Rita Panahi: Cruel, pointless decisions can no longer be defended

A portion of our community seems to have lost all sense and compassion in this pandemic, while cruel decisions made by health bureaucrats are applauded for “the greater good”.

One of the side effects of Covid-19 is reducing once sensible, decent people to merciless morons willing to defend the indefensible.

Throughout this pandemic we’ve seen cruel, pointless decisions made by health bureaucrats and politicians in the name of Covid safety accepted and even applauded by the terrified masses.

That may have been understandable in the early days when we didn’t know much about the virus and footage from China of people collapsing in the streets gave the impression that an infection would result in certain death.

But there is no excuse for such self-interested callousness now, not when we have a wealth of data on the virus, including hospitalisation and fatality rates, average age of death and number of comorbidities. And, yet the heartlessness continues. Witness those defending Queensland Health for denying an Australian man living in Canada permission to see his dying mother after he made a mercy dash back home.

Anthony McCormick’s mother was diagnosed with cancer just three weeks ago. He rushed home but with few international flights arriving in Queensland, he landed in Sydney and was granted an exemption by NSW to leave quarantine but Queensland Health ignored his negative Covid tests and denied him entry into the state.

His mother died Wednesday night without seeing her son for the final time.

“She was put on blood transfusion for as long as she could stand it until I could get there,” McCormick said. “She was very upset that I couldn’t get in there to see her, that was really what she was hanging on for.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has displayed weapon-grade hypocrisy. Picture John Gass

One would hope such a tragic case of bureaucratic intransigence would be universally condemned but from the ABC to the Courier Mail there were still some willing to defend the decision.

“Australian citizen or not, this man has chosen not to live in Australia, and by extension, has chosen to live far away from his mother,” said one dolt. “Thank you (premier) AP for keeping us safe!!” said another and the ever reliable “Rules are rules!”

Except the rules don’t apply to the rich and famous given Queensland Health has granted exemptions to footballers and actors for economic reasons.

And, if you want weapon-grade hypocrisy then look no further than Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who campaigned for a dramatic reduction in the number of overseas arrivals but will be jetting off to Tokyo to secure the Olympics (which nobody else is bidding for, by the way) for Brisbane in 2032.

This is the same state bureaucracy that forced a patient with serious burns to travel twice the distance necessary from Grafton to Sydney instead of receiving emergency care in a Brisbane hospital – after all Queensland hospitals are for Queensland people – and banned fully vaccinated parents from seeing their premature newborn.

All these decisions were defended by a portion of the community that appears to have taken leave of their senses and their capacity for compassion.

Queensland is not uniquely cruel; this bureaucratic heartlessness is evident right here in Victoria as we saw in Lockdown Four — from keeping a mother from seeing her 16-year-old son for more than three weeks after he woke from a coma to denying an exemption for the funeral of an eight-year-old boy in Warrnambool despite there not being a single case of Covid in the country town.

Too many in this country have lost their sense of perspective and allowed fear to overwhelm their rationality and decency. How else can one explain civilised people justifying such deliberate acts of cruelty for “the greater good” even when the decisions are clearly not grounded in science?

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has had a panicked response to the Delta strain. Picture: Nikki Short

We must stop ignoring the fallout of the “health fascism” that rules Australia. The price being paid isn’t merely economic, there are real health and societal consequences from the spike in youth self-harm to missed cancer screenings. All this to focus solely on a respiratory virus that disproportionately impacts the very old and infirm with the median age of Covid deaths in Australia being 85.

Did we ever ask the elderly what they wanted? Those in their 80s and 90s, in ill health, may have preferred to spend what little time they have left with their loved ones instead of locked away and isolated.

When did we deem it right to completely strip adults of autonomy and impose rules and restrictions that even dictate who they can see in their final moments on this earth.

The inhumanity being justified in the name of safety is disturbing but thankfully the tide is turning.

Those defending the indefensible are slowly being outnumbered by those rediscovering their empathy.

IN SHORT

Gladys Berejiklian’s crown has well and truly slipped. The NSW Premier’s panicked response to the more infectious but less virulent Delta strain shows we have no leaders in this country willing to make difficult decisions based on all the evidence, rather than ceding control to chief health officers.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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