Voters need the facts and transparency

German Chancellor Angela Merkel knows a lot about leadership, having run the European Union powerhouse for 15 years. Germany has benefited from her cautious, steady hand on the tiller during the pandemic.

Other countries have not been so fortunate, and Merkel last week pointedly called out some other leaders’ shortcomings. She did not name names, but did not need to.

“As we are experiencing firsthand, you cannot fight the pandemic with lies and disinformation any more than you can fight it with hate or incitement to hatred,” Merkel told the European Parliament.

“The limits of populism and denial of basic truths are being laid bare. In a democracy, facts and transparency are needed.”

It is no accident that the top two countries for Covid-19 infections are the United States and Brazil, with four million cases between them.

Their populist leaders have downplayed the coronavirus danger, spread disinformation, and ignored realities on the ground to reopen economies. But spin is useless in a pandemic. Health facts cannot be argued with.

As our September election nears, Merkel’s words are a reminder that leaders’ characters and methods matter, because voters find out the hard way in crises if there are major deficiencies.

Covid-19 has tested leaders on whether their basic goal is to do the right thing. The best leaders manage to be authentically themselves while being strategically smart. They can make big calls and take sensible steps. They show at least some ability to anticipate and avoid political pitfalls.

Leaders who are basically competent and well-meaning can still make costly mistakes, appoint the wrong people, not think through the implications of decisions, get bad advice and be indecisive. Sometimes experiencing major difficulties can build knowledge and confidence for future challenges.

Our political parties are consumed by coronavirus fallout in the post-lockdown period.

The Government tried to staunch the bad news on testing and quarantines, changing frontline personnel dealing with the brief.

Four cases of returnees escaping from managed isolation have stirred new outrage, although they represent a tiny fraction of the thousands of people who have passed through. There is still no evidence of community transmission and it is not as though we are alone in having these challenges. Two people were fined after fleeing Sydney hotel quarantine in the past week.

Yet, the risks are not trivial. Victoria’s new outbreak is a major wake-up call. It recorded 216 new cases and a death on Saturday.

The National opposition has also gone through upheaval with a scandal involving private Covid-19 patient details. It is not a good look for the party’s new leader, who is still establishing his bona fides with the public.

One thing we do not want to do is introduce another virus from overseas — the politicisation of this health crisis.