The Australian Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry slammed that country's late "stroll-out" of the vaccine. It meant politicians viewed lock-downs as their only tool of control. According to the Sydney Morning Herald some of "the Inquiry's most specific criticism was around the delayed vaccine rollout ahead of the Omicron variant which swept through country at the end of 2021. “This meant our staged reopening occurred months later than it otherwise could have, with a direct economic cost estimated at $31 billion,” the Inquiry found". Similarly, the reason behind the oppressive Auckland lockdowns in 2021 were because Opposition Leader Hipkins & his PM considered vaccination rates too low.
