Paul Starick analysis: South Australians about to pass judgment on Steven Marshall’s pandemic management
The Victorian Premier’s tenacity won him respect then a famous victory. The Omicron wave has seen Steven Marshall embrace the same role, writes Paul Starick.
Opinion
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South Australia is about to enter a crucial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which judgment is passed on the state’s management of the most significant disruption to public life in modern history.
At election day on March 19 – fewer than 50 days away – the handling of the pandemic will be the dominant issue for voters to assess.
State governments, including in SA, have intruded into everyday life like never before. This has been justified in the pursuit of public health objectives – eliminating and then diminishing community transmission of Covid-19.
Measures considered unthinkable just two years ago, such as statewide lockdowns, domestic border closures and QR code check-ins, have been imposed and accepted, if reluctantly by some.
SA had been in a globally enviable position, in terms of Covid-19 case numbers, until the virus was allowed in with the November 23 state border reopening.
The subsequent explosion of the Omicron variant unleashed considerable community anxiety in the past month as the state was ravaged by the pandemic like never before.
Tough domestic restrictions prevented the health system overloading but savaged the hospitality and tourism sectors, in particular.
Work-from-home orders for public servants cruelled Adelaide’s CBD, crippling and all-but obliterating the cafe and small bar culture that both major parties, in government, have worked so hard to foster.
Mr Marshall has stepped out of the shadows of Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, also the state co-ordinator during the continuing Covid-19 “emergency”.
Since Omicron struck, the Premier has become the frontman for daily updates, as if to embrace the role forged by his Victorian Labor counterpart Daniel Andrews throughout that state’s Covid-19 havoc. Agree with him or not, Mr Andrews’ tenacity and discipline earned him respect, some grudging, and kept him in the race for a November election.
Mr Marshall’s judgment day comes much sooner. As this columnist wrote on November 6, Covid-19 has defined Steven Marshall’s tenure as state leader and he is gambling his political future on overcoming the pandemic at the crucial final hurdles before polling day.
As one senior Liberal told The Advertiser last November: “The election will be a referendum, or report card, on Marshall’s decision to open our economy and let Covid into SA. This is a totemic issue because the stakes are so high.”
The genie is out of the bottle now and there is no going back. The widespread alarm of a month ago has waned, but not abated. But the public pride at SA’s pandemic performance has dissipated. There are numerous camps, including those who would have preferred the borders stay closed and those who just want to get on with “living with Covid”.
This has created a fragmented electorate, perhaps as never before. The pandemic has exacerbated already widespread distrust and suspicion of the political class, even among many of those who have supported the heightened power of the state in the Covid-19 era.
Both major party leaders are grappling with this new reality. Mr Marshall is ruthlessly deploying the advantages of incumbency, realising that Covid updates guarantee him attention because of the intense public interest. TV stations have broken into summer daytime movies, even interrupting classics like Where Eagles Dare, to air the Premier’s daily press conferences.
The machinery of government and responsibility for leading the Covid-19 response is in the hands of Mr Marshall and his ministers. This denies the means and opportunity for Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas to set the agenda.
The Labor leader has been craving clear air to elaborate a future-focused policy agenda, centred on education, skills development, health and employment. The Omicron outbreak means that clear air will be curtailed dramatically.
Haggling over access to necessary SA Health briefings, even during the caretaker period, is also consuming the alternative premier’s time.
Public conversation is turning to easing restrictions and the challenges of school returning. The Mad March period, headlined by the Adelaide Festival and Fringe, will be the next crucial turning point ahead of the election, particularly because many people will lodge pre-poll votes during this usually splendid period.
The rapid pace of change during the pandemic means the seven weeks until polling day is an extraordinarily long time. The election game has changed dramatically since Christmas and, almost certainly, will turn rapidly again.
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