Daniel Andrews will hopefully reveal Victoria’s road map out of stage four lockdown on Sunday, which is also Father’s Day. Like dads, Andrews doles out punishment and reward for behaviour good and bad | OPINION
Presumably it is mere coincidence that Sunday, when Daniel Andrews will hopefully reveal Victoria’s road map out of stage four lockdown, is also Father’s Day. But the confluence strikes me as neat because the pandemic has brought paternalistic overtones to the relationship between Victorians and their Premier.Like dads, Andrews doles out punishment and reward for behaviour good and bad.
On Sunday, Andrews’ tone and content should acknowledge that the original sin – the original screw up – was not ours but his government’s. And that the public wants reciprocity from the government: a promise of accountability “going forward”, as the detestable phrase has it. It lurked, allegedly, in COVID-positive guests on early release, guards told to re-use gloves and masks out of sight of CCTV cameras, guards carpooling, smoking, even sweating profusely in the case of one poor sod. And it lurked in the only-in-Victoria affectations: a quarantine officer receiving “diversity training” but no instructions on using protective equipment, Victoria Police officers allegedly expressing squeamishness about a “military presence” in hotel quarantine.
In August, Victoria’s coronavirus contact tracing team was reportedly about half the size of NSW's, despite a case load nearly 28 times bigger. Less than a fortnight ago the state’s contact tracing unit was still using a slow and error-prone pen-and-paper COVID-notification system. Close contacts of positive cases have reported waiting weeks before authorities got in touch. And so on.
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