But while Morrison lectures Australians about personal responsibility he’s opting out of his responsibility, as leader, to back his health advisers on mask mandates
Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, at Parliament House on Wednesday.Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, at Parliament House on Wednesday.At one level, it feels pedantic, three days before Christmas, to be debating the difference between a formal mask mandate and a strong recommendation to wear a mask.
But the current health advice is just that: current. It reflects current risk assessments. It reflects what is known right now about the threat posed by the Omicron variant and what remains unknown.isn’t the test. The advice reflects on-balance judgments by experts about present risk. When the risks are life and death, the nuances have meaning. They matter.
Morrison told reporters any “public health social measures” were “always determined by states and territories … not by the commonwealth government”.But Morrison’s new script is not only selective – it erases the custom and practice of the very recent past. The prime minister has never been shy of telling the premiers and chief ministers what he thinks they should be doing in the interests of their constituents.
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