MY SAY
SOME day, I’d like to have enough faith to vote Labor again — not that the State Opposition is inspiring much confidence at present.
Fact is, I come from a long line of dyed-in-the-wool Labor supporters, working class battlers who suffered through the Great Depression, two World Wars and worked at whatever they could get in tough times to keep their families fed and a roof over their heads.
When all else was lost to the working man, the straight-talking Labor movement was always there, offering hope and a glimmer of light at the end of the day.
Sadly today’s party is a mere shadow of its former self, the Victorian Labor government dominated by socialist leftie yuppies who believe it’s OK to take part in a mass rally during a global pandemic and the human rights of those refusing COVID-19 tests outweigh the human rights and wellbeing of every other person in the state.
How on earth did we get to this? Sure this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is a massive challenge to governments not just in this country but around the world — which makes it even more important that if you ever put your hand up for the job of government, you best be prepared to deal with whatever comes your way and not make a dog’s breakfast of it.
In Victoria, we’ve seen it all in recent months, a series of government blunders that have now resulted in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire going back into lockdown.
Yet during the week, instead of taking responsibility for the mind-boggling incompetence, Premier Daniel Andrews chose to blame ordinary Victorians.
“We all know someone who is not obeying the rules,” he preached.
Yes Dan, so do we!
Try the 10,000 Black Lives Matter demonstrators you allowed to flood the streets of Melbourne while at the same time fining other Victorians for breaching social distancing rules. We will never know just how many who attended that rally later tested positive for COVID-19.
My bet is the lid has well and truly been shut on that one.
And any suggestion the government could not have had a decent go at preventing the rally is nonsense, given the same government managed to imprison 3000 residents in their high-rise homes for five days and now has police roadblocks in place. To continue deflecting to a judicial inquiry as an excuse for not answering questions regarding dodgy security staff placed in charge of hotel quarantine; the Cedar Meats debacle; and pig-headed reluctance to take up the offer of ADF personnel is pathetic.
Instead, we have seen airline staff managing hotel quarantine, an already overstretched police force guarding residents in housing towers and firefighters delivering meals.
In an editorial on Thursday, former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten tried to smooth the waters, conceding there were, however, “a few people lining up to give Premier Daniel Andrews a whack over his handling of the crisis”.
“A few?” You’ve got to be kidding, haven’t you, Bill?
Clearly Mr Shorten is oblivious to the profound widespread anger and frustration among the broader community.
And who can blame them?
Sure, the folk of Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will cop the new lockdown; they have no choice. But the fact remains with proper management in the first place, it need never have happened.
There is no doubt we will all get through this, but it would certainly help if the Victorian government accepted responsibility for dropping the ball, instead of blaming the kid who handed it to them, hoping they would keep it safe.