Fogged glasses coffee queues Welcome to the lockdown time warp
Welcome to Lockdown 6, where time moves differently. Space is reconfigured. What mattered yesterday is not so important today.
We attempt to cheer each other up. Supportive phone calls to loved ones, texts to friends, emails to work colleagues, posts to social media for everybody else, the technological hierarchy betraying a sliding scale of concern. Try to find enough energy to spread it around.
The local coffee shop feeds its addicts through a hole in the wall, the neighbourhood focal point … again. A scurried visit to the bread shop, the butcher, the fruiterers. A fumble to fire up the phone camera to sign in, glasses fogged from wearing a mask, juggling the shopping, tying the dog up. Our world shrinks, our rituals simplified.
A familiar sight around the suburbs; queuing for coffee during lockdown.Credit: Getty
I harbour no resentment; no anger directed in any particular direction. I share the universal frustration, the resignation to our plight governed now not by any elected inspirational leader but instead by a microscopic germ. The virus decides our future. Where does it go next, who does it target tomorrow? How do we escape? Where else are they doing it better? Whom do we trust to guide us?
Daniel Andrews has doubled up on his lockdown-fast stance. He could hardly do anything else. His readiness to flip the lockdown switch has massive risks, but being accused of inconsistency is not one of them. Public polling buttressed by secret internal focus groups confirm his determination to hold the course. Andrews has visibly aged in the few weeks he has been back at work. His shoulders sag, the strain is showing.
This week revealed the state Liberals are capable of making positive contributions. As he fights for his own survival, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien had his best day, as his COVID rapid testing demonstration on the steps of Parliament put the Premier on the back foot.
Andrews needs to urgently address the social and economic impact, not just the medical legacy. Offering lottery tickets for vaccination is superficially appealing but fuels our toxic gambling culture. Pokies venues being shut is the only good thing about lockdown. More importantly, the Vax-Lotto idea is culturally insensitive. COVID has hit the Muslim community hard â€" and Muslims do not gamble. Offending people’s beliefs will not help overcome vaccine hesitancy, but the opposite.
Daniel Andrews announcing on Thursday Victoria’s return to lockdown. He has visibly aged since returning to work in late June.Credit:Getty Images
Anyone who says “they should keep politics out of it†is naïve. Every decision taken by a politician is intrinsically political. Neither the Prime Minister nor the NSW Premier will frankly acknowledge their recent mistakes, so it is harder for either to correct them. When policies have to change, but they will not admit why, we are left confused. If the mistakes are neither identified nor ring-fenced, an eventual revival is hampered.
Scott Morrison and his ministers now argue in favour of lockdowns, but a few weeks back they were vociferously against them. Back then they thought it a useful wedge to try to characterise ALP governments as incompetent and anti-business, to tarnish the Labor brand federally. It turns out playing politics amidst a pandemic is not just irresponsible, risky and immature but when exposed it is electorally poison.
Combative as ever, Morrison also refuses to clarify his role in the car park rorts of the previous election. The likely reason for this obfuscation is to hide how involved he was in the pork barrelling exposed by the Auditor-General.
The refusal to do anything tangible about the trio of JobKeeper rorts, car park pork-barrelling and the appalling way Brittany Higgins has been brushed aside will follow this government to the next election.
Anyone who says “they should keep politics out of it†is naïve.Credit:Illustration: Matt Davidson
Throwing JobKeeper at employers initially seemed appropriate because saving jobs was vital. But billions more than was required was paid. Free money proved irresistible to many employers who overnight became extraordinarily pessimistic about their business in order to qualify. An inexplicable failure to provide any legal power to claw back over-payments is the costliest blunder of any Australian government.
In just the first six months, 35 per cent ($25 billion) of JobKeeper was claimed by firms that didn’t meet the qualifying criteria. Of that, $9.3 billion went to firms who forecast a downturn, but their next ATO BAS reported sales had increased. There is no compulsion to repay.
The failure to re-calibrate the scheme after this excess was identified as negligent. Refusing to publicly provide full information smacks of a cover-up; Treasury has billions of reasons to hide its own failure. The UK, USA and NZ all provide a public register of who got what. Australians only find out because of market scrutineer, Ownership Matters, who have cross-matched public information from the ASX. Only the ATO knows what happened inside private entities.
The churches and religious schools who trousered excess millions will presumably be judged in some other forum. The refusal to provide universities with any assistance smacks of cultural cringe. Why refuse to help the institutions that host the laboratories and train the scientists and doctors that keep us alive?
As the Crown Casino Inquiry heard last week, if there are no consequences for illegal or unethical behaviour, then nothing is likely to change.
Jon Faine is a regular columnist.
Jon Faine is a former radio presenter on ABC 774.
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