Like so many issues this is not black and white. Dutton is right to question why the government is not accepting what we believe is the best technical advice. Sure, we don't live in a technocracy (much as the elites might prefer we did). We vote for people to make the hard decisions. Sure they are meant to get advice but if they have to accept it every time why do we bother with a parliament? Governments and parliaments have to weigh up all the competing factors and interests and decide where the balance should lie. Then they need to explain why they've taken that position.

The government is now in a position where, yet again, the public faces the knowledge that we have differences of opinion at the top level of decision making. Those differences need to be explained. Just saying "We're acting out of an abundance of caution" isn't enough.

The public were rattled during the worst early days of COVID not only by the pandemic itself but by the conflicting opinions as to what should be done. Indecision, conflicting opinion at the top, creates doubt. It undermines confidence in not so much the government of the day as the institution of government itself. Added to that there was a plethora of people with medical knowledge seeking to make a name for themselves by putting their own views out there. No wonder people were frustrated.

We all remember the changing advice about kids going to school and wearing masks, the arbitrariness of the numbers of people we could have a cup of coffee with, the apparent insanity of not being able to attend a funeral but allowed to a football match. Dissonance is not a good thing. It's an unsettling aggravation.

I understand the government's abundance of caution but the communication has been terrible. Yet again we have conflicting opinions from people "in high places" which both rattles and annoys the public. There has to be a much better explanation. One that inspires confidence. Perhaps the scientists and the government can come together on the point that we cannot have sufficient confidence in the information coming out of China. It's not the scientist's job to organise that ... it's the government's.

Sure, epidemiologists and scientists can give us their best assessment of what they believe the facts to be. But to be fair it is hard at the moment to have any confidence in advice coming out of China as to the level of infection and more particularly whether any new variants have appeared. In other words, without testing we might let people in that bring new variants of which we are unaware. Maybe the experts believe we are now so experienced that we would manage it very well. If that's the case then it needs to be spelled out.

Experience teaches a lot, but responsibility educates. It can make you overly cautious. Just to fill that picture in, during the Lindt cafe siege, seven years after I left parliament, I got a few media calls asking if I was the minister responsible for Man Haron Monis being let into the country. It's irrelevant to this story that I wasn't the decision maker. What's relevant is that when you make a decision you are aware that it's your signature, you are responsible. In one sense it doesn't matter because in any event on each occasion you try to make the best decision. You know they won't all be perfect and fully expect a media witch hunt. Even seven years later. Maybe that's why there's an abundance of caution.

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Australians aren't stupid. If decisions are explained, especially in the context of competing opinions, and they're explained in plain English, we might not agree but we can accept that's the government decision. You just can't leave differences of opinion at the top unexplained.

Maybe we've all been spooked by the horrific stories coming out of China. Stories of mortuaries and funeral parlours being so full they can't accept more bodies. The phenomenal rate at which COVID is spreading. Hospitals jam packed with patients. We don't see pictures as much of the more regional places that rely on clinics rather than hospitals. We're probably neither hearing nor seeing the worst of it. It's frightening stuff.

If you offered to fly me a free trip to China, in a private jet, put me up in a medically cleaned suite at the best hotel, right now I'd pass. I've loved it every time I've been there, it is just fascinating. My own experience is one of a very friendly people. But it's not for me at this point.

We're not China. They've been working on shutting down, we've been working on opening up. Our contact tracing got to be fantastic. They are trying to deal with a sudden overwhelming swamp of critical cases due to the sudden policy about face. They were completely unprepared. We are not in that position. Our systems are much more advanced. So the government needs to explain why they believe our system couldn't now cope.

It's not just to explain the decision regarding testing from China. What's happening there is potentially explosive and if the government now thinks our systems can't cope, what are they doing to get them ready? If this explodes internationally, testing a few planes from China will look a bit pathetic.