CONCERNS NOT TRIVIAL

I TAKE exception to both Greg Barns and Saul Eslake’s trivialisation of the real concern felt by many Tasmanians about the impact of the December 15 opening of borders.

Greg Barns is most offensive in labelling those who continue to oppose as fascists while disingenuously stating that he isn’t doing that, and Saul Eslake’s comments about Tasmanians’ insularity is insulting.

I have family members in Melbourne, Sydney and Germany whom I haven’t seen for almost three years, and I welcome the opportunity, one day, to do so.

Just to get down to concrete detail, I buy my free-range eggs from a chook farm in Sandford, a place that formerly supplied most of Hobart’s restaurants.

It is now closed, because of the closure of these restaurants. How many other suppliers have also closed throughout Hobart?

How many jobs have been lost? How many businesses have gone broke? Goodwill squandered? Income lost? And when, if ever, will such businesses be able to reopen, if they have managed to keep their heads above water?

The people of Tasmania did what was asked of them for two years, in terms of maintaining mandated measures, with rectitude. The government provided subsidies for people to support the tourism and hospitality industries, which I and many others took advantage of, cheerfully.

As a result, Tasmania was doing very well behind the well-managed borders, and we were congratulated by none other than Peter Gutwein himself.

Not a Monty Python-esque state of affairs at all, Greg Barns. Yet here we are, as if the past two years never happened. And why? The economic rationalists like Saul Eslake have proven their ineptitude at understanding a basic fact: people need a government that puts the highest value on their health and safety, for them to thrive and the economy to boom.

At the moment, we have a shadow lockdown, businesses going broke, overburdened hospitals, a dilemma that parents must face about sending unvaccinated children to school, because the government cannot assure them of their children’s health and safety.

Take absolute notice of the letter writers, Peter Gutwein, we are the voters.

Carol Patterson Hobart