Faster national security response would have locked out the virus

The government is quite smug about containing the coronavirus pandemic. By comparing the current level of infections against what could have been, they can claim they have successfully flattened the curve. But there is another "could have been" story to be told. And that story is one of an utter failure of imagination by policymakers and a catastrophic failure of political leadership together causing the needless trashing of the economy and the aspirations of millions of ordinary Australians.