Rita Panahi: Prison island mentality threatening Grand Prix

The rest of the developed world is returning to normal. So when will Australia drop its foolhardy prison island mentality?

Melbourne is at risk of losing the Grand Prix if the state and federal governments don’t adopt sensible Covid policies. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Melbourne can kiss the Formula 1 Grand Prix and other major international events goodbye if Australia doesn’t dramatically shift its isolationist stance.

The race is scheduled for November 21 so the state and federal governments have plenty of time to get their act together but it’s foolhardy to expect teams and drivers to quarantine for 14 days after arriving in the country.

That may have been a reasonable requirement for the Australian Open at the start of the year but no longer.

Not when the rest of the developed world is returning to normal while Australia, together with the equally scared witless New Zealand, continues to hide under the doona.

The Grand Prix Corporation has submitted its CovidSafe plan to the Victorian government and is awaiting a decision on whether the race will proceed.

Teams will put up with onerous conditions regarding contact with outsiders, living and working in bubbles and undergoing regular testing but they will not submit to 14 days quarantine, which is not even possible given the current schedule.

That is something the Victorian government and Australian Grand Prix Corporation were well aware of when the event was shifted from March to November.

Under the revised schedule Melbourne’s event begins less than two weeks after the Brazilian Grand Prix.

As F1 correspondent Chris Medland explained on 3AW the race simply could not go ahead with enforced quarantine.

“You couldn’t even do a seven-day quarantine to be honest by the time you got from Interlagos (Brazil) over to Melbourne and then set up for the race,” he said.

While the teams won’t submit to quarantine they have stringent Covid-19 protocols including regular testing and working in “isolated bubbles”.

Though the race is months away a decision is required from the state government by the end of the month to ensure alternative plans can be made if the race is cancelled.

But Australia’s prison island mentality doesn’t just impact the F1.

Requiring every overseas arrival to quarantine for 14 days is not sustainable even in the medium term.

Australia’s battered tourism sector, which employs more than 660,000 Australians and contributes over $150 billion annually to the economy, needs international arrivals to survive and they will not come if mandatory quarantine is required.

We stand to lose far more than the Grand Prix and other world class events if we do not adopt sensible, proportional policies.

As our at-risk population becomes vaccinated Australia must re-join the rest of the world or be left behind.

IN SHORT

Back in March and April I wrote columns decrying public health bureaucrats and the prime minister’s slow and steady approach to vaccinations. The lack of urgency was all the more imprudent given how late we were starting our rollout and how isolated we have become as a country.

Originally published as Rita Panahi: Prison island mentality threatening Grand Prix