The current Covid outbreak underlines how much Australia has taken its eye off the quarantine ball.
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Historically speaking, we, as an island nation, have been over-the-top paranoid about bringing things into the country.
Plant, animal, convict, refugee.
Rightly or wrongly - our reflex has been to lock it up in dedicated facilities for long periods of time while authorities ascertain whether or not it's a threat to our way of life or chances of being re-elected.
If there was a treatment available, we drenched it, inoculated it or assimilated it, and if there wasn't, we sent it back.
Even within the country there were borders within borders.
Tick inspectors used to inspect car boots to see if you were transporting fruit. Having a half-eaten apple in your lunch box was a source of mild anxiety.
But defeating fruit fly was considered in the common interest and no-one complained about the check points.
Well, actually everyone complained, but you get that with bio-security.
Setting aside myxomatosis, prickly pear and the cane toad - we as a nation like to think we generally get it right.
Which is probably debatable too and highlights the fact that when it comes to managing plague and pestilence, no-one's got all the answers.
But we've got a few. Derived from things like the Old Testament and decades of hyper-vigilant agricultural practice.
And it starts with best practice. Which few medical experts seem to think is the case with our current Covid quarantine protocols.
Staying with the Old Testament, in the beginning we didn't have Covid in this country, so we imported it.
Let's call that international travel.
After a good run, an unvaccinated Sydney limo driver, who didn't wear a mask and who didn't get regularly tested for Covid transported international travelers from the airport, promptly got infected and ruined school holidays for everyone.
Let's call that mind-boggling.
Then we continued to quarantine international travelers in air-conditioned hotels in the heart of seething metropoli despite mounting evidence Covid spreads in air-conditioning.
Let's call that a good way to breed Covid.
And then we debated what "gold standard" means in terms of pandemic management instead of setting up nationally coherent, dedicated long-term Covid quarantine facilities and systems.
Let's call that wishful thinking, just like an effective vaccine roll-out.
In the meantime the Prime Minister is locked down in his lounge room, the Nationals are revolting more than usual and everyone seems distracted.
I'm sure we'll get there in the end because we're getting enough practice.
But let's hope that like the share market, past results are no indication of future performance.
Because it sure feels like we've bemoaned this quarantine thing before - last outbreak.
