I’m curious in what way/metric you think the Australian Government handled (or mishandled) the pandemic compared to other countries?

I’m Australian, living in Australia and I feel we’ve had and handled it remarkably well here compared to other nations. Worldometer aligns with this sentiment too.

Decided not to purchase Pfizer doses, choosing not to even meet with Pfizer, and instead relying on AZ which was then found to be higher risk.

Decided not to build dedicated quarantine facilities, instead relying on hotel quarantine. There has been a breach on average every 44 days that the country pays the price for every time.

Pay tens of billions to companies that recorded profits via Jobkeeper because the rules were poorly written.

Ended Jobkeeper before the pandemic was actually over, so when the Delta wave hit the public wasn't in a financial position to actually lockdown, leading to significant outbreaks via industries that shouldn't have even been running (like construction).

Conflicted messaging over the safety and efficacy of vaccines leading to increased hesitancy.

The Federal Government did a terrible job that's been covered up by the states for the most part.

Completely agree with all your points. However, in terms of lockdowns overall messaging and management, while bumbling and less than perfect, we are way way better off than >75% of other nations. It helps being a sparsely populated island nation, sure, but overall our deaths and infections per million is low.

Could it be better? Sure. Could it be way, way worse? Definitely.

How did your country do compared to your kiwi neighbours?

I agree, not as well, but how did we compare to all other nations?

New Zealand vs Belgium, which one would be a more relevant comparison?