kiwigreg369 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:50 am
Farva - stout defence.
I continue to think Victoria’s HQ is the worst - but this is heavily weighted on the basis of the +700 deaths.
Clearly looking back platinum standard NSW isn’t clean either, but better that Victoria, of course.
Im not convinced looking at deaths is the best metric for who had the best response. I agree that the ultimate outcome is to protect public health. But the reasons for the additional deaths are not clear.
Fundamentally, the deaths occurred because Covid escaped quarantine in Victoria and got into the community. This was linked to failure of the quarantine practices in Victoria. But most of the deaths were in aged care. That was exacerbated by poor management from the federal level who had not implemented changes based on a royal commission, and because workers were at multiple sites and there were not adequate health care at each site. It was also exacerbated by a slow response to the intial outbreak. The initial slow response was driven by a lack of understanding on the virus and inexperience in the contact tracing capabilities. The government enacted measures on the back of medical advice. Unfortunately it wasnt enough as the medical advisors were still learning about the virus.
The initial failure of the Andrew's government was not the engagement of private contractors - this was done many times over in most states. It was the lack of oversight when administering that contract. They didnt hold the contractors to the requirements of the contract. I have an issue there but I can also understand that the senior leaders were stretched as a never before seen disaster unfolded. They may not have had the leadership resources to do it properly.
The other issue with the Andrew's govt is that they didnt disseminate information and outcomes amongst departments. That is a real criticism and one they need to respond to.
However, I dont believe that either of these are extreme. They are mistakes, but I will guarantee that every significant operations will have mistakes.
I also think that the first issue with the escaped virus was mostly down to bad luck in Vic / good luck in other states. The second outbreak was managed to no impact and was down to the correct responses implemented quickly. The third is something that I think we will need to manage until the vaccine is implemented or a national strategy that doesnt require the states to do quarantine is implemented. States are doing it in hotels because they dont have the facilities to do it elsewhere. For me, this third outbreak has the federal government at least as culpable as the states for not taking ownership of their responsibility.
