I disagree that there was ever any gold standard, there was luck last year that it didn't spread or start in the high population density suburbs. Melbourne got it in the west among the working population that spread it around town and got into the aged care facilities before they had procedures and standards to deal with covid.
This year the NSW government was pretty much negligent in the way it handled Delta. One month before NSW got its first case they were laughing at Victorias lockdown and calling Sutton the Vic CHO incompetent for suggesting Delta was far more transmissable and that they just had no idea. Sutton had suggested that only casual contact was required rather than the full 20 minute exposure that had been the case with the earlier strain. It was quite clear that NSW was playing politics in avoiding a lockdown and throwing mud at the Andrews gov at the same time. When they got the first case, they stubbornly held out to avoid immediate embarrassment that they had to lockdown also, and well, we all know how that went. And what else did they have to warn them, maybe the data from the rest of the world about Delta as well....
So when a lot of us criticise Gladys and co it's for good reason, we may well have been open and operating close to normal had NSW followed Vics advice rather than playing politics. BTW prior to NSW going ballistic with numbers Scomo was also agitating against lockdows, suddenly after NSW lost the plot he about faced and makes a speech that lockdowns are necessary until vaccinated.