VICTORIA’S EXPERIENCE A WARNING
IF hundreds of fluoro-clad tradies, alongside a rag tag bunch of rightwing extremists and anti-vaxxers blocking Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge lighting flares and singing Daryl Braithwaite’s Horses is not rock bottom for Victoria, we’re not sure what is.
Residents of the Victorian capital have spent more days in lockdown than anywhere in the world. For 18 months on and off Melburnians have surrendered their freedoms mostly willingly to stop the spread of coronavirus. But they are at a critical juncture.
Those who are vaccinated want to return to normality.
Those who are against vaccinations also want to return to normality and, however stupid their logic, they refuse to be vaccinated.
Rather than provide a pathway to opening up the state, Premier Daniel Andrews made an error and enforced further restrictions by first mandating vaccinations for construction workers then shutting down the industry. At the same time, NSW said its construction industry would reopen 100 per cent within days.
Most of those broken by the lockdown are not out rioting, but many are quietly taking back there freedoms.
This mob is different. The civil disobedience shown by the rioters is inexcusable. The foul language, the violence and the rage – a disgusting display of thuggery.
But the scenes serve as a stark warning to leaders across the country about pushing what has been until now a compliant Australian public too far.
Our only pathway out of the coronavirus crisis is through vaccination and those who deny that will put others at risk. Lives will be lost because of their selfishness.
Governments and businesses are trying to keep people safe by implementing mandatory vaccination, which on the face of it is noble. The reality, unfortunately, is that every rule we make has consequences. Look at the Tasmanian government’s seemingly sensible decision to implement mandatory vaccines for health care workers. Because some staff at a remote GP clinic cannot or will not vaccinate, that clinic will be closed. How do we determine which outcome is worse?
Ours is a nation divided. A feeble Prime Minister failed to corral a handful of parochial and opportunistic premiers, some of whom created borders and isolation, and confusion about vaccinations.
The thing about being at rock bottom is there is no telling how long you will be stuck there. This mob has no work to go to and no interest in staying home.
The truth is this is not likely to go away quickly or quietly.
All we can hope is that Tasmania does not find itself in a similar state.