Editor’s view: All Queenslanders need to know why

We may not be in a lockdown – but we are certainly being asked to make sacrifices for the greater good such as limiting our movements. In return, we have the right to know why.

While it is clear the experts expect the state to face a genuine health emergency a week from now, it is important the government does not panic – and also that it does not keep Queenslanders in the dark.

Sensible steps were taken yesterday to ensure the state can keep running when thousands of Queenslanders are sick, by changing quarantine requirements for essential workers.

As Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, this will keep the lights on and the water running.

The government needs to remain agile as the situation unfolds, and that includes dialling down responses if the most dire of predictions do not come to pass.

Yesterday’s announcements on essential workers and the delayed start to the school year were based on modelling that the government refuses to release.

Who is deemed 'essential'

A 'critically essential worker’ will be defined as someone employed in one of the following industries, who must be in the workplace to do their job:
● Health
● Emergency services, including police
● The resource sector
● Power/utilities
● Agriculture and fisheries production
● Freight and logistics
● Public transport
● Teachers
● Essential retail such as supermarkets and stores in remote locations/communities
●Major manufacturing, distribution, and critical supply chains (for example food and petrol)

They will only say “thousands” of people are expected to be hospitalised, starting a week from now and going for three to four weeks until about the second week of February.

Chief health officer John Gerrard has quite rightly resisted imposing new restrictions and mandates on Queenslanders.

Instead, people are being relied upon to do the right thing – that is, to do what Queenslanders do best and rally together to help each other when times get tough.

We are being told the next four weeks could be some of the most challenging in Queensland’s history.

We may not be in a lockdown – but we are certainly being asked to make sacrifices for the greater good such as limiting our movements.

In return, we have the right to know why. As we learned a generation or two ago, “don’t you worry about that” is not a way to run a state.

Ensuring the public is armed with all the information is one way that we can get on with living with Covid.

CHO Dr John Gerrard. Picture: Liam Kidston

We are not quite there yet, but the CHO’s sensible approach to restrictions – or the lack thereof – is helping the state move in the right direction.

Dr Gerrard has also resisted spreading fear unnecessarily, yesterday pointing out that those who have received their booster shot can, and should, go about their lives relatively normally, including attending the theatre.

It’s a refreshing and sensible approach – and a reward for those who are doing the right thing, and trusting the science.

We must continue trusting people to do the right thing without imposing the harsh mandates we saw in the past two years of the virus.

That can’t go on. And when this peak is over, the state needs to keep marching towards the end goal of living with the virus.

Less panic, more living.

Of course, we have a responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable in the community.

And to ensure our health workers don’t get burnt out, and can keep doing what they do best – caring for Queenslanders.

But with any luck, the peak of the Omicron outbreak will be over in four weeks’ time.

That means the time is quickly coming for the Queensland government to truly think of what living with Covid looks like in this state.

And what personal responsibilities it will place on Queenslanders.

Queenslanders are more than ready for that. But the big question is whether our government is ready.

Originally published as Editor’s view: All Queenslanders need to know why