Pandemic shows our political ‘leaders’ are not fit for the job

The lack of leadership from both federal and state politicians reflects the lack of real world experience among our politicians, writes Piers Akerman.

The Wuhan flu virus has exposed what many have long thought – our elected leaders at the state and federal level are incompetent.

The national cabinet which replaced the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in March last year has been as burdened with backbiting jealousy and petty rivalries as the most parochial local council.

Meant to have the same status as the War Cabinet which met during the Second World War, it has dismally failed to rise to anything near the same level of authority let alone competence.

Not a single state leader has an unblemished record and neither have the chief health officers each has used as a shield to deflect legitimate criticism.

Major errors have occurred since the arrival of the Ruby Princess in Sydney at 3am on March 19, 2020, from New Zealand (where she left a trail of Covid-19 infection) was permitted to disembark passengers who (just imagine) spread the virus across Australia and internationally as they flew to their homes.

Five days after the ship crept into Sydney Harbour it was revealed that one passenger had died and 133 on the ship had tested positive for the coronavirus. By March 30, at least 440 passengers had tested positive and by March 31 five of them had died, one in the ACT, two in Tasmania, one in NSW and one in Queensland.

By April 2, the number testing positive, excluding those who had left Australia without being tested, had risen to 337 passengers and 3 crew members.

But nothing was learnt from that experience.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: John Gass

In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews locked down public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne without warning at 4pm on July 4 in a move that the Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass found was not based on direct health advice and was in violation of the state’s human rights laws.

The lockdown flowed from a Crisis Council meeting of the Victorian Cabinet but she was denied access to documents from that meeting.

Victoria’s inept handling of the virus has seen it contribute 820 deaths to Australia’s total 910 toll.

Chillingly, the same premiers and the same health officials are still in place and still contributing to the confusion and hopeless ineptitude that passes for health policy at every level of government.

Under these “experts” vast swathes of NSW are enduring yet another lockdown brought about because no-one foresaw a need to ensure that drivers of international aircrew be required to be vaccinated.

Unvaccinated health workers were also permitted to work in multiple hospitals – what could possible go wrong?

Cities in Queensland are similarly in lockdown because an unvaccinated student was permitted to work in proximity to a coronavirus ward for days though she was sick and exhibiting classic virus symptoms.

The Queensland chief health officer Jeanette Young seriously undermined the effort to encourage vaccinations with her confidence-sapping remarks about the risks associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has already appointed her Queensland’s next governor. Seriously.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approach to the pandemic has been little better than that of the premiers. Granting indemnity to GPs administering vaccines but not to those who may suffer is hardly confidence boosting.

The majority of Australians have been unable to leave the country since March 2020 and there is still no clarity about when the travel ban will be lifted even for those who have received a full course of vaccinations.

If anything was designed to reduce confidence in the efficacy of vaccinations, this half-hearted measure seals the deal yet the risk from the vaccine is less than that of a road accident, or death from murder.

The damage to the national economy caused by this bungling has been as harmful as anything the global warming Greens would wish upon our hugely successful energy exports and the remnants of our manufacturing industry.

The lack of leadership from both federal and state politicians reflects the lack of real world experience among our politicians.

On both sides of politics we have former staffers who have never worked in private enterprise, let alone run a small business, making decisions without any basis in skill or experience.

Leaders are meant to quell panic and confusion, not create chaos.