We are killing more people because of lockdown than we are saving

Just as importantly the government needs to broaden the range of people involved in making these types of crises public health decisions. The composition of the advisory groups isn't well-known, but observation of their decisions suggests it is heavily-biased to hospital administrators and perhaps some epidemiologists.

Yet some of the best analysis has come from mathematicians and economists outside the industry groups. The decision-making process also seems to have been captured by group think, a process which turns smart people into the same kind of dumb. It is important in any process to have a channel for "devil's advocacy" – what they call Red and Blue teams in the military.

There is a tendency, even for very smart people, to think the same way when they are in groups. The form of diversity that matters most is viewpoint diversity.

Without a diversity of viewpoints, and an infrastructure that supports dissent, decision-making can go right off the rails, as we would contend it has here.

The last thing that is required is for parliament to actually step-up and play its part. In most of our governments parliament has gone on half-speed or slower, with crucial events like budgets even being postponed, or in the case of Queensland, abandoned.

While there is a need for emergency legislation in times like these, it has to be subject to frequent review. That means properly debating legislation in parliament - not just shoving a range of amendments through with very little notice - and review of regulations no more than a month after they are made.

We're on a chocolate wheel with COVID – it is going to come around and around, time and again – but we shouldn't leave any more things to luck, or precedent, than we have to. If you agree you may want to add your name to our letter by going to https://aip.asn.au/2020/06/open-up-our-country-sign-the-open-letter/.

We've taken a radical, unconventional approach as a country. It's past time to see what worked, what could have worked better, and then communicate to the people. The PM seems to be onside. He says we "can't stay locked-down forever," but if we're not careful, that's exactly what our state premiers will try to do.