They weren't more draconian than plenty of other countries, including parts of the U.S. They were just kept in place for longer, as they were effective at keepi

They weren't more draconian than plenty of other countries, including parts of the U.S. They were just kept in place for longer, as they were effective at keeping case/fatality numbers low until vaccination levels were high. But more to your point, the federal government that has just been voted out was centre-right/conservative, and was unsupportive of many of the pandemic management policies implemented by the states, most of which are governed by the centre-left Labor party. In certain Labor-governed states, e.g., Victoria and Western Australia, this election result can be seen as a repudiation of the unsupportive behaviour of the conservative federal government towards the pandemic response, and an affirmation of the states' policies, which saved many lives whilst also keeping their economies running quite well. In fairness, the federal government played a positive role through income support, business support, and other stimulus measures, but their propensity to use pandemic measures to seek to achieve political advantage when citizens were struggling and fearful has played a significant role in this election loss.