Morrison open to easing COVID restrictions in SA and WA as test
As the war against coronavirus wages on, many are wondering when and how we’re ever going to get out of this mess. And now, it seems the Prime Minister has a plan, writes David Penberthy.
Rendezview
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rendezview. Followed categories will be added to My News.
So when do we get out?
With Australia flattening the curve, and with South Australia doing a particularly good job stemming the growth of infection, this question is now uppermost in the minds of many.
Humans have an outrageous ability to absorb extreme and confronting events. I know that in the space of a couple of weeks as our household’s designated shopper, my emotional relationship with the local Foodland has gone from a sense of melancholy and anxiety at wandering the pillaged aisles, to bemused ambivalence as to the weirdness of it all.
My fellow shoppers seem less strung out, too. Indeed the number of shoppers is falling, there is less stupid panic buying, plenty of friendly collegiate smiles from strangers as you follow the magic arrows leading you through the store.
As the abnormal starts to feel normal, human nature is such that people will be inclined to push the boundaries that have been imposed over our lives.
My advice, and it’s one that runs contrary to my anti-authoritarian streak, is that we shouldn’t push the boundaries ourselves. Instead we should wait patiently and sensibly until we are told that the boundaries are being rolled back.
To that end, the question that starts this article is the wrong one. It’s not so much a question of when we get out, but how do we get out. And it’s a question that could have special resonance for our local community and political leadership here in SA, as one of the low-infection states that is doing much better than the big numbers being seen to the nation’s east.
It’s been reported a couple of times now this week that Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the nation’s chief medical officers are considering some kind of cautious roll back on social distancing in the low-growth states of SA and Western Australia.
The idea is that some of the restrictions on congregating could be loosened to allow people to gather in larger numbers, friends and grandparents could start having meals together again, and the pubs, restaurants and gyms might be allowed to open.
If the curve continues to be flattened, all this would happen before (possibly well before) the six-month ballpark time frame to which the PM has repeatedly referred.
The impact of the easing of restrictions would then be analysed and this could guide plans for the rest of the country.
The Brisbane Courier Mail reported that this plan – for what the newspaper described as the “guinea pig states” – will be among several options presented to state premiers.
It’s not baseless speculation. Without being so crass as to refer to the good people of SA as guinea pigs, the PM said on Tuesday at his press conference that there could be different approaches across different states to winding back the lockdown.
“You will have some jurisdictions, some states and territories that might be in a position to move when others are not, then we will learn from the experience of those states that may have trialled things,’’ Mr Morrison said.
“And we may see a number of trial-type of relief of restrictions at some point in the future and that would mean that in states like NSW or Victoria or even southeast Queensland that are more impacted that they be able to take this easing of restrictions with a bit more confidence.
“So the National Cabinet is working together very much on this and discussing the options that are available to them and really trying to help each other with the decisions that they need to make in each and every case.”
It’s a hell of a proposition to put to a premier: “So, Steve, you guys seem to be going pretty well in SA. Do you feel like taking a punt?”
We asked Premier Steven Marshall about the idea on radio and, understandably, he was quick out of the box to distance himself from the idea. Especially on the eve of Easter when his entire messaging was quite rightly around making sure people don’t act like halfwits this weekend by skiving off for beach holidays.
But he didn’t explicitly kill the idea stone dead, as down the track, especially if the world still doesn’t have a vaccine, an experiment like this might become necessary to help life return to something that looks more normal, Provided it can be done without risking a rise in infections.
This is fiendishly difficult stuff. It is difficult from a medical perspective, because no-one seems to agree on it, and it is difficult from a political perspective, because it requires the state’s leadership to sign onto something that carries risks.
The odd thing is, it feels like a lot of people might be up for it.
I have heard from plenty of older people who are already fed up with not being able to hug their grandkids, and whose family visits are now conducted through car windows or by shouting at their children and grandchildren from the other end of the backyard.
There are obviously many, many businesses that are being smashed by the shutdown too.
And, despite the efforts from some to make this an either-or argument between saving lives and saving the economy, the truth is that both things are intertwined.
We are lucky that in SA both sides of politics agree on that point, with both Premier Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas conscious that this whole thing is a fraught juggling act where, in trying to keep people safe from the health impacts, you risk destroying their lives anyway by consigning them to penury.
Whether we all agree on becoming guinea pigs is a much thornier question.