Andrew Bolt: Liberals the only party that cares for our freedoms

Unless we make a shift from governments deciding for us, to us deciding for ourselves we’ll never be free of lockdowns and closed borders.

This may help you understand the virus politics: Most people who get sick are from Labor areas.

Most politicians pushing for freedom are Liberal.

In Victoria, about 90 per cent of people infected last week lived in electorates that voted for Premer Daniel Andrews, who on September 23 will break the world record for the longest lockdown.

Only 4 per cent lived in electorates that voted Liberal or National – although, yes, those parties hold just a third of the state seats.

In NSW, it’s the same story. About 70 per cent of infected people last week lived in federal Labor electorates, even though Labor hold just half the NSW seats (24 of 47).

There are reasons why some Labor seats in both Sydney and Melbourne are virus central.

They tend to be poorer and more densely packed. Many have big migrant “communities”, often with poor English, leading to complaints of health warnings not getting through or being obeyed.

Premer Daniel Andrews will soon break the world record for the longest lockdown.

Meanwhile, voters in some Liberal seats live under lockdowns meant to crush outbreaks raging mostly in Labor areas.

True, our political leaders aren’t acting to please just their own supporters.

But these facts on the ground will reinforce their biases – Labor for control, the Liberals for freedom – just when we must shift from the first to the second.

Take last Saturday. It was a beautiful day in Sydney – sunny, temperatures pushing up to 30 degrees – and something snapped.

Thousands of people, sick of being cooped up in a lockdown that’s lasted 11 weeks, hit the beach.

Why not? Yes, Sydney had just reached nearly 1600 new infections, but all these beach bunnies decided the risk of going outside was still worth it, as had thousands of Melburnians the previous weekend, also sunny, who packed Elwood beach.

They were right. This virus is almost always spread indoors, and even NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard admitted being outdoors is the “safest place to be”. Moreover, the people most likely to be killed – the very old and sick – weren’t likely to be lying on the sand.

People are seen at Bondi Beach during lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Even if there was still some minute risk of getting infected, so what? Those on that beach decided they’d happily take that gamble if it meant getting out of their home detention and catching some sun. Maybe even seeing some friends at last.

Who is a politician to tell them not to?

Yet some did. Again. So police on Bondi Beach checked IDs to catch people who’d travelled too far, and councils even closed two beaches – Camp Cove and Redleaf Beach – for being supposedly too crowded.

This can’t go on. Stand by for civil insurrection if beaches are closed over summer.

Going to the beach should now be your call, not a Premier’s. So should visiting your mum, or having friends drop in. How dare a politician say that’s too dangerous to allow?

Yes, governments had to step in when the virus seemed to be running out of control, hospitals had to gear up in a hurry, and we didn’t have enough vaccines to protect the people most in danger.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has provided her state a road map out of lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

But that’s changed. More than 40 per cent of adults are now fully vaccinated. Everyone in most danger from the virus is either vaccinated or refused to be.

And if anyone is still too scared of the virus, fine. Put yourself in lockdown. Ban visitors who aren’t double vaccinated. Your choice, and so is dismissing the evidence, refusing the vaccine and ending up in intensive care.

Your call, and your consequences, which is why so many of us aren’t much moved any more by the daily roll-call of the NSW dead – almost every one not fully vaccinated, when their age and health screamed they should have been.

Unless we make this shift – from governments deciding for us, to us deciding for ourselves – we’ll never be free of the threat of lockdowns and closed borders, even if 80 per cent of us get vaccinated.

In fact, some premiers still say exactly that. Those are Labor ones (Daniel Andrews, Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mark McGowan) while the leaders pushing hardest for freedom are Liberals (Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison).

Labor has always liked Big Government. Indeed, Labor even hailed McGowan as “state Dad”. Liberals, on the other hand, have always talked more about freedom and personal responsibility.

That’s the debate we’re having right now, and freedom must win.

But how strident will that debate now be, when Labor knows its supporters are doing most of the dying?