We’ve got the vaccine, but what will fix our sense of nationhood?

With Covid jabs now beginning to roll out, my sense is that we’ll soon declare victory over the pandemic and conclude that “Australia had a good war”. At one level, there’s no doubt that we’ve done well. If minimising Covid deaths is the yardstick, our performance has been “world-class”, “gold standard” even. Still, I’m far from sure that our response has justified the self-congratulation now oozing from state and federal first ministers’ every pore.

For one thing, there’s a massive economic downside to the health upside. Sectors like higher education and aviation will take years to recover. Getting the $200 billion federal deficit and the $1 trillion federal debt back under control will be the work of…