Rule breakers who plunge Victoria into lockdown must be punished

We must hold Covid rule breakers who plunge Victoria into lockdown accountable so it’s a deterrent to others.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says we must not blame people whose illegal actions lead to outbreaks.

We don’t want individuals to be targeted and vilified on a personal level, but authorities should at least punish them to deter others.

Some outbreaks are caused by people innocently doing the wrong thing and inadvertently catching and spreading the virus.

We can hardly blame them for that.

But it’s different for people who have broken the rules, failed to co-operate with contact tracers or aren’t being honest about their activities.

The NSW removalists who plunged Victoria into our last lockdown were given a $200 fine.

It’s simply not good enough and there should be consequences from authorities.

We want individuals to be held accountable for their actions the same way the rest of us are. Otherwise, what’s the point of having rules at all?

It’s not about people out in the community focusing hate or censure on an individual person, it’s about having a system that’s willing to punish them for doing the wrong thing.

There’s speculation that a number of households involved in the latest cluster attended an illegal gathering which resulted in person-to-person contact.

There have been multiple reports of such an event confirmed by testing commander Jeroen Weimar.

When six million people are affected by the actions of the few, we deserve to know what’s going on.

With six million people in lockdown we deserve transparency on rule breakers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

We also expect action to be taken to deter others from doing the wrong thing.

I take the point that blaming or punishing people who have done the wrong thing will discourage others from coming forward and sharing vital information.

But if they do the wrong thing and there are severe consequences for the entire state, then they should at least pay a fine as a deterrent to others.

It doesn’t seem right the lockdown rule breakers whose actions cause the lockdown on millions get off scot-free.

In Melbourne we can’t get out of paying a parking fine, but nothing happens if you act against lockdown rules and it leads to the entire state closing for seven days.

Mr Andrews said we can’t change the choices this person has made – “we are grateful they are working with us and telling us the full story.

“The value of the information far exceeds any fine.”

But what about the value of deterring others?

Any focus should be on the system that refuses to punish them rather than on the individual. There are photos circulating of some of the positive cases on social media and this must be condemned. It shouldn’t become personal – that’s when emotions can easily spiral out of control.

We are at a time when the Islamic community is feeling very vulnerable and is already the target of racist abuse. This is not good enough. With better communication and better contact tracing, let’s hope the community feels more supported this time around. This will hopefully lead to better co-operation and a faster containment of cases. The signs from schools like Al-Taqwa are very good so far.

At the same time, no Victorians, regardless of what background they are from, have any excuse for not following the rules: stay home, get tested if you are feeling sick, and isolate until you are told not to. And cancel any party plans, for everyone’s sake.