Dom Perrottet leads while hapless Daniel Andrews clings to silly outdoor mask mandate

There is no science to back outdoor mask mandates and you can bet Dan Andrews will drop when polls say it’s unpopular.

Dom Perrottet must be exhausted. Not only is he the leader of Australia’s most populous state and a father of six with another on the way, but he’s also the quasi premier of Victoria and prime minister of Australia.

Finally we are seeing some real leadership from an elected official; a leader who doesn’t just engage in endless scaremongering and relinquishes his power to unelected bureaucrats relying on chronically and wildly wrong modelling.

The NSW premier is forcing both Dan Andrews and Scott Morrison to rejoin the world and abandon the prison island mentality that has turned the ‘Lucky Country’ into a scared-senseless hermit kingdom.

Crowds returned to the races, the pub and the shops in Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

By boldly reopening his state Perrottet has shamed the Victorian government to match much of NSW’s roadmap and put enormous pressure on the prime minister to reopen our international borders which have been closed since March 2020.

We must never forget that more than a year into the pandemic the PM disgracefully capitulated to the likes of Andrews and Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and cut by half Australia’s overseas arrivals ensuring more of our citizens remained stranded overseas.

And, we must never forget that despite scientists telling us for more than 18 months that coronavirus would be endemic, premier Andrews pursued a disastrous elimination strategy until the end of August when he belatedly acknowledged reality.

The only people feeling sillier than premier Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton today are the increasingly unhinged members of the Dan cult who a week ago were condemning Perrottet for being dangerously reckless but are now celebrating Andrews’ decision to lift lockdown even as the state records around 2,000 cases a day.

Daniel Andrews has abandoned his own roadmap. Picture: Getty Images

It’s wonderful for Victoria that Andrews is abandoning his own roadmap but too many contradictions and idiocies remain.

Sydney reopened indoor retail, cinemas and gymnasiums at 70 per cent double vaccinated and threw out the outdoor mask mandate, Melbourne will have none of that.

There was never much in the way of evidence to justify an outdoor mask mandate but it’s all the more ridiculous at 70 per cent double vaccinated when guests will be allowed in private homes.

Just about all Covid-19 cases are acquired indoors and there are a number of studies and infectious disease experts who strongly dispute the effectiveness of masking outdoors but Andrews’ silly rule, which he even has trouble following, will remain in place … for now.

Unless the next internal poll shows how unpopular and untrusted the rule is among the public.

When harsh restrictions were electorally popular, the Andrews government did not relent an inch through multiple lockdowns, but as soon as the public mood shifted, so did their ‘science’.

Playgrounds went from dangerous to safe, so did golf, bathroom in tennis and golf clubs were banned and un-banned within a matter of days and the state’s roadmap proudly presented less than a month ago has already been augmented dramatically in response to a thoroughly fed up populace looking wistfully at NSW.

It’s incredible how “the best health advice” bends with internal polling and public sentiment.

Originally published as Dom Perrottet leads while hapless Daniel Andrews clings to silly outdoor mask mandate