An early release from the harshest restrictions is what is driving Daniel Andrews, and no one, or nothing, is going to get in his way. This includes the lack of evidence to justify the most draconian element of his sixth lockdown, the overnight curfew.
No problem, it seems.
Or the general sense that the draconian restrictions have been implemented while the Victorian community is on the brink of a collective nervous breakdown, such has been the impact of nearly 200 days in lockdown.
Mental health is increasingly becoming a national topic of conversation. Chief health officer Brett Sutton stressed on Tuesday that he was acutely aware of the suffering caused by the lockdowns.
He has said this before, of course, but as each week passes and each shutdown measure intensifies, the issue becomes more relevant for more people.
The problem with Sutton’s health advice is that he is dealing with a much more fatigued community compared with 2020. A curfew that worked last year isn’t necessarily the right fit for a group of people who have sustained some of the toughest shutdown provisions in the world. Ever.
What Victorians were looking for this week was a measured, middle ground strategy that slowed the virus’s movement but gave the community some psychological space.
The Victorian Premier was adamant on Tuesday that he had a better idea about what the electorate was thinking than perhaps a room full of journalists.
Given the millions spent on polling, you would certainly hope so.
The effect of 18 months of incursions on people’s lives needs, however, to become a greater element of the response of governments across Australia each day.
Bureaucrats droning on about the ins and outs of individual virus cases is sometimes relevant but not nearly as relevant as seriously addressing the mental health toll of the pandemic.
The eminent psychiatrist Patrick McGorry describes the mental health challenges as the shadow pandemic.
NSW will soon discover that the longer the pandemic goes on, the heavier the fog of lockdown will descend over houses.
It’s why any measures to curb movement should be based solely on evidence.
It’s something for which the Victorian curfew is lacking.
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The big picture is that Victoria is aiming to be out of Lockdown 6.0 by the start of spring, while there are fears NSW will be under severe restrictions for months.