The sheer irony of an agency named “eSafety” claiming that VPN use was a “workaround” that must be blocked? VPNs provide way more safety than anything that the “eSafety” Commission has done regarding internet usage.

100%. It became very obvious early on when the commission was all-but-mandating the collection of personal data of children. The entire report into the efficacy and privacy of age verification measures took "we promise we delete data" as an acceptable level of privacy. The idea that privacy might entail not collecting personal data in the first place was not even considered.