Steve Price: Don’t be fooled by slick marketing about vaccination targets

The 80 per cent vaccination target will be achieved by November at best, and even then there is zero guarantee all states will abide by any freedoms.

On November 7 last year I wrote in these pages that it had been more than 200 days since I had seen my elderly mother because of Covid border closures.

Almost 10 months later here we are again — only problem is this time it’s a whole lot worse. She’s in Adelaide and I am in Victoria. She and I are both double-vaccinated, living Covid-free but staring down a Christmas apart.

It gets worse. My eldest daughter lives and works as a lawyer in Canberra. The ACT is locked down and the surrounding regional areas of NSW, as well.

Victorians can’t cross into NSW without quarantining for two weeks and the same applies in the ACT. Canberra residents can’t get into Victoria without an exemption, which seems to only be handed out to movie stars and AFL players.

Dad and daughter separated by locked borders with me double vaccinated and her with a first shot.

If I wanted to visit and was able to get a permit to enter New South Wales then I would need to deal with the local lockdown merchants in Canberra.

Families, even vaccinated ones, are being forced apart by repeated lockdowns. Picture: Toby Zerna

That would mean if I was given permission – highly unlikely – it would be two weeks quarantine in a hotel in Canberra before we reunited.

A weekend visit would then turn into permanent residency in Canberra because Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has a hard border up against NSW.

It gets even worse. I have a sister younger than I and she lives in regional WA, with that state now locked up like North Korea.

The only people from Victoria going there will be playing in the grand final or AFL executives and associated staff. A double vaccinated 60-something healthy man like me has no chance of getting in. I’m treated like a leper.

Even though daughter No. 2 lives in Melbourne, I can’t see her because we live a lot further apart than 5km, and lockdown rules prevent her from coming over for dinner.

My very own daughter, also with a single dose vaccination, is considered too risky to visit her fully vaccinated father.

Vaccinated family separation is causing major mental health issues, piled on top of financial stress and at-home schooling tension.

Forget my personal examples, they just serve to highlight the madness of Australia’s internal border closures and the damage they are causing.

On radio this week, I was flooded with heartbreaking stories of separation that make my family issues seem minor.

And forget the intra and interstate separations — our international borders have been closed since March last year.

There’s no guarantee that once we hit the 80 per cent vaccination rate that all states will abide by the agreed terms and open borders. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Australia is a nation built on migrants and those migrant families from all over the globe, be it Italy or Greece, or Lebanon and Macedonia, France, Germany or Vietnam, are devastated they can’t visit family back home or have relatives come here.

Annual reunions, attending the passing of elderly loved ones or cradling newborn babies are memories from a dim distant past back in 2019.

State-to-state travel has been a month-to-month gamble. For international families it’s been going on for 18 months with no sign of it changing.

Babies have been born and children married, parents and grandparents have died, children have graduated houses sold and reunions cancelled.

Time is up.

We as a nation of Australians need to be freed from this family-destroying geographic nightmare. It has to end before the fabric of why we exist as family units living life together happily causes more mental distress.

If you don’t believe me, ask someone how border closures are impacting their lives. As NSW sailed past 1000 daily cases this week and Victoria had its biggest jump since the second wave, you could hear the groans of grief from space.

And I am sure I wasn’t the only one who shed a tear as Qantas launched a brilliant coming out of lockdown travel ad to at least give us some hope.

That dad on a mobile saying to a distant daughter, “I’m going to see you soon — OK?”

It breaks your heart to talk about it and it doesn’t need to be this way. All the talk has been about getting to 70 or 80 per cent vaccination levels and with that level Australia will be able to open up.

Seems the only way to cross a state border at the moment is to be an AFL player or executive. Picture: Getty

It’s slick marketing but don’t be fooled that level of protection at 80 per cent is higher than just about any other comparable country in the world.

It won’t be achieved, at best case scenario, until November and even then, there is zero guarantee all state jurisdictions will abide by any freedoms.

Our only hope of seeing the people most important in our lives this year is for Canberra to insist fully vaccinated people of any age must be allowed to cross borders — both state and international.

This would be embraced by the airlines and the travel industry. It would calm some of the mental health concerns sweeping the country but most important of all it makes sense.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this week we all can’t keep living in a cave forever.

Over to you state premiers — the PM is absolutely right.

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DISLIKES

Channel 7 in Prime Time sticking with normal programming not televising the Paralympics from Japan.

West Australia in the box seat to stage the AFL grand final

despite that State being the most inflexible on borders in the nation.

NSW easing Covid restrictions on a day when they post record numbers of Covid infections.

Continued vaccination confusion among young people on what brand to actually take.

LIKES

Qantas optimism with a tear-jerking travel ad and a bid to open international routes by December.

Olympic gold rush from our inspirational Paralympians.

Global tributes for the passing of legendary Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.

Tasmania rewarded with AFL finals for the first time now give them a team of their own.

Australia Today with Steve Price can be heard live from 7am weekdays via the LiSTNR app.