Daniel Wills: Fear, confusion and panic can be deadly during a national crisis. Our leaders must be clear and their political opponents must be responsible
The character of Australian politics is about to be tested. Clear, honest communication must trump partisanship or people will die needlessly, State Political Editor Daniel Wills writes.
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Fear, confusion and panic can be literally deadly during a national crisis of the kind we expect to endure over the next six months.
It will be a period that tests the resilience and character of us as individuals, and that of our essential institutions. It will be the most incredible test of whether anything remains above politics in what seems a post-truth world, and whether bipartisanship has become a quaint but ancient relic.
As some of the smartest people this country has produced gather to provide medical advice to our elected leaders, they are warning that clear communication and reliable information is essential to combating this grave threat to our physical safety.
Speaking at the National Press Club this week, Humanitarian Research Program head Kamalini Lokuge said a key part of the health response was making sure that people were kept calm.
“You see this (panic) in many outbreaks, and the way you address it is to make sure that there is good community engagement,” she said.
“If people have a consistent message about what they need to do, about what is in their control in terms of managing the risk of infection, then it is much easier.
“If that becomes confused, then that’s when you have people start taking things into their own hands, figuring out that they better stock up on baked beans.
“Every outbreak I’ve been involved in, (for example) ebola, you can fix it with a bucket of water and some bleach if the community is engaged. If they’re not, you are never going to get success.”
The usual suspects on social media have already started engaging in a deliberate misinformation campaign, with Premier Steven Marshall this week forced to call out “fake news” that the CBD was headed for imminent lockdown. It’s a sign of the times that SA’s leader, speaking from the podium at the State Administration Centre, felt he needed to do so.
But the most important responsibility in these times falls to those in charge. And those whose job it is to keep them accountable in the opposition parties must calibrate their criticism with extreme care at this time. Both Mr Marshall and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have won wide credit for their performances in the past week.
Mr Marshall, having been the cool head and calming voice during the bushfires, has shown himself well suited to times of crisis. Observers inside and outside the State Government have often, during his first two years in office, referred to him as something more of a “chief operating officer” than an inspiring or captivating showman of a political leader.
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It’s usually meant as a bit of backhander. But not anymore. He’s clearly receiving exceptional advice from SA’s chief public health officer, Nicola Spurrier, who appears more across her brief than any official in the country and inspires instant confidence every time she speaks.
And Mr Marshall openly admits he’s following that advice to the letter, while also working on broader plans and responses to deal with the economic and social impacts.
Mr Morrison, who was nothing less than humiliated during his slow and PR-focused reaction to the bushfires, is coming across this time with sincerity and authority. But the most testing times are to come.
It is unknown how bad this will get. Mr Marshall has candidly told the state that his ambition is to minimise the damage as far as possible. In his characteristically technocratic way, he says SA aims to have the flattest curve of any jurisdiction in the world.
The strength of his and Mr Morrison’s communication skills will be tested in coming months. The best predictions are that more people will get sick. In Italy, there are heartbreaking scenes in the corridors of hospitals and obituary pages of newspapers as clinicians make unimaginable choices about treatment. It is also likely that many people will lose their jobs as clampdowns slow economic activity dramatically. Many of those will be the people who can least afford it, in low-paid and casual work.
Governments have a huge task ahead to tell them that we are still all in this together.
And if you need evidence of how disastrous poor communication and ignorance of expert advice can be, just look to the display from US President Donald Trump.
Health experts were literally screaming for him to do something. He ignored and then blamed them, and has been all over the shop with messaging. Americans could pay an extremely high price.
Oppositions, in a world that has rewarded the deliberately dishonest “Mediscare” and death-tax campaigns, must resist the impulse to brutally undermine and, instead, play a role of genuinely constructive critics.
And that might require a bipartisanship uncommon for governments, to ensure even their critics are working with the best information possible.