While it is disappointing the prime minister was unable to deliver clarity on how tenancy disputes are to be handled during the coronavirus crisis, his failure to do so on Friday reflects the complexity of the issues, and the intransigence of major players.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The PM had been expected to deliver a roadmap of how landlords, tenants, and banks would work together to keep businesses viable and Australians in their homes following the national cabinet meeting.
That was not to be. The reason, apparently, is big commercial landlords, and big commercial tenants, aren't playing well together.
The plan had been to unveil a mutually agreed tenants' code, based on consensus and cooperation, that would then be enshrined in law.
The code, unfortunately, was "not where it needs to be".
Although there is a well publicised ban on residential and commercial evictions, residential and commercial tenants and landlords are heading into yet another weekend with no guidance on how this will work.
It is a burden of uncertainty which, coming on top of job losses and the risk of contracting COVID-19, will weigh heavily on families, small business owners, and landlords.
They can only hope the big players, including the banks which will play a crucial role in shoring up landlords and tenants, will take the PM's advice and negotiate in good faith.
Some form of agreement is urgently needed before the national cabinet meets again on Tuesday.
Those affected could console themselves over the lack of good news in their corner with the knowledge Australia appears to be in the process of turning a very important corner.
The widespread adoption of the social distancing rules adopted just under a fortnight ago has halved the rate at which the coronavirus is spreading in Australia.
Mr Morrison said if it had continued to spread at the original rate there would be an estimated 10,500 cases by now; not 5274.
The suppression phase is intended to slow the spread to a point where the health system would not be overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases.
This is in conjunction with a massive investment in doubling, perhaps even quadrupling, the capacity of that system by commissioning extra intensive care beds and more and more ventilators and other equipment.
Mr Morrison warned 'the virus writes its own rules'.
Describing the trajectory as "encouraging, even promising", Mr Morrison warned "the virus writes its own rules".
His qualified optimism was echoed by the normally dour chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, who was "quietly pleased (but) we cannot stop".
The news the national cabinet plans to release the modelling on which these assessments was based next week is very welcome. It will give Australians a much clearer indication of the way the virus will progress over the next few months than they have had up until now.
It may not be as bad as some pundits have predicted given the PM and Professor Murphy are hopeful Australia is on a very different trajectory to countries such as America, Italy, the UK and Spain. "We are tracking well but we can take none of it for granted," Mr Morrison said.
That said, his suggestion the number of cases around the world could be five to 10 times the 1,003,000 already reported, is truly frightening. If he is correct then hundreds of thousands more people will die in the coming weeks.
Regardless of how this plays out in Australia, and it is to be sincerely hoped that a mass outbreak will be avoided, this is nothing less than a human tragedy of cataclysmic proportions that will change the course of world history.