Victoria’s new-found pragmatism

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is right: “There is one case, there’s no need for people to panic. There’s no need for people to be alarmed.” It’s a refreshing, sensible response to the news on Wednesday night that a hotel quarantine worker had tested positive for COVID-19. Mr Andrews’ attitude contrasts sharply with that of his West Australian counterpart, Mark McGowan, who is set to liberate two million people from Perth and surrounding areas after five days of hard lockdown at 6pm on Friday. The WA lockdown was imposed on Sunday after a hotel security guard was infected with a single case of the UK variant of the virus. On Thursday, Perth recorded a fourth straight day of no new cases but the lockdown was not cut short. It has added to the burdens of a city battling the effects of nearby destructive bushfires. True to his heavy-handed approach, Mr McGowan is retaining the rule that Victorians entering WA spend 14 days in quarantine: “I acknowledge this will cause inconvenience and frustration for many people,” he said. “But we are in a high-risk situation and we need to be cautious.” And alarmist, based on a single case. At this rate he will soon be doling out advice to Mr Andrews, as he did to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, to stop playing “whack-a-mole” and to “crush and kill” the virus.

Mr Andrews’ current approach is a marked improvement from his disproportionate responses during Melbourne’s second coronavirus wave last year. In September, for example, he defended the city’s oppressive curfew on the grounds his government was “free to go beyond” the medical advice it received. This week he has little choice but to be more reasonable. His government is heavily invested in the Australian Open, welcoming hundreds of tennis players, coaches and officials, some from overseas hotspots. At the same time, for no good reason, Victoria’s ludicrous “traffic light” permit system shut out families and individuals from their home state, leaving many Victorians indignant.

Like Sydneysiders during the northern beaches COVID-19 outbreak in December, the overwhelming response of Melburnians on Thursday to Mr Andrews’ advice to get tested if they felt the slightest need to do so showed the public is eminently capable of co-operating without heavy-handed lockdowns. Three-hour queues at some of Melbourne’s testing centres showed the public’s fear of the pandemic as well as their willingness to play their part to protect themselves, their families and the community.

At this stage it makes sense that the Australian Open starts on Monday as scheduled. The draw has been postponed until 6pm Friday to allow for the testing and results of 507 people associated with the tournament, including 160 players. While Mr Andrews generally brushed aside economic arguments for a more balanced approach during Victoria’s protracted lockdown last year, he marshalled them yesterday in defence of holding the Open. His government’s goal was to “try and find that COVID normal, to try to have economic activity, trying to have that economic rebuilding and recovery, and manage this risk”. His push “to manage contagion risks rather than eliminate them completely” is in line with the effective pragmatic approach of NSW and at odds with Mr McGowan’s goal that “we need to eliminate the virus from Australia”. While Australian citizens continue to return home from overseas, as they must be entitled to do, that is unrealistic.

A vast effort swung into place in Victoria on Thursday morning. From Kilmore 60km north of Melbourne to Keysborough in the city’s southeast, thousands of contacts linked to the 26-year-old quarantine hotel worker were isolating and being tested. The Andrews government evidently has greater confidence in its contact-tracing system than in the past. While hundreds or perhaps thousands of people will be inconvenienced by the need to isolate at home, as Mr Andrews said, the system meant “not having to put in place rules that affected millions more”. That is a significant step forward compared with the draconian, economically destructive measures enforced last year.

Provided vaccine programs fulfil their promise, such dilemmas should become increasingly academic in coming months. But in view of more virulent strains of the virus emerging, a fresh debate has opened over whether hotel quarantining should be replaced with different arrangements. As Scott Morrison says, the issue should be kept in perspective. Of 211,500 Australians who have returned since March, only a handful of cases have not been contained.