Spare us the gobbledygook

Australians are being asked like never before to trust our politicians, to believe they are taking the best advice from health experts, and that when they ask us to close our businesses and stay inside our homes, they have done so after calm and balanced consideration. We have no quarrel with this. It is essential in a democracy that citizens at times make a leap of faith and assume their elected representatives are smart enough to lead them through a crisis. But trust is not automatic, it must be earned, and it can be severely tested when voters are kept in the dark or treated as fools with information wrapped in marketing spin and politics.

So we ask: since when has quarantine been a dirty word? The decision to call quarantine facilities at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory and in Victoria and Brisbane centres for national resilience is as baffling as it is laughable. It’s not clear why a euphemism is needed for public health facilities where citizens are held to ensure that they do not carry Covid-19 into the community. Everyone understands the word, which is used internationally. There is no shame attached to its use during the pandemic. The idea that if governments tell us we are building resilience rather than battling infection we will all feel happier is, frankly, insulting. There’s a touch of George Orwell about a centre for national resilience, and the sooner politicians and officials rethink the title the better. First-class facilities to ensure those entering the country are clear of the virus will become increasingly important as the nation opens up. So let’s use simple, honest language to call them what they are: quarantine stations.

Australians are a pretty resilient mob and they have shown they are prepared to follow the rules. But they also know when they are being taken for a ride. That is what many Melburnians suspect about the city’s 9pm-to-5am curfew that starts on Tuesday for 16 nights. The city’s long-suffering residents, whose sixth lockdown was extended for another fortnight after another 22 cases were announced, were left none the wiser about why the curfew was necessary after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews spoke on Monday. The state was at a “tipping point” and at risk of becoming NSW, Mr Andrews said. Last year’s curfew worked and the move was “not up for debate”. Chief health officer Brett Sutton said last year’s curfew was “part of a suite of very successful interventions” in bringing case numbers down, but it was very hard to assess the efficacy of the measure in its own right. Victorian police union boss Wayne Gatt said his members’ resources were stretched “paper thin”. They did not want the curfew and “didn’t really see great value in it” last year. Independent health experts such as Australian National University infectious diseases physician Peter Collignon and Doherty Institute epidemiology director Jodie McVernon were sceptical.

Premiers’ daily press conferences are the high point of the day for the political class and some in the media. But they do little to enlighten those living with restrictions. Most voters are too busy homeschooling or working (or both in our two largest states) to watch. In NSW, where 478 new cases and seven deaths were announced on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian needs a clearer, sharper message to cut through to Sydney’s worst-affected areas. What worked in containing the northern beaches outbreak at Christmas last year is not working in other areas, partially because the Delta variant is far more contagious. But, rather than complaining that a “handful of people doing the wrong thing is causing major setbacks” and insisting “compliance must be dealt with” by giving police additional measures, Ms Berejiklian needs to be more direct. What is the most common “wrong thing” being done in the worst hotspots that is causing the virus to spread? She, along with leaders from Sydney’s diverse non-English-speaking communities and Indigenous leaders, needs to speak directly to members of the public through the press conferences and news reports about what they must and must not do to contain the virus.