Caleb Bond: Victoria’s roadmap out of lockdown has to give genuine hope of life returning to normal
There is a bare minimum Victorians will accept in the road out of lockdown and it starts with lifting the curfew.
Opinion
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It’s quite incredible, really, that our freedoms have become something a politician can take from us and then indicate he might hand them back to much fanfare.
But that is the reality of life under coronavirus.
Premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton better have a plan to genuinely return our freedoms when they face the cameras on Sunday – or there will be riots.
They have no excuse now that NSW has set the tone.
A couple of weeks ago, when NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced fully vaccinated people would be able to meet for picnics as cases soared, tut-tut types across Victoria were incredulous at the fact people over the border were being encouraged to meet.
Now Andrews has done it, you can be assured it is the best thing since sliced bread. Now he must bring those people around to opening up.
If Andrews had any guts or sense, the first thing his roadmap out of lockdown would include would be the lifting of curfew.
Despite the fact almost every epidemiologist says there is no basis for such a draconian rule, he claimed on Thursday that there was no health advice to remove it.
Similarly, he must announce a plan to bring stranded Victorians home from NSW.
Other small changes can also be safely included before we hit 70 per cent double-jabs, including scrapping the outdoor mask rule and abolishing the 10km travel limit.
Then it comes to the bigger freedoms.
If Victoria’s roadmap does not equal or improve upon the one released by Berejiklian last week, then it does not deserve to be called a roadmap out of lockdown.
This must be a document that gives Victorians a genuine and attainable hope of normality – one that encourages more people to get vaccinated and does not simply pay lip service to freedom.
It cannot be taken seriously if it does not outline a plan to get children back to school as soon as possible.
It is the single biggest thing that can be done to bring relief to parents and help slow the shadow pandemic of mental illness afflicting young people in alarming numbers.
Berejiklian’s roadmap hardly screams rampant freedom – you will only be allowed to have five fully vaccinated people to your house once we hit the 70 per cent double-jab mark – but it sets a bar below which Andrews cannot fall.
Be wary of small but significant differences – like not allowing people to drink standing up outdoors or not opening swimming pools.
They will set the tone for how the government treats subsequent liftings of restrictions.
And it must include a steadfast promise that Victoria will stick to the national plan to reopen at 80 per cent.
WA, QLD, Tasmania and now SA are drifting further and further from the supposedly “national” agreement.
To join them would be a betrayal of our trust.
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