Anna Caldwell: Politicians are out of touch with harsh reality of lockdown

Governments are trying their best to fight Covid, but the fact is politicians are cushioned from the harshest effects of lockdown, writes Anna Caldwell.

The corridors of parliament in Canberra are a world away from Sydney’s Covid ground zero. There was a single, telling moment this week that showed how quickly the political class can forget that their own experience of lockdown is ­nothing like out-of-work folk trying to ride this storm out.

On Tuesday, Labor’s Michelle Rowland was streaming into Question Time electronically from Blacktown in her Western Sydney electorate which encompasses two of the hot-spot LGAs subject to the biggest case numbers and the most ­draconian restrictions.

Rowland quizzed the Prime Minister on whether he regretted praising Gladys Berejiklian for resisting a full lockdown sooner, given there are now “hundreds of thousands of working parents across Western Sydney … bracing themselves for remote schooling with no end date”.

Politicians are out of touch, underestimating the effects of lockdowns and lagging vaccination rates on single people and families who are running out of hope. Picture: Terry Pontikos.

The PM responded by pointing out that his family was facing the same difficulties.

“As a fellow Sydneysider, my children also are facing that. My children and those across Sydney are all facing that — families separated from each other. That is the terrible business of lockdowns,” he said.

To the letter of his word, Morrison was accurate. He is separated from his family and all children are learning from home.

But to the families in Sydney hot spots where Rowland lives, many of whom are out-of-work single parents getting $600 a week in homes that simply are not built for homeschooling, Morrison’s answer was tone deaf.

Compare the PM’s lot in lockdown to the picture painted in Fairfield by optometrist Thuc-Quyen Nguyen-Phuoc, who told The Daily Telegraph this week: “After the announcement of the police presence, Fairfield was a ghost town,” adding her focus was just “survival”.

“There are much bigger financial and mental strains from this lockdown than previous ones,” she said.

Thuc-Quyen Nguyen-Phuoc, optometrist at Eye Concepts in Fairfield, talks about the impact Covid has had on business. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Or compare it to Al Shakarchi Bakery owner Mohammed Rashedi, who said business was “dead” and “this month I don’t pay the rent”.

Morrison isn’t the only politician to appear disconnected.

Gladys Berejiklian fell into the same trap on July 26 when asked by 2GB’s Ben Fordham about the need for a singles bubble to help the mental health of people living alone.

“Of course I know how difficult it is, I was in a similar situation last year,” Berejiklian declared.

“I appreciate what that feels like, I appreciate what people are going through.”

Again, she was factually correct that she did live alone last year.

But her reality as a single woman with a secure job she continued to go to every day and a comfortable home to retire to at night in is not a “similar situation” to the life of a single mum stuck in housing commission with no job to leave the house for.

The point of these anecdotes is not to beat up politicians who are quite clearly working tirelessly to get us out of this mess.

The point is that there is a huge gap between the lived realities of the political class who manage lockdowns and the people who are most harmed by them.

Gladys Berejiklian and Scott Morrison are battling tirelessly against Covid … but they are also cushioned from the worst of the effects of lockdowns. Picture: Getty Image

Lockdowns are overseen by people in stable, secure, well-paid work, living mostly in comfortable homes, and continuing to go to work daily in jobs that can be performed in a Covid-safe manner.

But lockdowns are most keenly felt by people who have none of these things.

Delta has shown that these lockdowns are necessary. They serve a critical purpose in our ability to live freely again.

It would serve everyone better, though, if we paid more attention to those who cop their brunt.

Focus group research I’ve seen in the past three weeks has identified concerns with Berejiklian and Morrison, who are both at risk of losing public support over this outbreak.

On Morrison, participants remarked on the unfairness that he got access to the Pfizer vaccination while others have been made to wait and wait, or take AstraZeneca.

On Berejiklian and NSW, participants believe the state was too slow to respond to the Delta threat.

The political futures of Morrison and Berejiklian are both tied to how NSW makes its way out of this crisis.

They will not be judged simply on what date we are free from lockdown, but also on how our citizens survive the ride. It is to everyone’s benefit that no one is left behind.

As one immediate measure, Berejiklian should invite Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor into crisis cabinet with a fresh focus on new ideas to ensure we are meeting the basic human needs of people in a long lockdown so no one falls through the cracks.

Another measure needed quickly is an improvement in NSW government support payments — just $280 million had been paid yesterday out of more than $420 million approved and almost double that applied for.

Both levels of government have more work to do to make the process of getting a vaccine easier — starting with booking systems that are time consuming and for some, downright impossible to navigate.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell could also join crisis cabinet to pitch more innovative solutions to improve life for battling parents who can’t stomach another day of learn from home.

These things are just a starting point to many steps that can be taken to improve the lives of people hurting.

Seven News reported this week that Lifeline recorded its highest ever number of calls on Monday — 3345 calls for support, the most in almost six decades of service.

What is at stake could not be greater.

Politicians, and indeed all of us, must not lose sight of those who are hurting most in this lockdown.