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How well do you think the government has handled this pandemic?


Darryl

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The Federal Government appears to have been largely awol apart from securing vaccines.


State Governments have managed local politics very well overall. The Victorian Government is understandably risk averse given its experience, and elections appear to have had a strong impact on border controls in WA and Qld.


The NSW Government needs to learn to shut up and just get on with things, rather than helping foment hostility amongst states. The Feds have been complicit too.

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The federal government has definitely been awol, and doesn't seem to care about leadership.


Under the circumstances, I think Dan has done a pretty good job. Just have to look at other countries to see how bad it could have gotten.


To have gotten up every day to do a press conference just goes to show how much of a leader he is. Unlike our PM.

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I think Scott Morrison has done a remarkable job of simultaneously avoiding blame for screw ups while claiming credit for things he had nothing to do with. I think the feds should’ve closed borders earlier, particularly with the US, and taken responsibility for quarantine. Economically I don’t think we know yet how they’ve handled it because we’re currently racing towards the cliff edge of jobkeeper ending and jobseeker dropping back below the poverty line.


As far as the states go I’m incredibly frustrated by the lack of consistency and constant sniping between premiers. I live in NSW, there were some major stuff ups early but I think since June/July things have been handled in a way that strike a decent balance between controlling outbreaks while still allowing a covid normal existence for residents most of the time. It hasn’t been perfect (eg face masks December/January should’ve happened earlier) but overall I’m happy with how they’ve done. I would like to see further tweaks, particularly around school settings, but they’re more annoyances than major issues.


I do think the border closures approach of a lot of the states is short sighted and relies on an effective vaccine rollout. As we saw with the Brisbane and Perth lockdowns, they were partially done because of worries about contact tracing being relatively untested. That’s manageable if frustrating for a short time, but if the vaccine doesn’t have the sort of impacts worldwide that we’re hoping for I think there needs to be a plan b. I also think all governments could be doing a better job around transparency. Part of the frustration and stress is not knowing if/when restrictions and border measures might change. I think there’s too much reliance on the idea that it’s an ever changing situation so no parameters can be set. You can set guidelines that allow for agility but still give people some clarity around trigger points for further measures.


So the feds I give about a 5/10, though I expect that to drop after the jobkeeper/jobseeker measures end. States probably a 7 or 8 overall. All of that being said there is literally nowhere on the planet I would rather be right now (except maybe New Zealand)

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There's been fed input? Where? When?


If not for brave state premiers (not you Gladys - you just got lucky), we'd be 10 foot deep in shit with a 2 foot ladder.

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Givingitanothergo

Well to look around the world I think we’ve done pretty well. I think it’s unfair to call Gladys lucky.. any outbreaks have been well managed and lockdowns kept to a necessary minimum. NSW contact tracing seems to be on top of things. I know the government will always cop flack but I feel pretty grateful. And yes I was heavily affected working for a hospitality company..

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State governments have done a remarkable job.

The federal government has done 2 things - closed international borders (reluctantly) and secured vaccine (later than most other countries but we have this luxury because the state leaders drove us to practically eradicate it).

They've also mostly been against lockdowns - until recently when it has become so blindingly obvious that short lockdowns instituted early work really really well and have less financial impact than "living with" the virus.


Nb Labor has also been remarkably helpful by not playing politics.

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Federal government: 1/10. They only get that 1 because of the increase in the rate of Jobseeker/the Covid supplement. Shame they're ending it and are happy to put the payment back to below poverty level. It made a big difference to finances for DH, DD and I. I wasn't as desperately stressed about how we were going to afford to live. I also appreciate that we were able to withdraw from DH's super without being taxed, in order to have more money to live on. It would be better if Centrelink payments were actually above the poverty line and we didn't need to withdraw from super. Thank goodness we have DH's super to withdraw from.


Queensland government: 10/10. Very happy. I like being able to live an almost normal life here with only some differences due to Covid. The two weeks of compulsory mask wearing sucked. I was so glad when that was over. I would hate to have gone through the months of it that Victoria had.


Other state governments, apart from NSW: 9/10. I haven't followed it all in all the other states but they seem to have everything under control.


NSW government: 3/10. Needs to learn from Victoria on how to handle outbreaks and take Covid seriously. Gladys needs to stop being a puppet for Scomo. Very over Gladys having a go at Queensland and our Premier. She should do herself a favour and shut up about Queensland and Annastacia.

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Nb Labor has also been remarkably helpful by not playing politics.

 

I actually think Labor have dropped the ball because of the fear of being seen to be capitalising on a crisis. Yes, support the good measures, but it’s only recently that we’ve had a few Labor voices questioning why the feds have shirked their quarantine responsibility. Labor should’ve been asking those questions much earlier. I

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With a response such as 3/10 for NSW I can’t see this thread lasting too long.


Victoria is the only state which allowed an almighty f-up, necessitating a lengthy lockdown. It concerns me that they’ve needed to resort to another lockdown, given contact tracing worked effectively with Black Rock. Guess we’ll have to see.


