Sky News host James Morrow says the zero-COVID numbers “that seemed like liberation when the pandemic was raging” elsewhere in the world, “will soon start to look like a prison”.

“We’ve lost any ability to talk about risk, acting as if the only danger in our lives is COVID-19. We live in a very comfy and very expensive bubble,” he said.

“Now, I don’t need to tell you this pandemic has dragged on forever. And for all the talk of the light at the end of the tunnel, let’s be realistic; for Australia, there is no end in sight.

“This week we saw Health Minister Greg Hunt pretty much blow out of the water any hope that the vaccine, which Scott Morrison a year ago promised would be our ticket out of this thing, would allow us to use our passports for anything more than drink coasters.

“The Prime Minister, speaking in Perth, said that maybe, just maybe, they would consider people who’ve had the jab being allowed to travel certain places if they had a good excuse … and they would still have to quarantine at home when he got back.

“But he also said that even with vaccinations, we couldn’t open the borders because people might still get COVID-19. But, if the most vulnerable were protected, then why would we need to have shutdowns – yes, COVID-19 might circulate, but it wouldn’t be the existential danger it was.”