As a Tasmanian, I have to admit that it gives me at least a tiny thrill of schadenfreude to watch another state cop a shellacking for once. Victoria is the sick man of Australia. A leper with a “Kick Me” sign pinned to its back.
But the shameful pleasure of seeing Victoria – and particularly its premier, Daniel Andrews – humiliated is tempered by the grim realisation that Victoria is perfectly capable of spreading its contagion far and wide. Not just the blockade-running Victorians trying to crash the NSW borders: the abject failure of the second-biggest economy in Australia is costing us all, big-time.
And there’s no end in sight.
Victorians could face restrictions until Christmas as the Andrews government struggles to suppress the spread of the coronavirus, with the state reporting a national daily record of 484 infections.
The possibility of restrictions lasting many months, even if the current lockdown is eventually relaxed, have been discussed at the highest levels of government.
Victoria’s colossal failure – and this is almost all on the Garden State: other states except NSW are either case-free or in single digits – is costing the entire country. Victoria alone is estimated to be costing the rest of the country $1 billion a week. Victoria has also kyboshed the mooted “Pacific Bubble” opening of borders between Australia and New Zealand.
Senior government figures said Premier Daniel Andrews wanted daily case numbers “in the single digits” before reopening the economy — a similar position to NSW which has so far managed to contain the spread of infections.
NSW recorded 16 cases, with one in Queensland and another under investigation in South Australia pushing the country to its highest ever daily infections: 502.
But The Australian understands Mr Andrews has also told colleagues that he wants the state to reopen as soon as possible to enable more businesses, such as restaurants, to survive[…]
Victoria has not recorded a sustained single-digit daily increase in new cases since June 13.
In other words, Andrews is saying exactly the same things that Donald Trump was ridiculed for. But for now the Victorian government is canvassing the option of a New Zealand-style stage 4 lockdown, although, even on this front, the government is sending the mixed messages for which it has become notorious.
Mr Andrews declared on Wednesday that the current six-week lockdown could only be the beginning if Victorians continued to spread the virus.
“Unless we have people who get tested staying at home and isolating until they get their results, then we will not see these numbers come down … and a six-week shutdown will not be for six weeks. It will run for much longer than that,” he said.
However, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned that a New Zealand-style hard lockdown might be “an awful impost on the economy and on people’s lives, with no material benefit” due to the fact that the virus was predominantly spreading through cohorts of essential workers, on whose movements even the strictest lockdown would have a limited impact.
The Andrews government’s entire COVID-19 response has been distinguished by mixed messaging and blame-shifting at best, at worst, active cover-ups and catastrophic failures of judgement.
While the government is shifting blame on to ordinary people for failing to isolate after first experiencing symptoms, it should also be acknowledged that most symptoms are not easily distinguished from the ordinary seasonal bugs hitting in a Melbourne winter.
The government also has to cop to the fact that its own house has been very far from in order. The Andrews government has announced a $1,500 payment for people without sick leave entitlements who test positive or are close contacts. The Catch-22 is that people need to show a positive test result first, yet the Health Department has been accused of delaying test results for up to two weeks. That’s a long time to go without work and no government support.
Then there’s the astonishing stuff-up of Victoria’s quarantine hotel management. Security guards were allegedly hired via WhatsApp and given virtually no training.
Small wonder that the Andrews government is withholding the genomic mapping that would identify just how far the infections from the hotel quarantine spread. It has also been dodging scrutiny on the links between the BLM protests and the outbreak in Flemington Housing Commission tower blocks.
Above all, Daniel Andrews himself is refusing to be held accountable, let alone apologise, much less resign in disgrace as many feel he ought.
It’s easier, it seems, to blame a team of six million Victorians than for one man to shoulder blame.
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