The much-anticipated release of retired judge Jennifer Coate's report into Victoria's hotel quarantine program failed to identify a culprit for the calamity, but the report was nonetheless scathing in its assessment of the state government for its failure to plan for such an event.
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Equally, the report found the government's approach to outsource such a critical service as the quarantine program could not be traced to any government minister, incredulous though that might seem.
How can this be.
After the deaths of so many innocent people, accompanied by the greatest upheaval of our state's economy in our time, and all the hardship and heartache, effectively come to.... nothing.
Victorians can accept that our leaders - be they in politics, public service or private industry can and do make mistakes. We all do. But we also have to own them.
Victorians are entitled to feel hollow at the commission's findings, because that's exactly what they are.
The state government has done a magnificent job to reign in the state's COVID-19 crisis to the point where we are today, but as events in NSW highlight, we are only ever one case of community transmission away from potentially plunging back into the mire.
But the government also was on watch when the virus escaped, and this cannot be overlooked or forgotten.
Exasperated Victorians can take some comfort in the fact that our state's revamped hotel quarantine program reflects the lessons of that first botched effort, and so far, things seem to be working.
But a rapidly deteriorating situation in neighbouring NSW needs as much attention from authorities here and now as it ever did.
We simply cannot afford to ever again mess up against something as potent as the coronavirus.
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