[refurb]

Indeed. It’s kind of amazing that Singapore, often accused of being overly authoritarian, took a much softer approach to Covid than Australia.

You could always leave. Citizens and PRs could always come back (although if they left after a certain date they had to pay for their care if they got Covid).

Even immigrants workers could leave. You needed permission to come back, but unless Covid was raging they took in quite a lot of workers.

[c_o_n_v_e_x]

"Even immigrant workers could leave"

This is true however return for foreigners was never guaranteed. It has opened up only very recently. I've been stuck in Singapore for 2 years as of last weekend.

[refurb]

Sure, but plenty of foreigners have left and returned and many new foreigner workers have entered.

You are right there was no guarantee you could return if Covid cases exploded, but there was at least a decent pathway. Australia from what I gathered put up as many obstacles as possible AND requires permission to leave.