It’s time to open us up
HPALASZCZUK IS ONLY HURTING THOSE SHE WAS ELECTED TO LEAD BY KEEPING OUR BORDER CLOSED.
ow do you define ‘risk’?
It’s different for everyone; I would never parachute out of a plane or bungy jump, yet there are people who consider this ‘fun’.
Every day we choose actions based on whether we, in our own opinion, are unlikely, likely, quite likely or extremely likely to be harmed.
You might never choose to base jump off a mountain, but you might cross a road with traffic approaching, because you’ve made a judgment that it is safe.
And Australia feels pretty safe right now.
We’ve managed to avoid the worst-case scenario of COVID-19 with the exception of the Ruby Princess debacle, we have dodged the predicted outcome seen in so many other countries.
We’ve accepted the Government’s requirements to avoid outbreaks, and now the situation isn’t as unknown, or volatile, as it was.
Measures that might have seemed unthinkable a couple of months ago – hand sanitiser, no crowds, and dots or crosses telling us how to queue – are the new normal. We have adapted.
These measures needed to be in place before we could consider moving forward, and they are. So why aren’t we?
Along with New Zealand, the benefits of being an island nation have never been clearer – we can control the influx of visitors through airports and (ideally) seaports.
Yes, there are still cases popping up, but ICU facilities are coping, and supplies of PPE appear to be available to all who need them.
So the need for internal border control is debatable.
With most Aussies having friends or family interstate or a distance away, preventing contact is only putting off the inevitable.
The most vulnerable, such as the immunosuppressed, indigenous communities and nursing home residents, will have to maintain limited access to outside contacts until there’s a vaccine, but what if the rest of the population can be treated as one community?
For our country to recover economically, social-distancing guidelines should be the same nationwide. And with
Queensland tourism operators dependent on southern visitors for a winter income boost, Premier Palaszczuk is only hurting those she was elected to lead by keeping our border closed.
If reopened, anyone deciding to drive north instead of flying direct to their destination would now pass through towns they might normally miss, like Bowen, Ayr, Townsville, Ingham and Cardwell.
Queensland has 12 active cases, NSW has 369 and Victoria 100 – all, presumably, are in quarantine.
Location aside, while social distancing means many businesses won’t be viable for the near future, those that can handle smaller numbers shouldn’t be penalised.
Perhaps if the government tracking app had been designed as a QR code reader, people could have created their own code and scanned their phone on arrival at a venue, with every visitor’s movements and details traceable, instead of the clumsy Bluetooth person-to-person alternative.
But even with the confusing app, opening borders increases risk, whether it’s now or next month.
And since nervous Nellies like me will always avoid risk, why not let the braver bungee jumpers test the waters for us?