25 August

About 20 years ago the Commonwealth held a big enquiry into bushfires. A lot of what it found is repeated in the NSW enquiry on last Christmas' fires. Interestingly it also said Australia had shifted to a 'fire suppression' (i.e. putting fires out after they've already started) strategy from a 'land management' (stopping the fires even happening) strategy, and that was the main problem. Notice the exact same strategy choices for Covid-19? Where Australia again opted for a suppression strategy - trying to control the outbreaks once they've already started - rather than a strategy of stopping the virus before it breaks out? Our public institutions are being broken by the same people using the same strategies, over and over.