Wanting to end racism is a different thing to wanting to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. You can want both things simultaneously, they're not in conflict.
It's also not necessary the same governments, or just government at all.
The federal government abdicated their responsibility to manage quarantine and border security to the states. It's been the states that have been managing quarantine, largely through Hotels (except in the Northern Territory, where they've had the Howard Springs facility.
