Australia’s leaders are acting like children

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s five words from a May interview now seem more ridiculous than ever as our Premiers reach new lows.

COMMENT:

On May 25, more than three weeks before a Bondi limousine driver became the first case in a cluster that would spread throughout Sydney and into Melbourne, Gladys Berejiklian begged for an “adult conversation”.

The NSW Premier told Sky News with a straight face that “Team Australia is one team”.

“We need to act a bit more like one team,” she said. “We need to remember that you might be a Queenslander, a West Australian or a Tasmanian but you’re also an Australian. That is something I think all of us should have an adult conversation about.”

But the Liberal leader of a state that today recorded 97 new local cases of coronavirus has since shown zero interest in playing the team game or, for that matter, acting like an adult.

Neither have her interstate counterparts.

The sniping from our state premiers has reached ugly new lows this week.

On Thursday, Ms Berejiklian laughed at a reporter who asked earnestly why NSW had not tightened the rules around who is an essential worker during lockdown.

“Victoria did it very successfully,” the reporter suggested, correctly.

“No they didn’t,” Ms Berejiklian replied through laughter.

The NSW Premier, who for months positioned herself as a champion for freedom and an anti-lockdown crusader, waited days to lockdown despite calling the Delta outbreak the “scariest time for NSW during the pandemic”.

The approach could not be more different across the border where Premier Daniel Andrews has used short, sharp lockdowns (not including the 112-day second lockdown this time last year) to give contact tracers time to find every link in the chain of transmission and reopen soon after.

It is those opposing principles that have led to a back-and-forth in recent weeks that is, honestly, just a bit beneath us all.

Speaking to the media on Thursday as Victoria introduced its fifth lockdown in 18 months, Mr Andrews took a shot at his interstate colleague.

“Just for clarity, retail is shut,” he said. “It’s not open. There will be no browsing, it’s click and collect. That’s what it has to be. That’s what is safe. That’s what has worked before in Melbourne and it is what will work again.”

He said he was not there to “scoff or sneer” at anyone but immediately went on to talk about Ms Berejiklian’s ego.

“This virus doesn’t care if you’ve got a big ego or not,” he said. “Just get on and get the job done. I can’t control what happens and doesn’t happen in NSW. These cases started in NSW, but I’m determined they will end here.”

Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants to play on “one team”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

It was Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s turn to sling mud on Friday when she labelled the highly-infectious strain that originated in India the “Sydney Delta variant” and the “Sydney strain”. Not helpful, Premier.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard responded to her comments by labelling them “silly”.

“It doesn’t pay to be silly about this,” he said.

“The reality is that this is a virus that has spread across the world. It has killed more than 600,000 Americans, more than 4 million people. It is better that we respect the danger of the virus and not be drawn into those sorts of comparisons.”

And the can just keeps being kicked along the ground.

The public can be forgiven for feeling short-changed by the pandemic. Victorians can be forgiven for being downright furious that the virus crossed the border courtesy of what appears to be a removalist crew which flaunted the rules of workers’ permits, including wearing masks.

But the childish stuff from our leaders has to stop. It makes things so much worse for the millions of Sydneysiders and Melburnians who are struggling through another lockdown — let alone those in virus-free states and territories who have to listen to it.

Ms Berejiklian was right when she talked about Team Australia. But she might want to start leading by example.

NSW Premier @GladysB on Victoria's lockdown: “It’s much easier to lock down because you don’t have to worry about anything, it’s much more difficult to let people move around when the virus is circulating.” #COVID19Vic#MelbourneLockdown#KJshowpic.twitter.com/zCR20Gpbeb

— Kyle and Jackie O (@kyleandjackieo) June 3, 2021

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