Opinion: Operation Bane should be renamed Operation Blame

A heavy-handed crackdown on Victorians not wearing masks on public transport is just another chance for the state government to blame us for its failings.

A police crackdown on Victorians on public transport not wearing masks if just another chance for the state government to blame us for its failings, writes Susie O’Brien.

Police have summoned the power of Batman’s arch rival Bane, to crack down on Victoria’s lack of mask-wearing on public transport.

Operation Bane, as the police have dubbed it, should be renamed Operation Blame, because this is what it’s really about.

They want to blame us once again for their failings.

The state government is continuing its mean-spirited, punitive approach to managing the COVID pandemic by fining people on public transport $200 if they are caught without a mask.

Don’t they realise our battle against the virus is not going to be fought on the 109 tram to Box Hill?

It’s going to be waged in quarantine hotels and airports as growing rates of potentially infected people return home from overseas.

And it’s going to be waged in contact tracing centres, which cannot afford to make mistakes.

At the same time as members of the public are being fined for not wearing masks even if they are physical distancing on public transport, silly errors continue to plague the state’s management of this pandemic.

Police and PSOs enforcing mask-wearing Southern Cross Station. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Health Department admitted on Friday, for instance, that it listed the wrong supermarket as an exposure site during an outbreak earlier this month. They named Woolworths in Epping as a potential exposure site, not Woolworths Epping North, 3km away.

The people of Victoria deserve better than this, particularly given the emergence of four new cases in Melbourne’s north.

Health Minister Martin Foley revealed on Monday afternoon that two family members of the two positive cases announced in the morning, had since tested positive. This brings our total number of community cases to four. The number is still low, but it will need to be carefully managed.

It is possible that the latest outbreak — although still at a very low level — will boost mask-wearing rates, because people will feel it’s the right thing to do.

While mask-wearing rates are now as low as 52 per cent, it’s not because we are a crime-riddled Gotham-style city full of law-breakers who need to be fined. Rather, it’s because people don’t think masks are necessary when there has been zero community transmission.

Back in November there was a real threat, and 88 per cent of people wore masks; today’s lower figures reflect the lower level of risk. As the risk rises, so will mask-wearing.

We’ve done this for a long time now. We know what to do and the government should give us credit for this.

This is why the crackdown feels like a cash grab by the state government wanting to replenish its coffers and look tough to impress the voting public.

It’s pertinent that we are the only state to go down this path. In other states masks are “strongly recommended” when people can’t physically distance but they are not mandatory on public transport.

If we can have 80,000 at the MCG for a footy game not wearing masks, why do they have to be worn on a half-empty train?

A tram in Collins Street with a blue painted mask. Picture: NCA NewsWire

We don’t need to be fined like naughty children to make us behave. We have shown time and again over the past year that we will follow COVID rules that are necessary and sensible.

Over the past year we’ve been through too much to blindly follow rules that are nonsensical, like mandatory mask-wearing on public transport, even when there is physical distancing.

Police have better things to do than roam the public transport network handing out masks and then fining those who refuse to take them.

This heavy-handed, fine-driven approach has been a hallmark of the Andrews-Merlino government’s handling of this issue from day one.

Rather than educate and praise people to do the right thing, they want to fine those who do the wrong thing.

At a time when patronage rates on public transport are way down, you’d think a more considered approach would be advantageous.

The police say the officers involved in the blitz will also be on the lookout for bad behaviour.

It’s a massive waste of resources because public service officers are already patrolling the network, but are unable to levy fines under COVID legislation.

This kind of approach undermines confidence in the state government and their rules at this important time. Carroll says the government needs “every single Victorian to play their part in protecting the precious gains we’ve made against the virus, to keep our state safe and open”.

In fact, what we need right now is for the state government and health officials to do their job, and do it well.