Rita Panahi: Victorians paying steep price for leadership after government refused to embrace technological advancements

Political leaders must start treating us like adults who can make decisions regarding our own welfare.

Victoria continues to be let down by inferior IT systems and processes. I can book a manicure, a dinner for two and a dog wash digitally within seconds but must go through a cumbersome process to book a vaccination online through the Victorian Department of Health’s website.

How is it that in 2021 the vast resources of the Dan Andrews government is incapable of creating a streamlined online booking system for state-run vaccination centres? Just like the QR code and contact tracing, Victoria has refused to follow NSW’s superior model that was already in place and running efficiently.

The online booking system finally went live on Tuesday and like everything else Covid-related, the Victorian response is inept and inferior to what’s on offer in NSW. But at least we finally have an online option so people don’t have to spend half a day on hold trying to book an appointment.

During Lockdown 4.0 the vaccination hotline crashed after 77,000 calls in a 15-minute period. Whether its contact tracing, QR codes or something as simple as an online booking, the Andrews government can’t get the basics right in a timely fashion. And time is of the essence during a pandemic.

Victoria continues to be let down by inferior IT systems and processes. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Labor has learned nothing from the myki debacle where it wasted $1.5bn of public money developing a flawed ticketing system instead of purchasing a tried and tested system already in use elsewhere. The boneheaded hubris behind Labor’s “go it alone” mindset has cost lives and livelihoods.

Throughout the deadly second wave, Victorians were repeatedly assured the state’s contact tracing was working when it was in fact failing abysmally. Finally, months too late, the state government updates its model by adopting a digitised end-to-end contact tracing system instead of relying on post-it notes and manual data entry.

The Salesforce system now in use in Victoria’s contact tracing program was offered to the Andrews government in March 2020 but was rejected, a decision with disastrous consequences.

Labor insiders point the finger directly at the Premier. They say he has long been reluctant to invest in IT believing that such projects invariably run over budget and the technology soon becomes obsolete requiring further expenditure. Victoria has trailed NSW in using technological advances to monitor and contain coronavirus outbreaks.

NSW had a universal QR code in place for six months before Victoria belatedly followed.

NSW had a universal QR code in place for six months before Victoria belatedly followed.

Indeed, it was during Lockdown 4.0 when Victoria finally implemented a mandatory, uniform system. Victoria’s rebooted contact tracing program is a vast improvement on the previous system but there are still concerns about its efficacy given the government repeatedly opts for crippling lockdowns rather than trusting the system to do its job, as NSW has done again and again. A parliamentary inquiry found Victoria’s contact tracing failures cost lives during the second wave. The Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee released a damning report in December that found “a reluctance by the Victorian government to concede or acknowledge errors” had exacerbated problems and delayed the adoption of the Salesforce program, which was eventually put in place in August.

One shudders to think what catastrophic outcomes would’ve befallen Australia if Victoria had taken the bulk of overseas arrivals through hotel quarantine instead of taking a fraction of the numbers processed in NSW.

What Victoria and indeed Australia need right now is real leadership, vision and a road map to reopening the country. Sadly, with the exception of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, we do not have political leaders who are treating the populace like adults who can make decisions regarding their own welfare.

State Labor has learned nothing from the myki debacle where it wasted $1.5b of public money. Picture: David Crosling

In the UK, where Boris Johnson’s ruinous COVID-19 response has seen marathon lockdowns, an enormous death rate and widespread societal harm, there is a former prime minister speaking honestly and rationally. Last week Theresa May blasted the Tories for their shortsighted lockdown mentality. “I think there are some facts the government needs to be upfront with the British people … first, we will not eradicate Covid-19 from the UK,” she said.

“Secondly, variants will keep on coming. There will be new variants every year. If the government’s position is that we cannot open up travel until there are no new variants elsewhere in the world, then we will never be able to travel abroad ever again.

“And the third fact that the government needs to state much more clearly is that sadly people will die from Covid here in the UK in the future, as 10,000 to 20,000 people do every year from flu.”

These are truths Australians need to hear as well. Either we get on with the vaccination program and set a date for reopening the country or we remain a prison island.

IN SHORT

Have we lost our minds or just our humanity? How can a mother be kept away from her injured son after he woke from a coma three weeks ago? Zach Freego is just 16 and spent 12 days in a coma but Covid-19 restrictions mean his family cannot visit him. Cruel and unnecessary measures in the name of Covid safety.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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