Victorians have paid for their focus on individual rights
Victorians acted selfishly when they protested in large numbers, held numerous family gatherings and failed to socially distance. Now they - and we - are paying for it, writes Tim Blair.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Melbourne is everything to do with rights and nothing at all to do with manners.
To illustrate: a Melbourne fellow attracted online attention a few years ago by asserting his absolute right to drive in the overtaking lane, so long as he didn’t break the speed limit.
His journey would not have been extended by even a nanosecond if he’d politely moved over to allow other drivers to pass, but no – it was his right and he insisted upon it.
Apply that attitude to entire suburbs and you get an idea why Melbourne is currently the hottest of coronavirus hot zones.
People exercised their right to protest in huge numbers. They exercised their right to hold large family gatherings. And, when returning from overseas, they exercised their right to refuse virus testing.
Consideration for others may have made a difference, but consideration is in the manners category, which in Melbourne is always trumped by rights.
When lockdown restrictions were eased a few weeks ago, most of Australia remained cautious. This wasn’t the case in Melbourne, evidently, where folk are now reaping the consequences: 80 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, and 75 in 24 hours up to early yesterday.
MORE FROM TIM BLAIR
Because it’s Melburnians’ right not to endure even slight discomfort from coronavirus testing, Victorian health experts now accommodate them with a less invasive saliva test.
Problem is, the new test isn’t completely reliable. The old nose-and-throat method runs at about 100 per cent accuracy. The new test isn’t hitting even 90 per cent.
So, in the middle of what authorities now concede is a second wave of the pandemic outbreak, they’ll likely be missing quite a few infected people.
The best solution to Melbourne is to get out of the place, as I did 26 years ago. These days I only go back to pick up a few speeding tickets, for nostalgia’s sake.
Speaking of tickets, our overtaking lane mate several months later reported he’d been fined by police for not getting the hell out of the way.
The only right he maintained at that point was the right to take the matter to court.