Susie O’Brien: Daniel Andrews’ latest road map full of hurdles, dead ends
There is no justification for any further delays to reopening Victoria, yet Daniel Andrews has delivered a baffling two-step plan which subjects us to more unnecessary restrictions, writes Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
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It’s time to reunite our state and bring metro Melbourne in line with the country.
Our state should be fully reopening on Wednesday, not on November 8.
We need to pull down the ring of steel, remove the 25km limit, open up businesses and households, and move to a new, safe “COVID normal”.
We shouldn’t have to wait another two weeks to revel in the freedoms enjoyed by those in the country right now.
We’ve got zero cases and a 14-day average of 3.6 cases. We’ve earned this next step.
After an agonising 30-hour delay, Premier Daniel Andrews’ 3.15pm press conference on Monday gave us yet more dates and more delays.
He offered another of his COVID specials — a two-tiered plan that’s dependent on low numbers, effective contract tracing and few mystery cases.
He said he wanted time to settle on a model that’s “both simple and safe”. But what he gave us was another road map with more hurdles, dead ends and road humps.
Given that there is no justification for any further delays to reopening, his two-step plan is baffling and subjects us to further unnecessary restrictions.
Andrews made a big deal about lining up city and country, but all he’s doing is prolonging the time the state is divided.
The border between city and country will remain until November 8. No justification has been offered as to why this is the case.
From Wednesday, we can leave home with no restriction, but the 25km barrier will also remain until November 8. Why?
Despite the vast majority of Victorians doing the right thing, we are still being treated like Andrews’ children and expected to blindly follow the strict rules imposed by our father.
The rules are overly complicated and continue to divide city and country areas.
For instance, indoor dance classes and church services of up to 20 people can only be held in metro areas from November 8, yet they’re able to be held in regional areas now. Why?
As always, there are more questions than answers from Andrews’ road maps.
Real estate inspections from Wednesday in Melbourne can have up to 10 people from two households. But we’ll have to wait until November 8 for these 10 people to come from any number of households.
The same goes for cafes and restaurants, which will have to wait another two weeks for patronage numbers that will make bigger venues viable.
And why are outdoor gatherings only 10 people? If we follow social distancing, what difference does it make given the low case numbers?
“Time is your friend,” Andrews told us in Monday’s press conference.
That’s not the case for the 1200 people a day losing their jobs.
This new road map will offer little relief for the 400,000 people who have already lost their jobs or for the one in three small businesses who have shut their doors for good.
Andrews is also making us wait another day before he will announce the rules governing home visits and social gatherings inside.
This overly cautious approach is responsible for Victoria being in a state of near paralysis for months now.
We’ve had months to see the conditions of the virus — how it spreads, what symptoms people get and how it affects people.
We’ve had months to get our contact tracing up to speed and months to ensure our health workers and aged care staff are protected and equipped.
And yet Andrews wants another 24 hours to work out how we can safely have friends over.
There’s no reason for further delays given the strong trend downwards. Andrews made five million people wait over the weekend on the outcome of 1157 cases — all of which were negative.
The timelines and thresholds for taking the last full step to reopening won’t be unveiled until November 8 — again, why do we have to wait this long to get more detail?
Andrews himself told us that we “are firmly on top of this virus”. Let’s hope his staff are on top of contact tracing.
He told us that getting to “COVID normal” by Christmas “relies on the efforts of every Victorian”.
But it also relies on having good leaders who make clear, timely decisions. What a pity we’ve got Andrews, who continues to confuse and confound us all.
We’ll get through this despite his leadership, not because of it.
Let’s hope he doesn’t crave in and shut up shop again at the first sign of the next outbreak.
I don’t think any of us could handle much more of his control-freak decision making or “cautious pauses”.
Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist