Jon Faine’s lockdown column leaves bad taste for Sydneysiders
An ex-ABC host’s baffling column left a bad taste for Sydneysiders who watched helplessly as Victorians suffered from lockdown after lockdown, writes Matthew Benns.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Former ABC radio presenter Jon Faine believes it will “do Sydney some good to be knocked off their high perch.”
In a column for The Age on Sunday he wrote that a two week lockdown for “smug and self-important” Sydney will finally “prick their self-righteous balloon.”
Now for every “Bad Jon” sentiment expressed on behalf of a lockdown weary Victoria “Good Jon” countered with a measured response.
And amid the jibes at Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the NSW Health response he made some good points. Not least the hope that “Scott Morrison will finally be forced to fast-track mass vaccination with the urgency it requires and stop dawdling on getting the nation inoculated.”
But the “Bad Jon” tone left a bad taste for the residents of a city who have watched helplessly and with great sympathy as their Victorian neighbours suffered from lockdown after lockdown.
It seems slightly hypocritical to complain at the barbs thrown at the Victorian government by the “reptiles” of the right wing press while lobbing grenades at the NSW Government’s “thinly disguised political posturing” in delaying lockdown.
In fairness it is true that most people in NSW have been very glad to have Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the helm rather than those butterfingered clowns running Victoria.
And Bad Jon is right when he says: “It proves for once and for all that the virus doesn’t care which political party is in power.” Even though he clearly does.
The point is not whether you are in NSW or Victoria, everyone in Australia is in this together.
Bad Jon and Good Jon are both absolutely spot on: “I’m so sick of Covid but we just have to stick together, follow the advice and get through somehow.”
It’s just a shame it involved kicking us when we are down to get there.
‘Spawn of satan’: Influencers take aim at social media
Social media is their brand and business but even influencers, like Abbie Chatfield and Brittney Saunders, are worried about the mental health of young people and kids who use it.
Minns is right: We should keep Palestine marchers off the bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge should not be is a blank canvas for politics – particularly the politics of an ancient fight playing out on the other side of the world, writes James Morrow