Opinion: Covid exposes flaw in Aussie character

What has Covid-19 done to us? We used to be such an easygoing lot. Now, give somebody a name badge or a uniform, and throw in the craziness of a pandemic, and it often turns ugly, writes Peter Gleeson.

You’ve changed. Yes you, Australia. Covid-19 has turned us from a nanny state to a police state. While snitches once used to get stitches, they now get applauded.

And, yes, when it comes to the health of others, in most circumstances dobbing in an anti-vaxxer or bringing to account irresponsibility is a good thing.

But sometimes we just take it too far. Sometimes, we lose perspective.

Take the case of wildly successful thoroughbred racehorse owner Brae Sokolski, who part-owns Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elegant, Caulfield Cup winner Incentivise and Magic Millions winner, Coolangatta.

On a recent flight between the Gold Coast and Sydney – fresh from his MM triumph – Sokolski was met at Mascot by four Australian Federal Police officers.

Brae Sokolski was met by four Australian Federal Police officers after a flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

A flight attendant had complained that he had not satisfied mask wearing protocols in business class and mid-air found a passenger across the aisle who was prepared to corroborate their version of events, covertly signing a document.

Sokolski admits his mask had twice dropped below his nose, and on both occasions he had it properly readjusted.

His final mistake was to take off his mask during meal service while drinking water from the tray in front of him. This, said the flight attendant, did not constitute eating or drinking as he hadn’t ordered anything from the menu, unlike others who were wining and dining around him.

Sokolski was interviewed by the AFP at Mascot – they were empathetic and cordial – and is awaiting advice on whether he will be fined.

There was no suggestion that he had caused any disorder, only that he failed to comply with the mask rules. Sokolski is questioning the authoritarian action of the flight attendant and the nearby passenger.

Why is it that people in the service industry, so meek and mild and accommodating before the pandemic, have turned into Nazis, doing the bidding of government?

What has Covid-19 done to us?

We used to be such an easygoing lot. Now, give somebody a name badge or a uniform, and throw in the craziness of a pandemic, and it often turns ugly.

Now we all know rules are rules, and that’s exactly the hymn sheet that airlines and police sing to when “doing their job’’.

But where’s the common sense in all this? Sokolski is a highly intelligent guy, with an extraordinary eye for making a dollar, through property investment and buying the right thoroughbred horseflesh. He has no interest in upsetting airline staff or federal police.

When it comes to his punishment, it will be his word against others.

This pandemic has exposed Australia – and probably the rest of the world – as, to use a racing term, good old fashioned narks.

Where’s the civility? Where’s the “we’re all in this together’’.

Throw in some of the most draconian cross-border rules seen on the planet (who can forget the heartbreaking Father’s Day scenes at the Tweed border) and you’ve got a country that has lost its human spirit.

The sooner we put this virus behind us, the better.