The moat is Tasmania’s true saviour
THE Gutwein state government continually spruiks how it has protected Tasmanians from Covid-19. The recent examples of travellers arriving here with the infectious Delta virus dispels this notion. As usual our government sits on its hands and “hopes for the best”. The pandemic has existed for nearly two years and yet there are clearly no firmly regulated safety procedures and effective penalties in place for those not following the rules. If there were, the recent arrivals would not have evolved.
It’s great for the Premier to swan around with fake kudos, but where is the government really on firm preventative measures? The many “essential workers” who continually go to and fro from Victoria, without quarantine, is another example of laziness and duplicity by the state government, in their “wait and see” attitude. Thank God for the moat around Tasmania.
Raymond Harvey
Claremont
UNPREPARED RABBLE
FIRST we had the person in Launceston who left quarantine and caught a plane out of the state. Second we have a teen quarantining at home who goes to the local IGA and has friends around to visit. Now we have the current mess.
This government seems unable to police quarantine. However, the bigger question is why these people are able to arrive in Tasmania. Surely our government should make the carriers responsible for ensuring that passengers have the correct pass to enter the state. Now we have a whole plane load of people in 14-day quarantine as no such check is carried out before boarding.
Our Premier is quick to say that people will have to be double vaccinated and have a negative test within the 72 hours before arrival, but are there steps in place to ensure that this is checked
before people board the plane or the Spirit? The government has had long enough to be fully prepared, but we keep seeing evidence that they are not. Peter Blackburn
Blackmans Bay
SYSTEM IS FLAWED
COME on, how did this person get to enter the state in the first place? The first step is the airlines need to be held accountable for this. They don’t seem to care. Second, the quarantine officers should have heard the alarm bells ring when this guy blatantly tried to enter Tasmania without permission. Finally, with this guy already on the radar, they put him into a not-so-secure quarantine hotel. Come on, and what about the costs this person has racked up while the police and other government officials try and track him down?
A $3000 fine is not enough. Everyone I speak to is appalled at how this has been handled. Heaven knows what will happen when we open up. We are not completely set up to protect Tasmanians. They talk about it, but here is the case when the system is flawed.
Gil Sellars Launceston
DELTA DONKEY
FLABBERGASTED, enraged, infuriated, incensed, exasperated and irritated. This Delta Donkey has generated all of these emotions in me in record time. Not sure why he thinks his actions and behaviour are OK, but putting the lives and livelihoods of Tasmanians under a real and immediate threat is not OK. The courts administer justice according to laws passed by the government. The government constructs laws which should be consistent with community standards, societal expectations and the general safety and wellbeing of us all. A $3000 fine for the individual would seem to be manifestly inadequate! David Eyles
Lauderdale
HARD AND FAST
IN a very short space of time we have two totally irresponsible breaks with Covid restrictions resulting in a scramble to identify close contacts and raising concerns to us all. A slap on the wrist and a paltry fine is simply not punishment enough for these people. We need to come down hard and fast on them as a deterrent for future idiots.
After all, the majority of us are diligently adhering to the Covid rules and looking out for ourselves and our communities in a responsible manner. It only takes a few idiots to bring the pack of cards tumbling down and then we are in big trouble. Make the punishment fit the crime, which in the case of these irresponsible idiots is unconscionable.
AIRLINE ISSUES
Chris Needham Kingston
SEEMS the airlines feel they don’t have to request a G2G clearance when carrying passengers from red zones on the mainland to Tasmania. As we see, that endangers all their passengers, their crew and all Tasmanians when they carry a Covid-positive person here. If they are not prepared to ask for the clearance before the passenger boards, stop flying here. I figure that would result in a quick change of heart. Despite their complaints about not being able to operate profitably during Covid, you might think it would be in their interests to make all their customers safe. Neil McCormick
Blackmans Bay