Mike O’Connor: Covid genie well and truly out of bottle, but more battles to be fought in 2022

As expected, the Covid genie has escaped (don’t expect premiers to admit they screwed up) but that doesn’t mean there will be no shortage of battles to be fought in 2022, writes Mike O’Connor.

That “pop!” you heard on New Year’s Eve might have been the neighbours cracking a cheap bottle of fizz but was more likely to be the cork exploding from the bottle that contained the Covid genie.

That genie is now well and truly out of the bottle as Queenslanders stumble zombie-like from the nightmare that was 2021 into the light and promise of a New Year.

The genie was always going to escape and you can but shake your head in despair and disbelief at the thousands of words that have been uttered, the countless press conferences that have been held, the endless half-truths that have been paraded as facts, the blame shifting and the petty posturing that we’ve had to endure to arrive at this inevitability.

At least we don’t have to worry about the virus any more. There’s no point. We just take the obvious precautions and hope for the best.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the premiers to admit that they screwed it up because that will never happen. Their get-tough policies looked like vote winners at the time and that, after all, was the primary consideration.

Now that lockdowns and lockouts are seen as vote losers, they’ve been quickly consigned to the policy scrap heap as like so many synchronised swimmers, our political leaders perform a 180-degree change of course.

Mike O’Connor suspects there will be plenty of battles to be fought in 2022.

This transition to reality is a relief for those people who like me spent most of the past 12 months hurling cushions at the television screen in impotent rage while watching the evening news and ranting at the ether when reading the morning newspapers.

I look forward to less turbulent times in 2022 but am keeping the cushions handy for there will be no shortage of battles to be fought over the next 12 months by the forces of sweet reason.

We’ll celebrate Australia Day in a few weeks’ time, a trigger for the usual protests by attention-seeking professional victims who’d rather spray graffiti on a statue of Captain Cook than make a meaningful contribution to the welfare of Indigenous people.

The “wokeness” that has been a feature of the past year is also certain to continue as companies scramble to satisfy the demands of those who claim to be hurt or offended by innocuous brand names and marketing. The more the corporations succumb, the greater their demands and the louder the moans of confected outrage by a self-obsessed minority because blackmailers always come back for more.

There will be bushfires this year like there are every year but they’ll be declared to be more extreme than they have ever been in the history of the nation because of climate change.

The records will tell a different story but that won’t matter because every weather event is now viewed through the prism of the ecowarrior. Cyclones, snow storms, floods, drought – it’s climate change, mate.

More people will be herded into buying electric vehicles this year in spite of the fact that they are wildly overpriced, the savings in fuel costs are marginal, no one knows what to do with the used batteries and the manufacture of the batteries and the mining of the precious minerals to produce them consumes huge amounts of coal-fired electricity.

Still, these considerations are as nothing when compared with the warm glow you feel as you glide silently down the street, safe in the knowledge that you are doing your bit to save civilisation.

In a further bid to prevent catastrophe, world leaders will again gather for a COP26 conference, this year in Egypt. Everyone will hold hands and promise to reduce their emissions. Once the group photograph has been taken the Indians, Africans and the Chinese – if they bother to attend – will fly back home in their private jets and build more coal-fired power stations.

Australia will take a more responsible position, closing power stations like good global citizens and waiting for the lights to go out. It’s the thought that counts, apparently.

Males, I fear, will continue to get bad press. Domestic violence and sexual assault are to be deplored but most Australian males are decent, principled individuals who will go to any length to protect and shield the women in their life.

Too often this simple and undeniable truth gets lost in the debate. Bullying will also hit the headlines again and it would be nice if the point was made that women, as well as men, can just as easily be guilty of this.

The cushions, then, are likely to get another workout over the next 12 months.

If it wasn’t so serious it would be hilarious.