Team Australia digs in for challenge of the century

In the Prime Minister’s courtyard at Parliament House, our head of government outlined the awful contours and forbidding scale of the health, social and economic calamity of the coronavirus pandemic. “This is a once-in-a-hundred-year type event,” Scott Morrison said, announcing an unprecedented travel ban and harsh restrictions on social contact. “We are going to keep Australia running. We are going to keep Australia functioning. It won’t look like it normally does but it is very important that we continue to put in place measures that are scalable and sustainable. There is no two-week answer to what we’re confronting. There is no short-term, quick fix to how this is dealt with in Australia.”

Mr Morrison spoke powerfully to the Australian people, both as national leader and as one of us. After initial circumspection in these matters, he has now sketched out in broad terms a disruption to normal life for six months, perhaps more, and the privations citizens could expect because of travel restrictions and social distancing. Mr Morrison addressed the small picture as well, scolding people for bulk-buying supplies: “Stop doing it. It’s ridiculous. It’s un-Australian, and it must stop.” It looked like a principal shaming errant schoolchildren. He’d said it before, but his emphatic display came with the risk of overkill. Yet someone had to say it. In an emergency, the Prime Minister has first call on the national stage.

Australians have many sources of information; facts and official directives can be lost in a digital blizzard of gossip, hearsay, fakery and mischief. In an era of plummeting trust in politicians and institutions, authority is not a given. There was a lot for the public to absorb, with the national cabinet banning non-essential gatherings of more than 100 people; a lifting of the travel advice for Australians to the highest level (do not travel abroad); restrictions on aged-care visits; cancellation of Anzac Day events; a relaxation of international student nurse visa conditions; and aviation industry support measures.

Big decisions are made every few days via the evolving instrument of a national cabinet, made up of the Prime Minister, six premiers and two chief ministers; the group comprises four Liberal and five Labor members. There are strong and competing views on the way forward, while data are imperfect. This big-tent approach, at the behest of Mr Morrison, maximises co-ordination in decision-making and aids information sharing; it is in stark contrast to 100 years ago, when our young federation confronted the Spanish flu pandemic. A struggle over state and commonwealth powers, just after World War I, almost tore the country apart. On the medical front, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is comprised of all state and territory chief health officers, and is chaired by Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy. There is a diversity of views, unity of purpose and orderly process in the Team Australia structure.

The public has clearly expressed a preference for regular information, from a single, reliable source. No one person in a plural society has a lock on wisdom or complete authority. But the Prime Minister is head of the executive government. People expect him to step into this front-and-centre role and lead the policy responses, as well as the messaging. Dr Murphy and his deputy, Paul Kelly, have been the conduits for practical medical instructions and the AHPPC’s emergency high-end policy advice. News outlets, as is their duty, will continue to probe political and medical leaders about their decisions, policing the space between what they say and what they do; being discerning in who they present as experts, who can add nutritional value to the public’s information diet, is the job description.

The broader public discourse, however, is not always open, constructive, informed or civil. Our politics are robust, too often unedifying. Still, opposition politicians, no matter at what level of government, have a legitimate and key role to play in questioning policy decisions, holding leaders to account and making practical suggestions during the shutdowns. All MPs can modify such roles; it’s why we send them to parliament. Politicians are ground-level custodians, problem-solvers, witnesses and listeners.

Given the wartime metaphors and emergency policy footing, there’s a view that Anthony Albanese should have been part of the national cabinet. There are obvious pros and cons. The Opposition Leader has been a fixture in Canberra since 1996 and he is the alternative prime minister. But our politics have a deficit of goodwill and trust. The Labor leader’s exclusion is an opportunity, as well as a risk — for both leaders. Mr Albanese does not, at this stage, have much to grumble about. Nor can he simply disappear, vacating the platform he has spent a career seeking. It’s a delicate, unenviable task.

But some experts, in public policy and medical affairs, clearly have axes to grind; others simply have relevance deprivation syndrome — and it shows. A few who have recent experience in crisis management or the executive are big-noting themselves by offering public advice on options they know are actively in the policy mix. Lo and behold, they’re paragons of anticipation and wisdom when the subsequent step is taken. Does this help the public? No. Does it soothe tender egos? For a while, sure. But to reboot Kevin07, this sort of reckless speaking must stop.

We are in a fast-moving situation. Messaging is now up with the play and cutting through. Early on, as the extent of the crisis unfolding was unclear, the Prime Minister’s briefings were cautious. He tried not to reveal too much, lest he be seen as “speculating” or causing “public anxiety”. His go-to phrase, “abundance of caution”. We now see that the measures we must take aren’t in fact abundant, they’re necessary, prudent, reasonable and realistic. “Reason and realism are good,” writes Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. They must be our touchstones in public discourse because, as Mr Morrison explained, “life is changing in Australia, as it is changing all around the world”.