Perspective: Against his own instincts, Scott Morrison has found a real purpose for his prime ministership during this crisis. And he is delivering.
It was only four weeks ago that Australia's borders were open, the Chief Medical Officer was endorsing handshakes and outings to the movies, and Scott Morrison was preparing to go to the footy. It was another world and the virus loved it. The number of new infections was doubling every three days.
A few weeks ago, the experts were urging that Australia emulate Singapore, Taiwan or South Korea with their dramatic restrictions. The situation has been transformed."At the moment," the patron of the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne tells me, "we are right in the front rank, with New Zealand. It's pretty impressive. In some ways, that makes it even more difficult – how the hell do we ever get out of it? That's the bigger question.
I'd just point out that China's seat of government doesn't believe it – the city of Beijing is allowing entry of a maximum of 1000 people from Wuhan per day, and only after they've been tested for the virus within the seven days preceding entry. If the Chinese capital doesn't believe its own propaganda, why should anyone else?
The Prime Minister hasn't sought to dominate. The two biggest states, NSW and Victoria, pushed him hard to impose more controls on people's movements and he yielded to their demands. And he's accommodated different leaders and their own state priorities, while creating the opportunity for uniformity wherever possible. Some of the smaller states have closed their borders to the rest of the country, while NSW and Victoria have not, for instance. Yet the 1.
Politics continues, but with the emphasis on problem-solving rather than posturing. The noisy parlour games that so nauseated most voters for the past decade have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Morrison's example of unifying leadership and the urgent, new emphasis on problem solving has allowed tremendous progress in record time. Just a few examples.
"We aren't out of the woods yet, but we are ready, and compare that to the unfortunate situation elsewhere in the world."At the outset of the crisis, Australia had 2200 ventilator ICU beds. That's now doubled, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt, and on Thursday the Morrison government announced a $31 million contract for the local manufacture of another 2000 ventilators by July.
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