Here are two of the simplest. Firstly, basic human behaviour - the things we ordinarily do without a second thought - spreads it like wildfire. Secondly, access to an effective vaccine is the best way to get out of this pandemic life.

Everything else is clear as the stuff pigs like to play in.

As ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said on Monday, as the territory pushed into the third week of a lockdown that may blow out to all of spring, "the Delta strain is very, very challenging to contain".

Where did it come from? How long will lockdowns go on for? When can our children go back to school? Will our health system cope with what is coming? Is it coping at the moment?

Indeed, despite accepting the universal truth that there is nothing certain but death and taxes, none of us has to die from COVID-19, or get seriously ill.

That's when vaccine supplies arrive in sufficient volume, of course.

So we look to our nation's leaders for clarity and a path towards Covid-normal. We have (or at least had) a nationally agreed plan, backed by scientific and economic advice, to guide Australia out of the worst effects of the pandemic.

In the face of more than 1000 Australian deaths throughout the pandemic, and now more than 1000 new Delta infections every day, we are encouraged to have hope that we can possibly go back to our previous lives.

"Our plan is about a safe transition for those states who may have no Covid cases, or those states, Mr Speaker, who are locked down." the Prime Minister told Parliament.

"It is about a safe transition for both of them, so we can move to the situation, not too far away, that we can live with this virus, and not live in fear of it, Mr Speaker.

"It's about weddings, it's about parties and it's about everything, Mr Speaker."

Gen X pop culture references aside, the Morrison government needs to shift a gear or two.

If an election was held now, opinion polls point to the Coalition suffering a landslide loss, (although a Jedi mind trick must be in play as Scott Morrison is - at the same time - improving his approval ratings and stocks as preferred prime minister).

Political imperatives are coming to the fore, once again, and national consensus about the future is fracturing.

The national plan now seems a provisional one, as state and territory leaders in Covid-free states are questioning the 70 per cent target.

There is confusion and anger, too, after Mr Morrison on Friday confirmed parents will be able to book the Pfizer jab for their 12- to 15-year-old children from September 13.

The Prime Minister asked parents to wait before registering their kids for the jab - which they likely won't get until October or November - when he made the announcement. Of course, anxious parents did no such thing.

Mr Barr was scathing of the Prime Minister's communication skills and his "off the cuff announcement in a press conference without telling anyone".

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"Let's be brutally frank about that. He's entitled to do that, that's what prime ministers can do. [It's] not necessarily always helpful in terms of clear communication, but that's what happened," he said.

There's also the messaging around the extra Pfizer doses from Poland and the opening up of the vaccination program to younger Australians. Thousands of people have cancelled AstraZeneca vaccine appointments as they wait - in Australia's toughest days - for weeks, likely months, for a Pfizer appointment.

The messaging around Covid and the vaccine rollout needs clarity, particularly for Australia's vulnerable populations who are being left behind.

Labor insiders muse that the Prime Minister is deliberately muddying the waters to distract from his failings, but the opposition is not putting forward an alternative plan either.

Tellingly, the Chief Minister also noted that "even the Prime Minister is now changing his language, and his tone, that 70 per cent (vaccination) is not the magic number".

Mr Morrison's plan to begin opening up at 70 per cent of the eligible population - just 56 per cent of the entire nation - is being mugged by Covid reality, and powerful premiers, once more.

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