Coronavirus Australia: Andrews set for power grab as Covid cases fall

Victorians who are at the end of their tether and their finances after months of restrictive government by executive decree and daily press conferences can brace themselves for more of the same. For that they can thank the Greens, the Reason Party’s Fiona Patten and the Animal Justice Party’s Andy Meddick, whose support will allow Premier Daniel Andrews to extend his state of emergency for six months. In his thirst for power and his distaste for accountability, he wanted another 12 months. As news of the crossbenchers’ cave-in emerged on Tuesday, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Victoria fell to 70 (down from 397 cases a month ago), with five deaths. If that positive trend continues the daily total of new cases might be comparable to that of NSW, which had 13 new cases on Tuesday, or in single digits by September 13 when the stage-four lockdown and absurd 8pm curfew are scheduled to end in Melbourne.

As Josh Frydenberg says, Mr Andrews and his government need to be “talking more about the road out than about a longer road in”. Where Victorians are allowed to go from here will be revealed on Sunday, when Mr Andrews will produce two road maps — one for opening up Melbourne and the other for the rest of the state. Details of the plans are still sketchy. They will need to take on board the advice of different sectors the Andrews government has been consulting, including: construction; manufacturing; professional services; transport and freight; retailing food and groceries; agriculture; sport and tourism; hospitality; arts and cultural organisations; and community groups. The Premier also should consider the advice of a coterie of medical specialists who warned on Tuesday about the serious physical and mental health consequences arising from 23-hour-a-day lockdowns, isolation, loneliness and patients’ fear of attending medical appointments and seeking treatment, which is worsening prognoses for some cancer patients. The Australian Medical Association has likened Victoria’s handling of the pandemic to witnessing a “slow car crash” unfold.

The best principle for governments to follow in winding back restrictions would be to move to a back seat and allow as many areas of life as possible, especially commercial activity, to resume while ensuring sensible health precautions. That proviso remains vital. It is also the reason — however stifling their cabin fever or how intense their anger over government incompetence and its costs — Victorians planning to attend the anti-lockdown protest on Saturday in Melbourne should stay home. Those urging objectors to take to the streets are irresponsible. As well as risking a spike in COVID case numbers and putting vulnerable lives at risk, a large turnout would give authorities grounds to hold the reins tighter on easing restrictions, at immense cost to the economy of our second largest state. The lockdown is costing Victoria as much as $400m a day.

Scott Morrison, Mr Andrews and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian are on the right track in discussing plans to relax the NSW-Victorian border for the benefit of border communities struggling with closures, despite having little or no coronavirus in their areas. Victoria and NSW, to their credit, are prepared to reopen their border as soon as it is safe. In the Coalition party room on Tuesday, the federal Treasurer invoked John Howard, reminding colleagues that the former prime minister had little time for parochialism and said in a speech 15 years ago that the federation was there to serve the lives of all Australians. But even with the new system of COVID hot spots to be produced on Friday to encourage premiers to open up borders safely, the Prime Minister will need to move mountains at national cabinet to elicit more co-operative attitudes from Queensland and Western Australia. But at least, after the tragic death of an unborn twin baby, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has taken the incremental step of creating a new border exemption unit to deal with “distressing” cases of northern NSW patients denied medical care in Queensland. But Mr Morrison’s vision for the way ahead is correct: “What we have to work to do is to let Australians know that, by Christmas, they will be able to come together. By Christmas, they will be able to come together as families and look to a 2021 that doesn’t look like the difficulties that they’ve gone through in 2020.”