Michael Slater is kidding himself if he thinks the Australian public backs his stance

Entitled sportsmen berating the Australian government from the comfort of a luxury resort won’t engender sympathy among the public.

Australian cricketers and commentators stranded in India, or to be more accurate, lounging in resorts in the Maldives or Sri Lanka, are sadly mistaken if they think the public is sympathetic to their cause.

Michael Slater’s latest missives against the prime minister may resonate with Twitter’s Magda demographic but it’ll only strengthen Scott Morrison’s personal popularity. I have written and spoken at length about why the Indian travel ban is fundamentally unprincipled, unfair and degrades Australian citizenship but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a policy that enjoys broad community support.

Commentator and former Australian cricketer Michael Slater has challenged the PM to a debate.

And you can expect that support to strengthen further thanks to the antics of a few entitled sportsmen and sportscasters who rolled the dice on a massive payday and lost. Slater’s personal attacks against the Prime Minister are a massive own goal, or should that be hit wicket.

Berating the Australian government from the comfort of a luxury resort doesn’t engender sympathy, even if there is some truth to your claims.

“Amazing to smoke out the PM on a matter that is a human crisis. The panic, the fear of every Australian in India is real! How about you take your private jet and come and witness dead bodies on the street,” tweeted Slater. “Your government granted me permission to work so I can pay for 3 beautiful children through school and pay a mortgage … I challenge you to a debate anytime PM.”

Slater’s latest attack would carry a little more weight if he was at the epicentre of the crisis, not in the Maldives waiting to board a plane to Australia, but either way he is kidding himself if he thinks the Australian public backs his stance.

Sympathy is lacking from most Australians who think those who travel to hot spots during a pandemic only have themselves to blame for their plight.

One can understand why so many cricketers took the risk with the astronomical sums on offer.

“Some of them are on $3m for 12 weeks of cricket so it is hard to knock that sort of money back,” former Australian captain Mark Taylor explained.

Unlike Slater and co, most of those stranded in India do not have the money to go to an idyllic tropical island nor come home via a charter flight, an option being considered by Cricket Australia.

Michael Slater at the SCG.

Cricketer Andrew Tye at Sydney International Airport.

As someone who has argued for more than a year that Australians should be free to travel overseas and return, as long as they submit to 14 days quarantine at their own expense, I have some empathy for the cricketers and plenty more for the other 9000 Australians in India and many more around the world unable to return.

But the reality is Australia’s illiberal attitude to borders, both state and international border closures, has been enormously popular with most voters.

It doesn’t matter how irrationally disproportionate state border closures have been, the electorate likes them and has rewarded incumbents for “keeping them safe” from their fellow Australians.

Likewise the international border closure — including the arbitrary limits on the number of overseas arrivals accepted per week — which has seen tens of thousands of Australians stranded around the world is popular with most voters. Even before the Indian crisis and the resultant bans, most Australians backed the tough measures.

Only a third of Australians believe the Morrison government should do more to help Australians stuck overseas, while 59 per cent believe they’ve been given enough assistance, according to a poll commissioned by the Lowy Institute released this week.

You can be sure a sizeable majority back the Indian bans given the deepening COVID crisis in that country.

But at some point we need to have the debate about reopening the country and rejoining the rest of the world.

Having a zero tolerance approach to COVID-19 will see Australia remain a prison island for many more months to come.

On that issue the tide is turning, with 41 per cent backing the ban on Australians travelling overseas unless they’re granted a special exemption, while 18 per cent want free movement for Australian citizens and another 40 per cent say those who are vaccinated should be able to fly overseas.

On Thursday Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said our international borders were unlikely to reopen until well into 2022, perhaps even later.

The implications of that are enormous and deserving of greater public debate. Just because border closures are popular among the scared masses doesn’t mean they are prudent.

Occasionally the government must do what’s right for the country, not just what’s popular.