Matthew Abraham: If Steven Marshall can’t see the writing on the wall, he should have gone to Specsavers

As Labor leader Peter Malinauskas signals a big tactical shift that seems to be paying off, the Premier looks rattled and uncertain. He’s got three months to fix that, writes Matthew Abraham.

The Premier has new glasses. All the better to see us with, hopefully.

While a politician sporting new spectacles isn’t breaking news, on our TV it looks like the hip, black-framed specs sit slightly lop-sided on his dial. He needs to get that fixed.

Television magnifies the slightest imperfection, a lesson I learned in my brief and inglorious experiment as political reporter for ABC TV news in Adelaide.

A total stranger once approached me in a restaurant and, without the usual formalities, said: “That orange jacket you wear is dreadful. Get rid of it.’’ He was referring to a mustard-color sports coat I often wore on camera.

With barely three months before the next election, Premier Steven Marshall needs everything going right for him. It isn’t right now. He needs to get that fixed too.

He’s looking rattled and uncertain, a far cry from Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s description of him as a quokka, the happiest man in the room. Perhaps he’s just feeling the same as the rest of us.

While residents in the COVID-rich states of NSW and Victoria felt a sense of liberation when lockdowns and harsh restrictions ended as they hit the magic 80 per cent double-vaccinated target for adults, the reverse has been true in SA.

The moment we opened our borders on November 23, after barely nudging 80 per cent fully vaxxed, we went from a sense of splendid isolation to navigating our daily lives with a dense pile of new rules and restrictions from our good friends at SA Health.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Many of these restrictions, like having the dreaded “compliance officers” physically stopping any hint of jiggery pokery at dance parties, are just ludicrous.

Our lives have suddenly become quite complicated. It’s fair to say this is not what many of us thought it’d be like. It’s easier to bail out of a pub lunch than risk your own personal mini-lockdown.

A new survey by JWS Research tracking the national mood finds that the approval tide for governments managing the pandemic is starting to turn, even in Victoria.

Australians are less positive about the COVID response than a year ago. The exception is WA, with its borders still welded shut, sitting on a 63 per cent satisfaction rating, and SA, sitting on a high 74 per cent positive rating of the Marshall Government.

This is a bright spot for Premier Marshall. But the company’s True Issues research also found that South Australians had the highest fears about opening our borders.

“Having been spared the significant outbreaks in NSW and Victoria, open borders is a stronger concern in WA and SA, where a majority are extremely or very concerned about this,” the JWS boffins say.

In SA, 54 per cent of those surveyed were “extremely or very concerned” about this crucial question.

Importantly, the survey was conducted “prior to widespread media coverage and local detection of the Omicron variant”. It also took place before the complex reality of living with “open borders” began to hit home here.

Labor leader Peter Malinauskas has sniffed the change in wind direction, revealing this week that if elected Premier he’d chair the COVID transition committee meetings, saying that “now more than ever our state needs strong leadership, and that means the Premier must be sitting at the table when the big decisions are made”. What took you so long?

Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas with pet chickens Sarah and Poppy from The Advertiser Foundation’s special edition calendar. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

This marks a big tactical shift by the Labor leader, hitting at the Premier’s soft leadership underbelly. The Premier knew it too, immediately declaring Mr Malinauskas would be chairing a “non-existent committee”.

“There will be no transition committee because when we get to 90 per cent vaccination we won’t have one,” he said.

This is news the Premier must have forgotten to share with the rest of us, until Mr Malinauskas prompted his memory. He also said the committee’s job is to lift restrictions, not impose them. Again, this sure is news to many of us.

The Premier likes to call the Omicron variant of COVID-19 a “game changer” and excuses the constant rule changes as an attempt to erect “speedhumps” in its path.

But the World Health Organisation reports there hasn’t been a single death due to the Omicron variant in the 38 nations where it has surfaced.

Early WHO data suggests while it may be more transmissible it’s also far milder than Delta. Out here, in the real world that lies beyond Nicola, Grant, Lot 14 and flying cars, South Australians are heading into a Christmas of Great Uncertainty.

Can’t see that clearly? Should’ve gone to Specsavers.