Europe is very different from Australia and NZ. I read that about 40 percent of the new infections came from travellers in Germany. Most of them from Eastern Europe, especially Kosovo, also lots from Turkey. Lots of those people are not just travelling for pure fun, they are visiting their families. Europe is not one country, it's a continent with very many different governments, resources and open borders. 700 million inhabitants. Often very dense population (Germany: 233/km² (Netherlands 413, Australia 3,1?) People often work in one country but live across the border (e.g. Switzerland/ Germany, S. not even being in the EU). Also many countries need tourism as it sometimes accounts for more than 50% of their budget (well, that's an entirely different topic). You could do without big events and in my opinion they should try to avoid thousands of people at one event, but the goal to bring the cases down to zero in Europe is unrealistic if you don't want to give up everything that Europe is.
Yeah, I think that the goal to bring it down to zero is unrealistic (and too much of a 'total years lived > quality of life' argument) and unreasonable, pretty much anywhere in the world. There isn't really a totally right or a totally wrong in any of the pro life or pro economy arguments; but I find it interesting the different approaches that different countries are taking. I think that the media plays a big role in influencing each society (whether they mainly run with stories about deaths/crowded hospitals, or job losses/suicides).
I suppose that if the Tour De France was about to be held in Australia, then (Porte would win and) the stages would be held everywhere except for the state of Victoria (and since it is in the corner of the country, this would be logistically possible). Is there a particular area of France right now that is in greater trouble with Covid? And what are the restrictions (if any) in terms of French or European people wanting to watch the race? For example, if you are from Paris, are you allowed to travel to the Alps to watch a stage?