If daily journalism is “the first draft of history”, then the Quarterly Essay, The End of Certainty: Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics is the second draft, or what might be called history in a hurry.

Released in September while the nation grapples with the impact of COVID-19 and Melburnians grind their way through months of lockdown, Quarterly Essay No. 79 offers the first serious effort to document how the federal government responded to the great challenge they faced.

The essay is written by Katharine Murphy, political editor for Guardian Australia and an adjunct associate professor at Deakin, who was interviewed by Matthew Ricketson, professor of communication at Deakin and a member of the Contemporary History Research Group.