Christopher Pyne: There’s no excuse for WA and Queensland blaming a lack of supply of vaccines

The consensus is the SA and Federal governments have done well but maybe Australia’s goal-shifting premiers can work on jabs instead of throwing brickbats, writes Christopher Pyne.

For 18 months, Australians have by and large trusted their governments, state and national, to tackle the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The consensus appears to be that both the South Australian and Australian governments have done a pretty good job in the circumstances.

Victoria and NSW are entering ­another month of lockdown and the ACT has been in lockdown for several weeks with more to come.

Their borders are closed to the rest of the nation.

For all of us talking to friends and family interstate, it’s clear the lockdowns are having a deleterious effect on people’s mental health, their businesses and their education.

Yet, there is light at the end of this dark and long tunnel.

The national cabinet agreed a national plan for getting out of the worst Covid-19 restrictions months ago. It’s a plan deeply rooted in science.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Annette Dew

WA Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Getty Images

Every bureaucrat, politician and health professional has been working towards the goal of 70 to 80 per cent of eligible Australians being vaccinated as soon as possible.

When that is achieved, lockdowns will become a weapon of last resort, not the first lever pulled when there is an outbreak of Covid-19 somewhere.

Last week, unless I am having an out-of-body experience, that all seemed to change. Maybe it was a bad dream? I certainly hope so.

Suddenly, the premiers of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, and Western Australia, Mark McGowan, moved the goalposts.

From signing up to the national plan to give us back as many of our freedoms as possible come December this year, hopefully November or even earlier, these two premiers now seem to be flicking the switch to ­parochial politics instead.

Last week, Palaszczuk appeared to suggest she would not open up Queensland’s borders to states with high numbers of Covid-19 cases until she could be sure to have vaccinated children.

This is despite no ­country having approved a vaccine for under-12 year olds anywhere in the world.

McGowan asked why Prime ­Minister Scott Morrison wanted Western Australia to open up its ­borders and risk the destruction of businesses, the sickness of his people and, ultimately, the death of Western Australian citizens.

Both sailed perilously close to accusing Morrison of having blood on his hands if the nation opens up and anyone north of the Tweed or west of the Nullarbor dies from coronavirus. It was bizarre.

But I detect a shift in community attitudes in the last little while. The reaction to McGowan and Palaszczuk was more “you’ve got to be kidding” than “right on, let’s stay behind our locked borders”.

Putting aside the emotion of being locked down forever, let’s examine the facts. Maybe the Western Aus­tralian and Queensland governments should be putting their effort into ­getting their population vaccinated rather than throwing brickbats at Canberra?

NSW now has 71.5 per cent of its population aged over 16 having received one dose of vaccine.

Victoria has 59.9 per cent, while WA lags on 52.4 per cent and Queensland is at 52.2 per cent.

The federal government is announcing new sources of AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine from overseas almost every few days.

Last week, it ­revealed deals to bring millions of doses of vaccine from Great Britain, Poland and Singapore.

So there’s no excuse for WA and Queensland blaming a lack of supply of vaccines for being at the bottom of the ladder board for vaccinations. The timelines for the country reaching 70 to 80 per cent vaccination rates are creeping forward.

When that milestone is reached, the tolerance for state or territory governments playing politics with Covid-19 will be reached too.

Even Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, which was the first state into lockdown in 2020 and now is sadly there again, said last week: “I am not going to lock the whole state down to protect people who won’t protect themselves.

If you are not ­vaccinated, and you could be, the chances of you booking a ticket at a sporting event, going to a pub, going to all manner of different places, will be very limited.”

Bird in Hand owner Andrew Nugent at his Bird in Hand wineries restaurant. Picture: Mark Brake

Here in SA, the Bird in Hand Winery in the Adelaide Hills announced that it would apply restrictions on customers depending on whether they are vaccinated or unvaccinated when the national plan’s targets are reached.

I’m sure they are weathering a barrage of abuse on social media, but I would be surprised if they aren’t followed by many other places of business, worship and entertainment in the weeks ahead.

Premier Steven Marshall has steadfastly refused to be drawn into bickering with the other premiers and chief ministers, or with the national government in Canberra. He has been focused on the outcome, not the politics.

It’s been a similar story, but to a lesser extent, with the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Michael Gunner, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein, NSW Premier Gladys ­Berejiklian and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

McGowan and Palaszczuk would do well to follow their example. Voters don’t want squabbling over their livelihoods and their future, they want outcomes.

As Morrison said on Saturday: “It’s the virus that is the enemy we need to contend with, not each other.”

Never a truer word.