Commentary It was once a proud boast that Australia was one of the world’s six or seven oldest continuing democracies. Few would have predicted, less than a mere two years ago, that Australia would have fallen so low in repute to be the subject of disparaging reports in the international media about the surprising degree of authoritarian, even dictatorial control, exercised by governments of not especial competence or qualification over the lives and liberties of Australians. There is a justifiable suspicion that some powers were exercised partially or even wholly for political advantage and that many were excessive and unnecessary. In any event much, indeed, most of what was achieved in the relatively low rate of deaths attributed to the virus, was not the work of the politicians. Rather it was the result of the very simple fact of geography that Australia remains, just as New Zealand does, one of …