The current circumstance, in which the daily incidence of fresh community cases has generally remained in the single digit range, is a far cry from what was seen during 2020.

While we have not seen the introduction to 2021 we had been hoping for, Australia is far better placed than both the UK and the US, where lockdowns are becoming the new normal.

The Prime Minister and the chief medical officer are correct to say it makes no sense for Australia to cut corners on the rollout of vaccines which could compromise take-up rates down the line.

That said, there is every indication if full approvals come through earlier than anticipated, vaccines could be released ahead of schedule.

The most important lesson we have learned from the NSW and Victorian outbreaks, and the pre-Christmas Adelaide cluster, is that if you have the right systems in place the "test, trace, and isolate" strategy can be very effective.

An only slightly less important lesson is that states and territories need to stay right on top of their hotel quarantine regimes for international arrivals. All the recent outbreaks have resulted from leakage from quarantine hotels.

This is the area of greatest vulnerability.

Australia can't afford the off-again, on-again border closures that have turned the summer holidays into a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of people.

That said, the way closures have been announced and implemented has been disappointing with confusion and cross-border chaos the order of the day. There is a world of difference between the way the medical crisis and the border closures have been handled.

Outbreaks and border closures are not going to go away anytime soon, even after the vaccine rollout starts.

Unless we are happy to see more repeats of the chaos of recent weeks, states and territories need to adopt a more coherent and unified approach.