I fear that the draconian stage 4 restrictions in Victoria and Queensland’s re-imposition of the hard border with NSW are over-the-top, disproportionate policy responses that will cause unwarranted economic and social harm, both short and long-term. Earlier today, I chatted about the state of play regarding COVID-19 policy responses with my old friend and former Treasurer colleague Joe Branigan of Tulipwood Economics. Our conversation is published as the first part of my latest podcast episode Re-opening economies in this time of COVID-19 with Joe Branigan. The second part of the episode is the interview I conducted with Joe a few weeks ago on the paper he co-authored with Professor Henry Ergas for the Menzies Research Centre (see my post Suppression preferred over more costly elimination strategy say Ergas & Branigan).

The Queensland Government is re-imposing a hard border with NSW and the ACT.