Rita Panahi: PM’s footy critics should shift focus back to Victorian government
The same blowhards who blamed Scott Morrison for the bushfires are again furious at the Prime Minister for spending a couple of hours at the football. But their rage is misdirected, Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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The intolerant Left never misses an opportunity to rage incoherently at imaginary foes and offences, or to show their capacity for hypocrisy.
The same folk who become enraged at any criticism of the Victorian government’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, characterising scrutiny of Dan Andrews and his ministers as “divisive” and “unhelpful” during a pandemic, are lining up to kick the prime minister for attending a NRL match.
Most reasonable, non-histrionic folk wouldn’t begrudge Scott Morrison a few days home with his family or a couple of hours at the football watching his beloved Sharks. After working 100-hour weeks for months, the prime minister is taking a short break to join his wife, Jenny, and two daughters, Abbey and Lily, but he will continue to work from home and by no means is standing aside.
On Saturday afternoon, the Prime Minister joined thousands of rugby league fans to watch Cronulla take on Penrith. He even had a beer at the game and waved his scarf in the air. That was enough to send the hysterics on Twitter into fits of fury.
It’s been entertaining to watch the meltdown from malcontents, particularly the mental gymnastics that sees Morrison held accountable for Victoria’s current plight, never mind that the second wave is due exclusively to gross incompetence at state level, particularly the shambolic mismanagement of the hotel quarantine program.
The same blowhards who blamed Morrison for the bushfires are again condemning the Prime Minister for the hardship being endured by more than five million Victorians.
But it wasn’t Morrison who entrusted poorly trained security guards — some with as little as five minutes training and some who reportedly exchanged sexual favours for granting their captives freedom — to monitor overseas arrivals instead of using the police and the army like every other state.
It wasn’t Morrison who ignored repeated warnings about the disaster unfolding in Victoria’s hotel quarantine sites. As early as March, a mere day after the scheme was launched, senior bureaucrats were sounding the alarm about the need for trained police to be in attendance at each hotel.
“We request that Victoria Police is present 24/7 at each hotel starting from this evening. We ask that DHHS urgently make that request as the control agency,” reads an email from a bureaucrat to Emergency Management Victoria and a number of senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Nine papers.
On Monday, Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told ABC radio it was “conceivable” most, if not all, of the current coronavirus cases in Victoria stemmed from hotel quarantine. On Tuesday Victoria recorded another 270 cases but the most worrying aspect is the figure represents the highest positive test rate seen yet.
How any of that is Morrison’s fault is beyond me. It wasn’t Morrison who consistently botched the response in Victoria, so much so that the state with the harshest restrictions in the country and the slowest to come out of lockdown is suffering a spike in infections while every other state and territory re-open their economies.
Much of the abuse directed at Morrison cannot be printed without extravagant use of asterisks but former senator Derryn Hinch kept it clean posting: “Wrong, wrong, wrong. ScoMo is entitled to time with his kids but going to the football was a Hawaii-size PR blunder in a national health crisis.”
Channel 10’s The Project posted an image of Morrison having a beer at the game with the snide words: “Nothing quite like the sweet family bonding time of downing a beer while watching the footy, nowhere near your kids.” Labor MP Josh Burns tweeted: “Yesterday 49 Victorians were admitted to hospital, eight healthcare workers at the Alfred tested positive and the PM sank beers at the rugby.” Commentators including columnists at The Australian expressed similar sentiments.
Is the Prime Minister supposed to restrict himself to stage three guidelines being observed in metropolitan Melbourne in some misguided show of solidarity?
A number of Andrews’ fan club posted a side-by-side image of Morrison at the football and Andrews sitting at his desk to drive the point home that only one leader was focused on the pandemic.
Interestingly, the picture of Andrews hard at work on Saturday evening was posted on Twitter by his wife, Catherine with the words: “This man does not stop”.
Holding politicians accountable for disastrous decisions is not “divisive,” indeed it is crucial in the democratic process. The failures in governance in Victoria must not be repeated. NSW learnt from the Ruby Princess fiasco; it remains to be seen if Victoria has learnt from its many mistakes.
Meanwhile, we can only hope Victoria hasn’t already exported its second wave across the country.
IN SHORT
The Washington Redskins have caved into woke sponsors and activists and will change their iconic name. But did anyone bother to ask native Americans? A 2016 Washington Post survey found nine out of 10 native Americans were not offended by the Redskins moniker
— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist