States need to live with virus
THE SOONER OUR STATE LEADERS REJECT CHEAP POPULISM AND ACCEPT THAT WE CAN’T ELIMINATE COVID, OR COUNT ON A VACCINE, THE FASTER OUR RECOVERY WILL BE
PRIME Minister Scott Morrison is doing his best to show that his National Cabinet is working but, for all the gloss he puts on it, it’s plainly each state for itself and the PM’s role is merely to announce what each state is prepared to do, or worse, sign the cheques.
It was always going to be that way, in a gathering of nine separate governments, each with their own areas of responsibility given that’s how our Federation was set up.
Wishing it otherwise might make us feel better, even going as far as saying state government has had its day, but that just denies the constitutional reality.
To his credit, the PM has always done his best to discourage pandemic panic, and to remind the premiers that government has a responsibility for livelihoods, as well as lives.
But the sugar hit popularity of weak leaders acting tough and closing borders, coupled with looming elections, means politicians like Annastacia Palaszczuk have sacrificed good sense for cheap populism, forcing families to miss last farewells and funerals while giving footballers and movie stars the royal treatment.
But the border doublespeak didn’t end there.
Last week, Queensland’s Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, blundered his way through a press conference demanding the Federal Government bring back all travellers overseas and that Canberra pay for it.
He really isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, or even factual, given it’s his government that sets the cap for Queensland, not Scott Morrison.
So far, almost 400,000 Australians have returned home from overseas since March 13. There’s 25,000 that still want to come but are being bumped off flights because the states have put limits on how many people can enter quarantine.
By unilaterally announcing that the caps on international arrivals would be lifted from 4000 to 6000 a week, the PM outfoxed those states like Queensland demanding that more people be allowed to come home but refusing to make it happen, or worse, expecting the Commonwealth to pay for it.
Already doing the lion’s share by taking 2500 people per week, NSW readily agreed to take another 500 more, upping its cap to 3000.
Queensland and Western Australia reluctantly agreed to take more, but not for several weeks, and even then, we’re only talking about 1000.
It’s worth pointing out too, that 40 per cent of people who quarantine in Sydney are residents of other states which shows that NSW has more faith in its quarantine management and contract tracing than other states.
But there are two big issues here: the first is states that insist on running quarantine, but won’t take responsibility for funding it – even though collectively the states have so far committed just $51 billion to pandemic programs, compared to the Commonwealth’s $314 billion; and the second is the painfully slow rate of learning to live with a virus that’s not as dangerous as we first thought.
In Europe, infection numbers have risen sharply, but not deaths, which is why there are no new lockdowns.
But here, we’re still largely stuck in the policy response established back in March. Yet every major airport has several empty hotels nearby.
Cairns and Townsville are massive tourist centres with almost no one staying there.
CBD hotels right around the country are almost deserted.
If we stopped quarantining Australians merely trying to move around the country – excluding Victorians for the time being – there would be no shortage of places for the Aussies keen to come home.
But it’s not just about getting returning Australians home any more is it? What about any of us, going overseas? If we’re prepared to pay for quarantine on return, what’s the reason to stop anyone?
I called for the travel bans back in February because people were not doing what they should and self-isolating at home, but now we’ve got our hotel quarantine systems in place, self-funded free movement should be permitted.
Given that we can’t eliminate it – and we can’t count on a vaccine either – we have to learn to live with this virus. And the sooner our state leaders grow up (or get thrown out), the faster our recovery, will be.