Tough job for premiers
WSTAYING IN BED INSTEAD OF FACING INCREASING CHALLENGES PROBABLY ISN’T AN OPTION FOR OUR STATE AND TERRITORY LEADERS
ho’d be a premier?
Maybe in normal, non-pandemic times there are perks that make the position worthwhile but in these unprecedented times imagine finding yourself with the responsibility of not only keeping your constituents alive but keeping them in work or business?
Ah, no thank you, please. Staying in bed instead of facing increasing challenges probably isn’t an option for our state and territory leaders, and with our political system split into two warring parties, knowing you won’t please both no matter what decisions you make is clearly a pretty thankless task.
But whatever their political stripes, with no playbook to eliminate this pandemic our premiers have to react and adapt to try to keep ahead of this invisible enemy.
We’ve seen what happened when the leader of a world superpower, the US, called it a “hoax”, dismissed social-distancing, refused to wear a mask and encouraged his loyal governors not only not to shut down but to reopen too early.
That the US now finds itself placed on the scale of daily infections and deaths between two Third World economies, Brazil and Mexico, is not surprising and nor is the ability to guess a person’s political allegiance by whether they follow Democrat Joe Biden’s maskwearing example, Republican Donald Trump’s dismissal of them, or the invisible tinfoil hat of both new contender Kanye West or the Qanon conspiracy cult.
A country so divided by politics and willing to ignore science has meant that despite the early example of New York, the states that dismissed the danger are now paying a heavy price.
In comparison, while Australia’s rapid response has not been kind to the economy, we’ve been spared the high death counts experienced overseas, with our outbreak numbers minuscule in comparison.
But while the North has managed to remain COVID-FREE and is currently enjoying footy crowds and socialising, the spread from a community college in Melbourne to a social housing block with 3000 occupants that share laundries, lifts and common areas does seem like a world away.
Except it isn’t.
It’s here in Australia.
And instead of showing sympathy for their situation, the standard ignorant bigotry from Pauline Hanson not only appalled those of us with nonEnglish speaking immigrant heritage, but her ugly tirade only highlighted the irony that many who offered immediate help came from immigrant communities she so readily demonises.
We saw the same group of Indian Sikhs, the absolute legends whose mobile kitchen fed countless SES volunteers and victims during the bushfires, that are now producing a supply of culturally appropriate meals for the tower residents.
Locals not in lockdown rushed to fill their cars with groceries, toiletries and nappies and brought them to a rapidly filling warehouse.
We don’t know who or where might be affected next, but we’re unlikely to see a resistance to masks if that helps the situation; but whether it’s down south, out west or up here in the North, hating on victims will always be overshadowed by the true Aussie spirit of supporting communities, not dividing them.