Susie O’Brien: Latest coronavirus death is a fresh reminder of Victoria’s sad Christmas reality

Victoria’s latest coronavirus death is a sad reminder of the terrible toll that’s been wreaked on this state — and the 819 of us who didn’t survive its second wave.

Hold the applause for Premier Daniel Andrews.

The death of another Victorian on Sunday night is a sad reminder of the terrible toll the coronavirus has wreaked on the people of this state.

After a month with no fatalities, a woman in her 70s died from a lung infection linked to the virus.

My deepest sympathies go to her family, along with the loved ones of the 819 other Victorians who have died from the virus.

These deaths should not be forgotten amid the international praise for Victoria’s apparent elimination of the virus.

With yet another family planning a funeral, Premier Daniel Andrews does not deserve to be riding high in the polls.

The most recent Morgan poll showed his popularity jumping 12 per cent to a career high of 71 per cent.

Even 40 per cent of conservative voters approve of the Premier’s handling of the crisis.

Voters surveyed hailed Andrews for getting “the COVID-19 pandemic under control in Victoria” and “handling the second outbreak well”.

How can they forget that if the virus hadn’t escaped from hotel quarantine due to the incompetence of the Andrews government, there wouldn’t have been a second wave?

It’s like someone who started a fire wanting kudos for putting it out.

Melbourne’s year has been dominated by its second coronavirus wave. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

I’d prefer Victorians who spent months staying home, wearing masks and keeping their distance to get the kudos rather than the premier and his crew.

As the hotel inquiry has uncovered, there is a vacuum at the heart of the government — a collective amnesia masking large-scale incompetence.

Monday’s dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t change the past. Isn’t reorganising departments what bureaucrats do when they can’t think of anything else?

After three resignations, 63 witnesses, more than 60,000 documents and almost 300,000 pages of material submitted to the inquiry, we aren’t any closer to knowing who knew what when, or who was in charge.

The government has already decided not to accept the home quarantine model suggested by Justice Jennifer Coate in her $195m inquiry and will instead stick to a hotel-based model. It doesn’t inspire confidence in their acceptance of the final report, does it?

Lest you think this is just griping from a right-winger who’s got a grudge against Andrews, you should know that I’m a Labor voter.

Nor does Prime Minister Scott Morrison deserve acclaim either, given that all of the state’s COVID-related deaths occurred in private aged care homes under federal regulation. One in 10 aged care beds in Victoria is run by the state and yet they have had few cases and no deaths.

A federal royal commission has already slammed the deregulated private aged care system. They found it is poorly funded and has inadequate regulation, low-paid poorly trained staff and a lack of oversight.

The commission has found that private aged care homes weren’t prepared when the virus hit. Among other issues, they took too long to separate patients with the virus from other residents and failed to make PPE mandatory early enough.

St Basil's Aged Care at Fawkner was the site of a major outbreak which saw dozens of residents die Picture: Andrew Henshaw

And yet support for Morrison recently surged to a four-month high to 66 per cent approval, and he’s been out there complimenting his government on its suppression of the virus.

I prefer to think less about Morrison, and more about the 95-year-old woman who was found with ants crawling over a wound on her leg when regulators finally turned up to her virus-ridden aged-care home. Or the residents who had not had food or water for 18 hours. Or those found lying in rooms with faeces on the floor.

Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck didn’t even know how many people died under his watch and appeared to be more concerned about the “reputational issues” of the private providers.

I don’t know how he’s still got a job. Prof Joseph Ibrahim from Monash University told the quarantine inquiry that “Homer Simpson could have seen the catastrophe in aged care coming with COVID-19 because it was there in your face”.

As businesses open up, workers return to the office and the suburbs once again start to hum, think of the families who are mourning missing loved ones.

Think of the 45 men and women from St Basil’s, the 38 from Epping Gardens and the 30 from Baptcare in Werribee who died because of the incompetence of two governments.

Think of beloved Victorians like 80-year-old Neville, who died alone in August, unable to hug or kiss his wife of 61 years in his dying days.

Neville was there for his granddaughter’s 18th birthday and he should have been there for her 19th.

And he should still be with his family at Christmas.

Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist