‘All power to Premier Perrottet as he leads us. We want normality’
“I agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments. I am just so tired of all this Covid stuff. As if it’s the only medical condition in town. All power to Premier Perrottet as he leads us. We want normality. We can look after our own health and the chief medical officer’s job is to make sure there are people and processes in place to help when needed.”
And Mike:
“Thank you Warren. Common sense has been thrown under the bus. What’s the point of vaccination if the restrictions remain and the goalposts keeping moving?”
Uncle Walter was weary:
“We’re over 18 months into this ‘crisis’, and next week our family has to bury my father with a restricted guest list and masks. Meanwhile, our Victorian CHO flies off to a Canberra shindig because ‘you can’t honour people if you’re not there in person’.”
Maisie mentioned:
“You don’t mention Tasmania directly in your article but the Premier here is as bad as McGowan in WA with his border barriers. There is now serious talk that even with 90pc vaccinated Tasmania won’t open up because the ‘costs could be too high’.
“Apart from a couple of fly-in cases which resulted in no transmission, Tasmania has been Covid-free for well over 15 months which, to the unthinking, proves that we should remain locked up here for ever. This is counter-productive as eventually people’s immune systems will become susceptible to a range of infections as they haven’t had exposure required to build up antibodies.”
Peter was peeved:
“Allowing health bureaucrats to dictate outcomes for the whole country and its economy has been the biggest failure of our political system and democracy in all of its history. Cowardly politicians have hidden behind ‘health advice’, and the media have played along, conscious that a crisis means higher ratings and more newspaper sales. The whole system, including the 4th Estate has let us all down.
“People have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their jobs, businesses and careers. Only those on the government payroll and a few lucky businesses (like media) have done well. The economy is shattered, the truth hidden behind metrics like favourable unemployment figures (JobKeeper kept the unemployed out of the figures) and economic growth that has been financed on borrowed money.
“This is a once in a generation catastrophe that has been made worse by abysmal governments who sell fear over hope, and use the crisis to increase their power over those they are meant to serve.
“The lockdowns in Victoria are a national disgrace. They have caused so much harm. The virus is bad. Lockdowns are worse because they have taken away peoples freedom to take responsibility for themselves, and their ability to provide for themselves.
“Government bureaucrats safe in their secure incomes literally have no clue about that. For them it’s been a power trip, an increase in relevance and importance which they don’t deserve and are not equipped to handle.
“The NSW premier appears to be the only bloke who understands that freedom is not a gift of the government. It’s the Australian people’s inalienable right. Our soldiers fought and died for it. Our freedom as citizens does not belong to the politicians, and particularly not their bureaucrats.”
Bill Farel was brief:
“Thank you, Warren. You have spoken my heart on this.”
Robert let it rip:
“Well articulated Mr Mundine. Your article is an accurate summary of the problems we face, especially from arrogant premiers and incompetent, overpaid, heartless bureaucrats. You ‘nailed’ the argument while these people ‘hammer’ us into economic and social submission.
Poor puns, but we need to start mocking our premiers, CHO’s and bureaucrats for the hopeless position they have put us into.”
Michael was amazed:
“How is it possible that Qld has a hospital bed shortage but zero Covid-19? Obviously, some other epidemic must be running riot in Qld that we don’t know about. Or could it be that the Qld Labor Party has failed to provide hospital beds for normal times?”
Danny explained:
“An incompetent Qld Labor government more concerned about NRL & the Olympics than providing a decent health service.”
Anthony added:
“I was up at the PA hospital in a urology ward this week. I saw two empty rooms with empty beds.”
Susan too:
“My husband was in a heart ward last week and it was more than half empty. He spent two weeks on two floors and there was no overcrowding anywhere, including ICU.”
Siegfried reckoned:
“The overcrowding in Queensland hospitals is the administration area where staff are seated and ‘working’ in the hallways.”
Mic’s mic drop:
“I love this post Mr Mundine. So it took 20 months to reach this point, well done Sir. I reached this point at Week 2. Problem is, I can’t do anything about it. I have posted some stuff on social media, my account suspended and comments erased. I have contemplated protesting to be heard, but than you risk getting arrested, for – you guessed it – breaching Covid rules. I have made complaint to the Health Department – what a disappointment that was. I have tried the local member – just as disappointing.”
David said:
“I am also frustrated beyond measure at the rapid decline of Australia into meek compliance and acceptance of authoritarian government control. Also experienced futile attempts at starting a dialogue with federal and state politicians whose weak responses showed total disregard for all the now obvious problems.”
TheOwlDidIt’s observations:
“Sadly, the pandemic had shown us that:
We have a vacuum of leadership in our country;
We have a vacuum of courage;
We have a black hole of commonsense;
We have few with a backbone;
We have a compliant and lazy media;
We live by fear, not logic;
We are too easily influenced by others’ opinions;
We have trusted the wrong people;
We have hurt our own reputation through thinking that Covid-zero was even remotely possible;
We have a lot to explain to future generations;
And we need more politicians of substance, character and moral courage.”
–
Stephen Rice reckoned Dominic Perrettot’s first full-blooded press conference was a bit of a trainwreck, not least because of the conspicuous absence of CHO Kerry Chant. Philip backed the Premier:
“We elect our politicians to lead and make decisions on our behalf. That is the way democracy works and it’s also our (collective) decision to vote them out when they do not perform well.
“The bureaucrats on the other hand are not elected but appointed. They are there to give advice, (but) for 20 months, CHOs have had more power our premiers. They have health knowledge but little or no knowledge of states or federal finances, business or education. In Victoria the CBD has looked like a cemetery for eight moths with For Sale and For Lease signs all over the place.
“Finally it has come to an end, at least in NSW, our biggest state. Some premiers have hidden behind ‘health advice’ to impose draconian decisions which has brought small business to knees and lockdowns have effected our youth’s mental condition, more than most care to think. Enough is enough.”
Robert’s report:
“It sent the clearest message possible that the new premier is running the state and not some unelected public official. Simple really and obviously not to journalists’ liking who would have prodded and probed to seek the real story they would want of some disagreement between Ms Chant and the Premier regarding the opening of the state. He clearly sees his role as leading the state and not ‘feeding the chooks’.”
Tony’s view wins Comment of the Week:
“Dr Chant may be an expert but first and foremost she is a public servant on the NSW government payroll. This is not being critical of her – it is just stating a fact. The bureaucracy is paid to give ‘frank and fearless advice’ to their political masters, who are elected by and accountable to, the electorate. Public service advice is also supposed to be discrete and confidential. There is no requirement for the former to appear publicly and provide advice to anyone but their Minister except as required by law (e.g. parliament or a properly constituted judicial body etc.). They certainly have no accountability to the media who sometimes misconceive themselves as the representatives of the community.
“The problem we have is that the Covid pandemic has elevated chief health officers to almost celebrity status which gives the impression that they are equal in authority to premiers and ministers. The latter have been willing accomplices in this perception as a matter of convenience to either avoid responsibility for decisions or justify them.
“This is not the Westminster system and what Dominic Perrottet has done is return to the correct relationship between elected representatives and the public service. Their deployment is entirely within his decision making power. And he is also signalling that as the health threat recedes other equally important considerations such as the economy and education take more prominence and need to be presented to the community. He was flanked by several of his Ministers to address these matters.
“No misstep here but rather a coherent strategy at play. Well done Premier!”
Mark said:
“I had the complete opposite view of the press conference and it would seem to me the issue is actually the press gallery.”
Jeem said:
“Now there is a leader, weighing up all factors and accepting the buck stops with him. About time. Dan, Mark and Anna, please note that is how successful leaders act. Well done, Dominic. Brilliant start.”
From Pamela:
“Seriously we don’t care about all the trivial stuff. The plebs just want their lives back. Journos have to get back to work and research stories instead of spoon fed daily Covid briefings.”
–
Jacquelin Magnay suggested that anyone flying to London when borders reopen next month might be in for a culture shock: No masks, no vaccination certificates, no checking QR codes, no breathless daily updates on Covid-19 cases, no obsessing about death tolls. David said:
“The author forgot to mention that all UK restrictions were removed at 68pc vaccination rate among the 16+ population. Our leaders will still have their knees on our throats at 80pc. It is unhinged.”
Vivianne’s husband replied:
“When UK had their Freedom Day at low vaccine levels, they surged to 54,000 cases a day. The NHS had to shut down to all other care. We are trying to avoid that.”
Youth Mental Health said:
“High case numbers with low mortality rates are exactly what we want as they spread herd immunity even faster than the vaccination rate. Only Australia is obsessed with case numbers.”
Alistair reckoned:
“No, we are the smart ones. In the last week alone, 777 people have died of Covid in the UK. That’s more than half the total number of deaths in Australia for the whole pandemic.”
Magpie-01 remarked:
“We have become the laughing stock of the free world and the envy of totalitarian states.
Why would anyone come to Australia now?”
John said:
“Everyone I have met in the UK has friends or relatives in Australia and they are very knowledgable about what is going on. We are a joke.”
Sean O’Hare said:
“With the highest approval ratings for those very politicians who seek that power. So yes, Australia has morphed into a socialist country, mainly by default, but with enthusiastic backing from a majority of the voters.”
Apoxonbothyourhouses asserted:
“If you live in NSW this is abject nonsense. At 90pc 1-jab status our Premier has recognised the frustrations and we are very close to putting Covid behind us subject, I suspect, to the annual booster shots we receive for the flu.”
Daniel declared:
“Every Australian should read this. The continued lunacy of waiting for meaningless daily numbers updates here is literally nauseating me.”
Rock Doctor requested:
“Can I get a one-way ticket?”
Last word to John:
“Effectively that’s what I’ve got since my return flight was cancelled due to Australian restrictions.”
–
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Welcome to the column where you provide the content. Nyunggai Warren Mundine reckoned he was past the point of tolerating lockdowns when “after 20 months, all I see are desperate, tired people with frayed emotions, hanging on because they think it’s nearly over.” This jibed with Jill: