Coronavirus Australia: To address this emergency, PM must resort to urgency

The PM’s complacency needs to be replaced with urgency; he could try this on for size...

Scott Morrison has been a relatively slow learner during the Covid pandemic. Apart from two important and quick decisions by him and the Treasurer – closing the border to China and giving financial help to Australians during the pandemic – the rest of the Morrison government’s pandemic responses have been frustratingly, painfully, slow and confused.

Not enough vaccine contracts signed, not enough doses secured early on. A Health Minister who told Australians to wait for Pfizer in October. No decent marketing campaign to speak of, despite brilliant examples around the world. And far too slow to realise that telling Australians the vaccine rollout was not a race, not a competition, was a mistake. It was wrong for two entirely predictable reasons.

First, with the walls shut to the world, we knew the country would not build up any herd immunity from Covid cases. The only way out of Morrison’s hermit kingdom is a vaccinated population. It should have been a race – from very early on.

Secondly, viruses mutate. It’s not rocket science, it’s basic science. Most mutations don’t change a virus’s behaviour. But other mutations help a virus survive and reproduce. ATAGI, and the PM, who is surrounded by medical experts, should have planned for this foreseeable Delta mutation. Vaccinating the population was a race to beat a mutating virus, and to avoid putting millions of Australians in lockdown.

People queue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the New South Health Vaccination Centre at Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: Getty Images.

The PM’s complacency needs to be replaced with urgency. Not by adding the “urgent” word to his media statements. Real, palpable urgency. If the PM, or his office, need inspiration on this front, they might read the national address given by Israeli PM Naftali Bennett just over a week ago. It’s a ripper. Straight. Hard-headed. Honest. Forward-looking. Or read the plan set out by the Singapore government last week. Both are clear and stellar plans.

Israel has about 60 per cent of its people vaccinated. But Bennett is not satisfied with that. He wants the entire population vaccinated because vaccines work, and getting vaccinated is the only way back to normal. A reworked version for the Australian PM might go something like this.

‘Good evening. I have chosen to speak with you this evening because we are at a decisive moment that will determine how our country will look in the coming period.

It is in our hands to choose whether to act responsibly and have an open and free country, or to stick our head in the sand and – Heaven forbid – bring about endless lockdowns, again.

Our goal is clear: To safeguard health and daily routine, to maintain the Australian economy, properly open our schools and safeguard public health. It is possible. The first and subsequent waves of the coronavirus cost us 918 dead, hundreds of days in lockdown across the country, our children’s education horribly disrupted, businesses wrecked and ruined, a mental toll that we cannot measure. I understand why hardworking people protested against this damage, even if I do not condone it during a pandemic. Lockdowns favour the cocooned and the privileged.

The world is currently in the eye of the storm of the Delta pandemic. Even the Olympics, for the first time in history, are being held without spectators.

The easiest thing for me would be to keep the country closed; however, our compass must shift. We need to have an open and safe country. We are planning this responsibly – on the basis of facts and data.

First, what is the difference between the coronavirus pandemic and the Delta pandemic? Delta patients carry, in their bodies, 1000 times the viral load and Delta multiplies and spreads much quicker than the original coronavirus.

The Delta wave requires a plan with three layers of protection: Vaccines, protecting older Australians and masks.

First, the vaccines layer. Our challenge is clear: That all Australians who can get vaccinated will go to get vaccinated. Every citizen aged 12 and older who has no health impediment to getting vaccinated – go and get vaccinated.

I want to insist on one point. There are many countries in which there are not enough vaccines for the population and the public is crying out. Here, the Australian government has invested billions so vaccines will be available everywhere in the country.

And yet, right now, too many Australians are not getting vaccinated, especially people aged between 18 and 44 and people in Queensland. We have AstraZeneca doses going to waste. This, along with Pfizer, is a lifesaving vaccine.

I apologise for the early confusion about the AZ vaccine. It wasn’t good enough. There have been too many mistakes, missteps and confusion. But I am determined, from this moment on, for the government to do better, and for the country to turn a corner.

I respect different views about vaccinations. This is a liberal democracy. But the science is unequivocal: The vaccines work. They are effective and safe. Over one billion people around the world have already been vaccinated.

To our people, I say: Those who refuse vaccines are endangering their health, those around them and the freedom of every Australian citizen. They are endangering our freedom to work, the freedom of our children to learn and the freedom for friends and families to get together again.

Those who refuse vaccines hurt us all because if all of us were vaccinated, we would all be able to return to normal life. But if millions of Australians refuse to get vaccinated, this will oblige the millions of other vaccinated Australians to shut themselves in their homes. I won’t allow that. That is not leadership.

Therefore, I proposed that once every Australian has been offered two doses of Covid vaccinations, the following rules will apply:

Those who refuse vaccines will not be able to go to the pub, the footy, the cinema, the theatre, the church, the synagogue, or mosque, the amusement park or any activity with more than 100 people, indoors or out, unless they bring negative results from a coronavirus test, at their expense.

Yes, they will fully bear the costs of the test.

There is no reason why the taxpayers and people who have carried out their civic duty and have been vaccinated should finance tests for those who refuse to get vaccinated.

Regarding flights, people who have been vaccinated will be able to fly to the clean countries. On their return, after they receive negative test results in Australia, they will be exempt from quarantine. Those who refuse to get vaccinated will enter quarantine for a week, no matter what country they will have returned from.

These actions will help us save lives – and restore lives. The latter is just as critical as the former. I appeal to everyone who knows someone who refuses to get vaccinated: Persuade them. Explain to them that they will not hurt others. Persuade and explain – do not give up.

The second layer is protecting the elderly and the vulnerable in Australia. We have an ongoing duty to the elderly in aged-care homes to ensure that their vaccinations are up to date, that booster shots are provided to them first. Our secular society is equally committed to Psalm 79:1: “Do not cast me off nor send me away in the time of old age.”

Regarding the remaining elderly, who can look after themselves, they are responsible for being doubly cautious in watching themselves.

The third layer, wearing a mask, depends only on you. Masks have been proven scientifically effective especially in protecting yourselves and those around you. When two people wear masks, even with the increased viral load of Delta, the likelihood of spread goes down by 98 per cent. Therefore, every citizen should wear a mask in closed spaces until the Delta variant is tamed.

We will not chase zero Covid cases anymore. It is a fool’s game; it allows for no margin of error. It would mean lockdowns will continue for many years because Covid will be in the community. As one medical expert said a few weeks ago, nothing reduces the risks of Covid to zero other than standing in a meadow, on your own, ad infinitum. We must restore our lives, not fold in fear.

My friends, we are moving to a new phase – a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Please get vaccinated. Two doses – one for you, one for the country.

The coming year will be an economic jump forward, a year of rebuilding and of exiting the crisis, restoring lives. It will be a good year if we work together.

Thank you very much.”