Policy on the walk: Dan Andrew’s latest confusing coronavirus lecture
Even when Melburnians are ‘doing the right thing’ as we have been told to do so many times, it seems we’re also doing the wrong thing, Sophie Elsworth argues.
Opinion
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OPINION: Up and off your bottoms, Victorians.
It’s time to “get active now more than ever”.
That was the message from our tone-deaf state government this week.
Lockdown fatigue seems to have hit a high, and for many Melburnians, heightened stress levels are far from subsiding.
Throw into the mix home schooling, job losses, working from home, curfews, a limit to our movements, and having no visitors. And in regional Victoria, country folk too are under restrictions and are feeling the strain.
The Premier’s office issued a press release telling Victorians they weren’t active enough.
Well, of course Melburnians are not when they’ve been restricted to their homes up to 23 hours a day.
That’s until five weeks into lockdown, it was clarified parents could have an extra hour outside a day to exercise with their children.
It cannot be good for anyone to be housebound day and night.
Gyms are shut, community sport is off, fitness equipment in parks is out of bounds, and not everyone has the luxury of being able to exercise in a backyard.
The government has created an online platform for free workout videos, challenges and “some extra inspiration” as the minister put it to get people moving.
While the intent is good, surely they must realise Victorians don’t need to be yet again told they are doing something wrong.
Many people are fed up with constantly being barked at to “do the right thing”.
Exercise is the last thing on their mind, they’re just battling to get through the days. To be told to get active is a slap in the face.
The government recently rolled out a series of TV commercials, including one featuring actor Magda Szubanski, aka Sharon Strzelecki, telling us to mask up.
Seen on the netball court, she says she is “over the lockdown”.
Shame the rest of us are banned from indoor sports stadiums.
In the government’s media release, it warns that 80 per cent of children and more than 50 per cent of adults in the land of the lockdown are not doing the recommended amount of exercise.
Of course they’re not, when they’re being bound by strict rules that allow them to only leave their home between one to two hours a day.
Give us break. Many Victorians are doing their best without being told they are lazy.