Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ ‘Thank You Day’ is an insult to many Victorians
Plenty of Victorians don’t need a day off on ‘Thank You Day’, Mr Premier, they need a day on, Sophie Elsworth writes.
Opinion
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Many Victorians this Friday will be given the day off.
It sounds slightly crazy given 210,000 Victorians have lost their jobs over the last two months through no fault of their own.
The Andrews government has rebadged the Grand Final Eve public holiday “Thank You Day”. The idea is to thank millions of Victorians who have made sacrifices to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Trouble is, many Victorians have been permanently parked on the couch with their feet up for months — they don’t need another day off, they need a day on.
Workers need to get back on the job before this wonderful state falls into a deeper hole.
On Friday there will be no grand final parade down the CBD streets and no football match on the hallowed turf of the ’G.
Instead it will be 1800km north at the Gabba watched on by Queenslanders, many of whom couldn’t give two hoots about AFL.
Having a public holiday on Friday is wonderful for overpaid pen-pushing bureaucrats who have kept their jobs and even received a pay rise during the pandemic.
Millions of Victorians will be hoping to get some of their freedoms back when the Premier reveals his next steps on Sunday.
Victorians have been let down by those running the pandemic response including the state’s Chief Health Officer, Brett “who knows” Sutton.
That was his response when asked whether Victoria would meet its ludicrous threshold of 14 days straight of under five cases a day, hardly reassuring for those holding out hope to get their lives and livelihoods back on track.
Many won’t be thanking the Victorian Premier either.
Dictator Dan should take a dose of his own medicine after lecturing Victorians to “take some personal responsibility” and to “tell the truth” when fessing up to breaking the state’s increasingly fattened rule book of restrictions.
If only he took his own advice.
“The only numbers I’m focused on are case numbers,” he said recently.
Clearly, the numbers of unemployed, mental health issues, separated families and friends, businesses destroyed, and the rising debt bill are side issues.
Berwick business owner Harry Hutchinson is one of the many business owners up in arms about the never-ending lockdown, who defied the rules and opened up.
“We’ve got to get back to work. I don’t want to be on welfare … to be on welfare at my stage of life, it’s just utterly ridiculous,” he said.
He was slapped with a $10,000 fine.
He’s one of many Victorians who I’m sure won’t be celebrating “Thank You Day” on Friday.