hotel quarantine. Every one of these states has had breaches of hotel quarantine subsequent to the VIC outbreak - they didn't even learn from VIC's mistake. ADF or no ADF. They also had one job, plus the benefit of hindsight. They were just very, very lucky that those breaches didn't spread COVID all over the community before they were discovered, as happened in VIC. When you bring in 4000 people a week, statistically some of them are going to have COVID. The consequences of a breach can be enormous, as seen in VIC.
I would give the VIC Government very high credit for how they have handled the outbreak resulting from the quarantine breaches. They made a plan, they made it clear, they implemented it, they enforced it, they set clear targets, and they are meeting those targets. They are on TV every day with updates. It's working.
I would also give all the other states high credit for how they have handled their community transmissions. NSW, QLD and SA have all proven that small outbreaks can be contained and managed while still allowing most of the economy to function. They don't want an outbreak like VIC, but they have also proven that you don't need full elimination like WA and TAS seem to think. Low numbers with good tracing and testing are manageable. Just need to keep it out of aged care.
I would give all the other states low credit for the continued closures of the their state borders, and the ridiculous gloating about it, particularly QLD and WA. The only state they should have been closed to since June is VIC. The only state that hasn't closed its borders ever is VIC. The other states should be opening up to regional VIC right now, as regional VIC has zero community transmission, and there is a border around Melbourne metro.
I say that as a pilot who has a vested interest in the aviation industry returning ASAP. But I also think that it is vital for Australia to function as a country, rather than the NUSA (Non-United States of Australia). Election or no election. Keeping state borders closed because it is "popular" among voters is unacceptable, and it is the only thing I have ever agreed with Clive Palmer about.
I would give the Federal Government very low credit for pretty much everything it has done, from self-isolation of international passengers, to down-playing the virus, to the COVID App that had already proven not to work before it was implemented, to the Ruby Princess, to bickering with the states (but only the Labor ones), and playing party politics. They have let QF and VA whither while giving Rex enough cash to expand to jets. Australians are returning on every airline other than VA and QF. I have not seen any leadership from the Federal Government to get the states to work together and get the borders open, I've seen the opposite. I also believe they should have been in charge of international inbound quarantine, as that is not a state responsibility, but I mentioned that earlier. They also seem to shirk their responsibility for aged care. They generally seem annoyed that COVID has given the State Governments so much attention.
So, in summary, I believe every State Governement has failed in some respect, and so has the Federal Government. But I don't believe anyone is accountable for killing 768 people. Those lives may have been saveable, but the virus killed those people. If I could identify that I could save 1000 lives per year from motor vehicle accidents by forcing everyone to wear helmets in vehicles, am I now suddenly accountable for those 1000 lives by not enforcing it? That was really the point of my question about the role of government in a pandemic. They need to balance the freedoms, economic prosperity, and health of their citizens. Not save every person at all costs. We are learning by watching the rest of the world, that acting quickly and strongly is the best answer. We have learned that once an outbreak gets to a certain point, it becomes unmanageable, horrific, and it still destroys the economy. It's still playing out around the world, but we are learning more about it every day.
At the end of the day, I would say that our governments have collectively saved possibly 25,000 people, because they got most of it right.
There was no rulebook for this, some of it had to be worked out along the way. There was some resistance along the way, for fear of hurting the economy. There were inevitably going to be some mistakes made. It's not over yet. Mistakes will still be made. The international border is going to be a huge project next year, as is (hopefully) the vaccination program. We need to stop calling our politicians names, and work together. We need to open state borders and get the economy going. We need to double down on protecting aged care, and if that means creating proper jobs on full-time pay and conditions, then so be it. We need more quarantine facilities so we can get more than 50 people on a widebody jet, and we need those facilities to be water-tight. We need to get VIC's numbers down, and reopen quarantine in VIC (and get it right this time). We need international bubbles. We have a lot of work to do.