Scoring political points in a pandemic will come back to bite the critics

In the battle between the feds and Daniel Andrews — and the right and the left — ­distressed Victorians have been the fodder.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announces a snap, five-day lockdown on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Crosling

In my state of Victoria at least, you see them around – pandemic-inspired contradictions. People doing their best, but not getting it right. Doing things that make no sense. For instance, a car scoots past, driven by a man, all alone, but wearing a mask.

This scene could be snapshot proof of a depressing phenomenon – Australians have all gone mad over this virus. The driver is a panicked cretin, a hypochondriac and even worse, a lefty lockdown fetishist. The sort of person that expects government protection from everything.

Alternatively, there is another view, without derision and devaluation. Perhaps the driver was wearing a mask in the shops, got back into his car in deep thought, and simply forgot to remove it. He will drive this way for a few minutes, realise what he’s doing, and take the mask off. I’ve done this myself, several times. So that’s the explanation I favour, for the man’s behaviour.

I don’t see the majority of my fellow Australians as anything other than fairly sensible, reasonable and amenable. So if in vast numbers, they back their state leaders on lockdowns, closed borders and other ghastly measures, then clearly, there are good ­reasons. Perhaps none of us like restrictions, but we can see the ­alternative is worse.

During the long Victorian outbreak, there were a lot of burdens to bear – the social isolation, loss of freedoms, anxieties about being locked in the state forever, with no ability to travel for work or pleasure, and the pyjama days that were had because quite ­simply, there was nothing to get up for.

By far, the biggest surprise though, was the reaction of commentators in the media, on the economically conservative side – where I have always stood, quite happily. In these quarters, Victoria’s misfortune generated an instant pile on.

When our long lockdown was announced, commentators professed to be worried about the mental health of Victorians.

So worried were they that they made sure to tell us every single day at top volume how stupid our government was, how nothing we were doing would work, and basically, how doomed we all were.

During the lockdown, the Prime Minister and Treasurer had some astonishingly unhelpful moments too. Towards the end, for example, they released strange written statements that were passive aggressive. It was apparent these were designed to erode confidence in the state government, but the only outcome of this was to increase anxiety and distress among the people.

The resentment from this time lingers, and the Coalition has massive bridges to build in Victoria. Many voters will find it hard to forgive their demands for us to open up too early, as well as the overall impression that they wanted us to burn, just so they could help their state counterparts by scoring political points over our Premier. In the battle between the feds and Daniel Andrews, and the culture wars between the right and the left, ­Victorian people were the fodder.

A year on, poll trends have emerged and some elections have occurred around the country. Conclusions can be drawn – state leaders who act decisively to stamp on the virus have the ­backing of their people.

This is no surprise to me. When the pandemic hit, Australians decided they didn’t want to lie down and accept defeat. The fatalistic surrender displayed in Britain was viewed with horror, and the politicisation of the virus in the US was viewed with disbelief.

Until a vaccine was available we wanted our governments to hold back the enemy; we didn’t want to be offered up to it.

This is nothing to do with being government-dependent, frightened wimps. Australians hold the rightful expectation that our leaders will act decisively and that our institutions will do their job.

We expect our multiple layers of government to ensure the ­conditions for sustaining life here are first world, because after all, that is what we pay our first world taxes for.

We don’t have to live with leprosy, cholera, malaria or polio, just to name a few, so why then, were some commentators so quick to insist that we had to learn to live with COVID-19?

The answer to this question remains a mystery to me. In a well organised country with a well-functioning health system, we don’t have to accept disease, we can fight it with everything we have, and yes, we can beat it, too.

As for the economy, well, economies run on confidence. Temporary pain has translated into long-term gain, and now, we are seeing the benefits. There are flare-ups here and there, but mostly, our country is COVID-free. That is the way the majority of ­voters like it. We can accept that, or rail against it, in the margins, but those who engage in the politics of contempt will find themselves appealing to the minority.