Joe Hildebrand: Albanese’s change of heart on Covid comes at perfect time for Rabbitohs

There it was: the biggest political conspiracy in Australian history and it was hidden in plain sight in a newspaper sport section, says Joe Hildebrand.

There it was: the biggest political conspiracy in Australian history and it was hidden in plain sight in a newspaper sport section.

Apparently South Sydney’s No.1 ticketholder Anthony Albanese, who also happens to be Prime Minister, gave the club a heads up that Covid isolation rules could be relaxed by national cabinet on Tuesday.

And if – as expected – the isolation period is reduced from seven days to five, it means the Rabbitohs’ star hooker Damien Cook will be clear to play the Sydney Roosters on Friday night.

So has the Prime Minister of ­Australia actually indicated that he is ­prepared to rewrite nationwide state and federal public health policy just so the Bunnies can towel up the Chooks at Allianz Stadium?

If so, I cannot think of a worthier cause.

But more importantly this is yet another small but seismic shift in policymakers coming to terms with what most members of the public already experience as something known as “reality”.

Damien Cook is set to return this Friday under shortened isolation rules. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

And the really interesting thing is that Albo was previously one of the most Covid-cautious politicians around.

At times this verged on the absurd. No doubt fuelled by the paranoia of his Labor Left-dominated campaign team, journalists were forced to be ­triple vaxxed and undergo constant rapid antigen tests or they would be banned from the election trail.

Bizarrely, Albo’s praetorian guard were pursuing a Covid elimination strategy months after the rest of the country had abandoned it, so terrified were they of their leader succumbing to the dreaded disease during the campaign.

Of course we all know what happened.

Utterly predictably, it failed. ­Albanese caught Covid and the unthinkable occurred: he was absolutely fine.

So fine in fact that, as he reminded The Australian on Monday, he’d called in to Ray Hadley’s show while in iso – not the usual instinct of an ­enfeebled Labor leader on his ­deathbed.

But whether it was his own Covid experience or the realities of pragmatic government, Albanese’s attitude to the pandemic has clearly changed, and welcomely so.

And so now, faced with a choice between the “IF YOU RELAX ANY RULES YOU ARE KILLING GRANDMA!!!” approach favoured by Covid Karens and the prospect of a marginally improved chance that the Rabbitohs could beat the Roosters, the PM in his benevolent wisdom appears to be favouring the latter.

Anthony Albanese is loosening his grip on his former Covid stance, argues Joe Hildebrand. Picture: Gary Ramage.

And thank Christ for that.

The only remaining question is what will become of all those Covid Karens who have for so long warned us that any cutting back on Covid safety measures would endanger us all?

Indeed, what will happen to their Captain Karen, who just a few weeks ago was yelling at MPs in the House of Representatives for not wearing masks?

(Incidentally, my sources in the Whip’s office tell me that all are presently alive and accounted for.)

And what will happen to all those who received such unkind diagnoses of nocturnal incontinence for their alarmist, unfounded and panic-inducing commentary?

Well, if they have a shred of integrity or consistency they will keep going. They will cry blue murder at the Prime Minister even daring to raise the prospect of reducing isolation periods.

After all, it’s not like they can claim the facts have changed or the evidence is now with them.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 09: Anthony Albanese watches the Rabbitohs vs St George. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

These were the people who called for school closures when there was no medical evidence that schools were unsafe.

These were the people who called for urgent lockdowns for outbreaks that NSW contact tracers were able to contain.

These were the people who demanded the reintroduction of QR codes that nobody was checking.

These were the people who ­frenziedly perpetuated the myth that the new Covid strain was more ­infectious than measles and predicted the complete collapse of our health system this winter.

Albanese’s cabinet is looking to shorten isolation period to five days. Picture: Gary Ramage.

.And so if the PM and national cabinet are going to reduce the isolation period for those who have actually tested positive for Covid, these people should be up in arms and calling for heads to roll.

And yet there is an eerie silence. Indeed, the whole thing appears to be only even reported as a sports yarn about a football game.

Of course it may be that the Covid Chicken Littles are feeling increasingly embarrassed and ashamed of their previous commentary, given it has now been exposed for the baseless fearmongering that it always was.

But that is a gutless cop out. Given the amount of community anxiety and economic damage they have caused they should at least have the courage to carry on or admit they were wrong.

But of course if these people had any courage they wouldn’t have ­carried on like they did in the first place.