Caleb Bond: Daniel Andrews’ roadmap taking the long, slow road

Daniel Andrews’ roadmap was meant to give Victorians hope that life was returning to normal. Instead, we’ve been served up normal-lite.

If this is a “roadmap” out of lockdown, it must be one designed for horse and cart.

As NSW announced the reopening of outdoor pools, Victorians will have to wait more than a month.

We will, for some inexplicable reason, have to wait another seven weeks for the pleasure of sinking a beer at a sunny picnic with our fully vaccinated friends.

The post-80 per cent rules in Victoria will still be harsher than the rules right now in other parts of the country.

Even when the vast majority of us have been vaccinated, we will still have to wear masks at the supermarket.

We will have to wait another seven weeks for the pleasure of sinking a beer at a sunny picnic with our fully vaccinated friends. Picture: AFP

The curfew, which nearly every epidemiologist agrees is not backed by any genuine health advice, is here for another five weeks ­— at which point we’ll be allowed to go 25km from our homes.

What a luxury.

This roadmap was meant to give us hope that life was returning to normal.

Instead, we’ve been served up a “new normal” – or normal-lite.

Sending children back to school part-time might provide them with some social interaction, which is a good thing, but it will be supremely disruptive for all involved.

It offers no real reprieve to parents, puts children in the position of having to learn in different ways halfway through the week and will make life much harder for teachers who will have to design umpteen different types of lessons.

The curfew, which nearly every epidemiologist agrees is not backed by any genuine health advice, is here for another five weeks. Picture: Josie Hayden

Pubs and restaurants, at the 70 per cent mark, will not be able to accommodate customers inside.

It will, in all likelihood, mean they operate at a loss until they’re allowed to open properly.

The difference between 70 and 80 per cent double dose, according to this roadmap, is just 10 days. But it will be a supremely difficult 10 days for businesses and people who have already suffered enough.

Victorians have the right to feel disappointed by this. There may be light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a long, long tunnel.

Victorians have the right to feel disappointed by Daniel Andrews’ roadmap. Picture: Luis Ascui

It may be great that you can have a schooner outside at the pub – but many people won’t be able to afford that schooner because this lockdown and this slow roadmap out of it have put them out of work.

It won’t be until well into 2022 that many people feel as though life has returned to normal.

Daniel Andrews has one thing right: “We cannot have a perpetual suppression of this virus”.

He’s just inching rather slowly towards accepting that.