Kylie Lang: Nice work, Premier. Voting shouldn’t be hazardous to our health

Any respect for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has now vanished with the decision to wimp out for political gains and send Queenslanders to the polls in the midst of a virus pandemic.

WERE hand sanitisers offered at polling booths when you risked your health to vote today?

No? Not at mine either.

I’d have brought my own, except I haven’t been able to find any since panic buying became the new black.

Yet around 1 million voters who didn’t do postal or pre-poll voting are still being told they need to turn out to vote in local elections or face a $133 fine.

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Nice work, Premier.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has been closing the borders, chastising the media over social distancing, and begging people to “stay inside” yet she also has urged us to get out into our communities today.

Why? It’s not so much about trying to get Labor hacks elected in local government, but there are two state by-elections, at Bundamba (Ipswich) and Currumbin (Gold Coast), to consider.

The hypocrisy is high, even for a state government which has shattered the public’s trust with integrity scandals and more.

As one of my left-leaning friends said today, “What little respect I had for the Premier is gone, how dare she?”

Hand sanitiser used by an election official during pre-polling at City Hall, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

Even the chief medical officer Dr Jeanette Young - who is on the public purse - has been sending mixed messages, saying we should all turn out to vote but we should be more concerned about going to Dan Murphy’s.

Well, I’ve been to Dan Murphy’s, today in fact, and there were a lot fewer people there than at Ascot State School where I cast my vote – and there were trolleys at the bottle shop to help with social distancing.

Don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere at the school was orderly and pleasant enough.

But Ascot State School is also where a parent tested positive for COVID-19 last week, prompting principal Gayle Coleman to notify the school community on Monday morning.

More than half of the student cohort – roughly 400 kids – have been kept home ever since.

Sure, I could have gone to another polling station, but who’s to say I wouldn’t have been within spitting distance of someone infected with the potentially deadly virus?

What we need, deserve and must demand is a clear and uniform message around coronavirus, not politicians wimping out for potential political gain.