“We’re all in this together” Yeah right!
If we are truly “all in this together” then all employees on a government payroll should be happy to take at least a 25% pay cut so we show our commitment to each other. Moreover, all Federal and State Ministers and Senators as a sign of solidarity with other Australians should take at least a 30% salary haircut and their privileges. Only then we can legitimately say that “we’re all in this together”.
In the meantime we continue destroying our economy. And for those of you who think that this means money versus lives then you really have your collective heads firmly up and locked with such a narrow minded understanding of money and indeed an economy. According to the dictionary an economy is the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money. A strong economy means that we have a good health care service, our defence force is well equiped and trained, we have well funded emergency services, our education system remains the very best it could be, being able to put food on the table and maintain healthy lifestyles.
In simplistic terms there were three approaches available :
- Let it run - rapid spread, more deaths, fast immunity
- Shield the most vulnerable - moderate, herd immunity approach.
- Complete isolation - and destroy the economy along the way but still not control the virus
We cannot hope to understand right now, how, the way we are handling this will play out in the future until there is a wash up, call it an enquiry, but feel that this is starting to be revealed in other countries who have not been so aggressive so much so that they will come out of this in much better shape with a death rate that will be surprisingly low and immunity. Furthermore, I do not believe the statistics and the best thing i can say about the reporting that it is sloppy lazy science without any transparency.
My sense is that we have taken absolutely the wrong approach and should of taken the second option. In support of this I put forward the idea of immunity. It’s not exactly my idea, in fact it’s been with us since the dawn of time. Immunity is the one thing that has kept us going as a species - in fact our bodies are expert at dealing with the countless number of microbes and viruses we come into contact with every day and we cannot do anything about this. If we think we can control this thing, this Covid 19, then we are sadly mistaken and, we will be relying on our bodies to do the heavy lifting. It is an unfortunate fact of life that people die some prematurely, and that is sad, and there will be co-morbidity, and that is also sad, however, what will be even more sad, and most likely tragic, are the preventable deaths that will occur because we decided to save a minor number of people compared to the amount of deaths that will occur because our economy, NOT MONEY, but our economy being unable to cope because of staff cuts, or low pay, a low tax base etc etc. The idea that we were protecting our health system is a red herring and only serves to highlight how poorly prepared we were. God help us if we ever had to go to war or moreover, defend our shores.
I made a point some time ago on these forums about one of the consequences of the global lockdown and that is the effect it will have on global starvation. Funny thing that there did not appear to be any outrage until i had a discussion with a tanker driver who said “ the rich don’t care about the starving because they can always get food but they do care about an indiscriminate virus that could kill them. It gave me pause and made me think a bit and then it put things into perspective. It’s not the masses that are particularly scared, but they have been frightened unnecessarily, it is the ruling elite that are shit scared. So it was pure folly that I thought somehow that we are really concerned with saving lives. Quite shameful really and silly me.
On a Federal level I feel that the approach is weak (and I vote Liberal just to get that out there) and the National Cabinet, for all the praises that were sung about it, is ineffective and DOA with State Premieres essentially ignoring the PM and national health imperatives. The only way that this could be rectified is to give the Federal Government emergency powers that would override state rights with Premieres being directed on processes and procedures. A national emergency requires a national response.
As for my much beloved Victoria, Daniel Andrews will destroy this state with his over paternalistic bent, hiding behind the notion of extreme safety. Daniel Andrews is being disingenuous when he almost mockingly wags his finger at you and tells you it’s for your own good. No it is not; it is for his own political advancement and he will, if not already started, start using this crisis to push through so called (faux) reforms which will at the end of the day ruin this state. Case in point is the idea of perpetual land tax on the family home. While this idea sounds good on paper it will destroy the property market and, here’s that word again, the economy. How will that exactly work? Will it be retrospective? Will home owners get a refund of their stamp duty if required to now pay land tax? Is it a smoke screen issue and is there something worse in the wings? Who is going to employ all those tradies and who will then buy all those utes? Obviously some who will read this don’t have the first clue on how an economy works but don’t worry you are in good company because either does Daniel Andrews apparently. Make no mistake If Daniel Andrews is allowed to push through any agenda under the cover of a national emergency while most of Victorians sit and shake in their caves then he will have become the most destructive force that Victoria and this nation have ever witnessed. On another note but just as egregious is the Andrews Health Ministry who I am sure are not practising “world’s best practice” but instead chasing political and draconian outcomes. The campaign to remove Labor from office has to start now and we cannot allow Daniel Andrews any excuses for a poor economy as a direct result of his actions of leaving Victoria locked down longer than was necessary. He knows exactly what he is doing ie the political risk he is taking but when it all goes pear shape he cannot be allowed to make the excuse “well this was a great unknown”, “we acted in the best interest of all Victorians”, and “there were mistakes but we have never been faced with a situation like this”. Of course this plausible deniability will be complete bullshit which is why we need document all the facts that the Victorian Government are aware of now so they cannot state that they did not know. I can only hope that there is an ability to litigate against the labor government on economic grounds similar to what is happening against the health system and government decisions in Italy.
This crisis should not be used to make Australia a laboratory to try new policies that will significantly change the very fabric of Australian society. There needs to be a moratorium and commitment by both State and Federal Governments that Australia will be restored to pre corona virus status and not use this crisis to push through agendas while the country is vulnerable and its citizens will more than likely be persuaded to make changes while they are under duress and will not fully understand there consequences.
If we allow this environment to continue we will all have to eventually pay the piper but in this case the piper and the Government especially in Victoria are one in the same.
I now call on all employees on the the public purse to show your support and accept less pay for at least the next six months to show your support to workers who have lost quite a lot. Do it now, make it voluntary, before it is forced upon you under terms you will not like.
All together now
"We’re all in this together" ………..yeah right!
BW
