Idiots will always hold us to ransom, a better national response would protect us

A better national pandemic strategy would have protected us from rogue idiots like the Sydney removalists who plunged us into lockdown.

I’m trapped at home. I can’t go to a medical appointment or walk the dogs or pop into Dan Murphy’s, to stock up just in case.

Covid test results have banked back. I may be sentenced to dismal solitude for some time. Three idiots from Sydney are responsible for my incarceration.

They flouted rules to move furniture in a Maribyrnong apartment block. They stopped here and there, for feeds and showers, heedless of the bedlam they would spread.

One of the apartment block residents, a Cats’ fan in his 60s, caught the virus then went to the footy. He sat within a few metres of my householder whose mate, who sat to his left, has to quarantine for two weeks.

Because of three dickheads.

The Ariele apartment complex in Maribyrnong where the removalists infected residents. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

I understand, perhaps even agree, with unkind suggestions for the handling of the said dickheads. They have not co-operated with authorities.

Victoria’s Covid response commander, Jeroem Weimar, has expressed great frustration with their unwillingness to share the extent of their dickheadery, which may or may not be a word, but goes to my inner fury.

Right now, staring out the window where I cannot go, I can offer some suggestions. Ritual castration seems about right. Or, if we disregard the sentiment for public hanging (a tad harsh?), a tarring and feathering would still warm the soul.

It’s easy to blame the three morons. But is it right to contain the ire to them?

After all, there will always be one or two idiots in any crowd. You cannot make laws that protect us from the thoughtless and selfish. We will, from time to time, be held to ransom by fools as long as the pandemic continues.

People lining up to be tested at Barwon Heads where a primary school and footy club were visited by a positive case. Picture: Jason Edwards

Should we blame the NSW Government for its slapdash approach to lockdown? Its faith in the community to do the right thing, alongside images of beachgoers at Bondi whose need to mingle goes ahead of the greater good?

Or should we cast the blame more broadly? Compare the national response to other countries which have done better?

The blame once rested neatly with the Andrews Government. The fact of a botched quarantine system was compounded by the refusal by anyone in charge to be accountable for 800-odd deaths as a consequence.

But the lens has since shifted. Contact tracing sounds effective now. Confidence seems well-placed in official responses to outbreaks, where once it was fanciful.

That was last year. Vaccination targets have since been missed, again and again. Watching the ramblings of federal leaders, from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Health Minister Greg Hunt, jeopardises the future of the loungeroom television.

They can no longer shift blame by citing an unprecedented crisis. They have had plenty of time to source vaccine options which instil trust, and rollout programs to match other nations, and to build purpose-built quarantine facilities.

They could have passed policies and sell ideas that protect us from the buffoons in our midst.

They haven’t. And we all suffer.