Rita Panahi: Premiers treating national plan with disdain
As much of the world gets on with life, Melbourne is trapped in a perpetual March 2020 hell, while state premiers keep moving the goalposts on the path to freedom.
Rita Panahi
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State premiers continue to move the goalposts on reopening the country. This is despite agreeing to a four-phase national plan to restore freedoms once the ambitious 80 per cent double vaccinated target had been reached.
The Western Australian and Queensland premiers are still pursuing ludicrous Covid-zero fantasies that could see their states isolated from NSW and Victoria, as well as the rest of the world. On Monday, Qantas confirmed that it will reroute its flagship Perth-London service until at least April 2022 due to WA’s border intransigence.
Victoria’s roadmap requires 80 per cent of all over 12s to be vaccinated – not over 16s as the national plan states – to reach the final phase. NSW has also moved the goalposts with Premier Gladys Berejiklian announcing a raft of freedoms at 90 per cent double vaccinated. What is the point of having a national cabinet and a national plan to reopen the country if the premiers are going to treat the roadmap they’ve agreed to with disdain?
By international standards opening up at 70 per cent double jabbed is exceedingly cautious. Many parts of the advanced world have reopened at well below that threshold — some were largely open before the vaccine rollout even began — and yet despite the doom and gloom predictions, their respective hospital systems did not collapse.
On the weekend Norway became the latest country to remove all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, including social distancing, with 67 per cent of the country double jabbed. Prime Minister Erna Solberg encouraged her countrymen to get on with life and continue to get vaccinated. “The time has come to return to a normal daily life,” she said.
In a fortnight NSW will celebrate its unofficial “freedom day” with vaccinated Sydneysiders having some of their liberties restored. The state reaching the 70 per cent double vaccinated milestone will see the return of hospitality, retail and other sectors but not at full capacity.
One promising sign is that NSW appears to be taking the advice of infectious disease expert Nick Coatsworth in putting a time limit on vaccine passports. By December 1 everyone, regardless of vaccination status, will live under the same conditions.
As much of the world, with varying rates of immunisation, gets on with life Melbourne remains trapped in a perpetual March 2020 hell with curfews, stay-at-home orders and a dizzying array of illogical restrictions.
But at least we’ll soon be able to travel up to 15km to shops that aren’t open and homes we can’t visit.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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