Tap into the psyche of the nation and reflect on the meaning of life

Reading Henry Ergas every Friday (“ ‘Official Socialism’ skulking beneath the cover of Covid”, 19/2) is like stumbling across a library in an industrial wasteland. His quote of de Tocqueville on the citizenry being reduced “to a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the loving shepherd” could not be more apt, except of course some are more industrious than others according to the latest authoritarian diktat. Indeed, for instance, the Good Shepherd Andrews delivers his daily homilies to the grazing herds feeding on his words as if manna from the gods when in fact he’s just another in a long line of petty bureaucrats, in this case using a virus as a cover for his governmental ineptitude. However COVID has been a gift that keeps on giving for Daniel Andrews as he issues decrees in the manner of a decaying despot.

Ashley Georgeson, Adelaide

Henry Ergas sagely tapped into something of the psychology of this nation during the past 12 months. As he rightly asserted, former middle-level anonymous bureaucrats — especially Victorian ones — suddenly found themselves thrust into the public spotlight, their daily utterances determining the fate of a state.

In among all this fearful freneticism has been Premier Andrews, who has excelled in promulgating the politics of fear; in particular, the delusion that the only thing that stands between 6.5 million otherwise healthy Victorian citizens and a hideous death from a remarkably intelligent virus is his government.

At heart is the problem of being able to sensibly and aptly manage risk. For here’s the thing: God-given life is indeed precious, but it is not priceless.

Small businesses are the financial engine room for any state government, usually started up by crazy-brave citizens who are willing to pour countless hours of blood, sweat, tears and their own capital into a venture that fulfils a particular passion or a lifelong dream. So many of our corporate success stories in Australia started with such humble origins.

But who in Victoria would now dare to invest in a new enterprise when — as we saw last week — that very same business can be swiftly shut down for an arbitrary period due to just a handful of new cases of a virus that has such a high recovery rate for those under the age of 80.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic

On the surface, it may appear that “passivity” of the people, risk-averse attitudes and hope for certainty enabled authorities to “morph into … authoritarianism” in Victoria, as Henry Ergas implies. However, I contend that it was more to do with the hefty fines, threat of imprisonment and public shaming that cowed millions of ordinary men and women into compliance. It is interesting that Ergas asserts there is “a long-term rise in society’s aversion to risk”, as risk, I believe, is inextricably entwined in life itself, irrespective of one’s conscious awareness. For example, crossing a busy road of cars, even with a green light, can be a risk. Indeed, hundreds of pedestrians are killed each year. Moreover, thousands of Victorian did flout lockdown laws, at different times and in different ways, as active protests against incursions on their freedoms. This behaviour was retarded by the police, who were out in full force to arrest them and contest their “own mistakes”. It was a brutal retaliation against many. While Ergas accurately points out that when COVID first appeared, “there were good reasons to fear the threats it posed”, it seems this initial fear remains, with Andrews continuing to capitalise on this fear as justification for his repeated lockdowns. Sadly, many believe him and the new expertariat.

Paulyne Pogorelske, East Melbourne, Vic

Rich pickings

Letter writers (19/2) lament the sorry state of our merchant shipping and the short-sightedness of our decision-maker elite. Consider this; we have a comparative advantage through our climate and vast areas of farmlands in the production and sale of clean agricultural produce, yet we are selling large swathes of our precious farmlands to foreign entities including sovereign wealth funds. Now if that is not stupidity of the highest order then what is?

Jock Munro, Rankins Springs, NSW

Back to the job

Lesson 101 from COVID lockdown 2020 was that we had a national security issue over our decimated manufacturing sector. Rebuilding our manufacturing industries was to be of the highest priority exiting the COVID crisis. It would be the vehicle to pay down the huge debt we have given the next generation.

Instead the Morrison government is now business bashing, threatening to send in the dobbers if those on their list don’t come up with a zero-emissions plan before the next election. Talk about losing your way and forgetting your own. For all our sake, just do what you were elected to do, build some baseload power generators.

Norris Lewis, Toowong, Qld