Economic modelling by Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has found COVID-19 elimination strategies in Australia could cost the country $319 billion, or 23 percent of national GDP from this year until 2022.
The cost of eliminating the virus via harsh lockdowns is 2.2 times the total annual value of the Australian government’s 2018-19 spending on defence, education, health, and welfare combined.
“Lockdowns have brought about one of the greatest regressive transfers of wealth and power in Australia’s history,” he said.
“Young Australians, small businesses, the self-employed, and those otherwise embedded in the productive, private parts of the economy have been smashed, while public servants and bureaucrats are flourishing,” he said pointing to the approximately 1.4 million Australians out of work since March.
The IPA called for an end to the elimination strategies and arguing that an approach based on “medical capacity” which is risk-based, proportionate, and targeted would serve Australia better.
Debate has raged between federal and state governments on the appropriate strategy to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The federal government and New South Wales state government have adopted a “suppression” strategy, preferring not to maintain tight restrictions, opening borders, and upgrading contact tracing measures.
Gigi Foster, professor at the University of New South Wales’ School of Economics, has been a long-running critic of harsh lockdowns saying they will cause additional mental and psychological harm to individuals.
“I do not think the goal is best stated as ‘to contain the virus,’ but rather to maximise human welfare in a world with the virus,’” she told The Epoch Times on Sept. 29.
“This means … aggressive protection, with quarantine, testing, and other measures where necessary, for vulnerable populations, and letting everyone else get back to school and back to business with whatever precautions they feel are appropriate to their individual and family circumstances,” she added.