Do not think the NSW and Victorian government decisions to close all but essential retail services (with more to come on schools) will be the end of the matter. Do not think this is total lockdown. It is merely a shot across our bows. Yes, ours, the citizens who have ignored the COVID-19 warnings of the past two weeks and kept meeting up for coffee, having a drink at our local, going to pony club and standing in long, impatient queues to buy our next 12 rolls of toilet paper.

We are on notice. There is worse to come if we keep doing what we’re doing.

Beachgoers descended on Bondi beach in their thousands on Friday, despite the coronavirus threat. Credit:AAP

Let there be no doubt, the photographs of Australians disporting themselves on the shores of Bondi Beach not only shocked the rest of the world, huddled up inside apartments with only a balcony for fresh air. They shocked Australian policymakers too. Those photographs will be remembered as the ones that confirmed our worst fears; that we were too silly to be trusted to make good decisions for ourselves and that we needed further restrictions imposed on our personal freedoms.

Australians like to tell themselves that we will mostly do the right thing. The exponential rise in the COVID-19 infection rate over the past seven days tells us something different; that polite warnings and requests for Australians to stay away from each other and wash their hands have fallen on deaf ears.