But the Andrews Government has managed the politicos of its f-up remarkably well.


As I said in my first post NSW just needs to shut up and get in with it. I get very frustrated with people from other states who talk about a “do nothing” approach when occasional small clusters escaping from the largest HQ intake by far have been quashed without locking down millions of people and a lockdown was used very effectively when the Northern Beaches cluster did threaten to overwhelm contact tracing.

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There's been fed input? Where? When?


If not for brave state premiers (not you Gladys - you just got lucky), we'd be 10 foot deep in shit with a 2 foot ladder.

 

Luck and Covid do not go together. It’s a very clever, sneaky virus.

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Victoria did what nowhere else in the world did: get the numbers down to zero instead of continuing to increase. That's pretty bloody impressive. Dan Andrews isn't afraid to do lockdowns.

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Givingitanothergo

Victoria did what nowhere else in the world did: get the numbers down to zero instead of continuing to increase. That's pretty bloody impressive. Dan Andrews isn't afraid to do lockdowns.

 

That was because he had to!! No where else in Australia was locking down at that point. Because our numbers weren’t spiralling

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Victoria did what nowhere else in the world did: get the numbers down to zero instead of continuing to increase. That's pretty bloody impressive. Dan Andrews isn't afraid to do lockdowns.

 

Victoria did what nowhere else in Australia did and allowed an outbreak totalling approx 80% of all Australian cases and 90% of all Australian deaths.


The Andrews Government knew a lockdown was the only way to get the numbers down from a totally overwhelmed system and implemented that well.


That people are still strongly supportive in Vic shows a remarkably effective politician.

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With a response such as 3/10 for NSW I can’t see this thread lasting too long.


Victoria is the only state which allowed an almighty f-up, necessitating a lengthy lockdown. It concerns me that they’ve needed to resort to another lockdown, given contact tracing worked effectively with Black Rock. Guess we’ll have to see.


But the Andrews Government has managed the politicos of its f-up remarkably well.


As I said in my first post NSW just needs to shut up and get in with it. I get very frustrated with people from other states who talk about a “do nothing” approach when occasional small clusters escaping from the largest HQ intake by far have been quashed without locking down millions of people and a lockdown was used very effectively when the Northern Beaches cluster did threaten to overwhelm contact tracing.

 

Sorry what?


People are so very quick to forget the Ruby Princess. And the nationwide damage done by that.

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I do find it curious that some premiers talking shit about other states is seen as playing politics, while others are allowed to get away with it. I don’t think any of the premiers are innocent when it comes to sniping about what other states have or haven’t done at times (except maybe Tas?)


I also find the “playing politics” card being thrown around much more than pre pandemic. Not just here on EB, but I’m seeing it so often thrown from both sides of the political divide when you don’t like what a leader is doing. I find that broadly disappointing because I think it discourages people from engaging in the political process

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With a response such as 3/10 for NSW I can’t see this thread lasting too long.


Victoria is the only state which allowed an almighty f-up, necessitating a lengthy lockdown. It concerns me that they’ve needed to resort to another lockdown, given contact tracing worked effectively with Black Rock. Guess we’ll have to see.


But the Andrews Government has managed the politicos of its f-up remarkably well.


As I said in my first post NSW just needs to shut up and get in with it. I get very frustrated with people from other states who talk about a “do nothing” approach when occasional small clusters escaping from the largest HQ intake by far have been quashed without locking down millions of people and a lockdown was used very effectively when the Northern Beaches cluster did threaten to overwhelm contact tracing.

 

Sorry what?


People are so very quick to forget the Ruby Princess. And the nationwide damage done by that.

 

And the role the feds had in that fuck up and somehow managed to get away with

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In the global context? Yes, I think all our levels of government have done well considering how quickly this virus has spread. To be at the point we are with big stretches of no community transmissions across the country and the only ICU hospitalisations to be from returned travellers, shows how well protected Australia has been.


From the perspective of Australia as a wealthy, well resourced, first world nation in a global pandemic starting overseas and where we had a few weeks of advance notice? No, I think our Federal government could have done more. Every community transmission that occurred in the early days, I hold Morrison responsible for. He could have closed borders to the US sooner and he could have implemented mandatory quarantine sooner. He could have not lead and fuelled the interstate and political rivalries. He could have lead by example and immediately followed health advice instead of yelling and swearing about wanting to attend the football.


From the perspective of implementing Job keeper/seeker and the other support programs, I believe it was Josh Frydenberg who had to argue and push for them. They were against the economic conservative ideology and he had to work to get the support. He even called John Howard for advice, who told him words to the effect that there’s no economy without healthy people. Frydenberg’s various packages have saved the economy and if it wasn’t for the Victorian second wave, all indicators were showing that Australia may have actually avoided a recession.


Albanese was an amazing opposition leader and I am so very grateful we didn’t have Abbott as Mr No in opposition. I know opinion polls show Morrison well in front but my gut feeling is that he can not rely on the same support in Qld as he had at the last election. His attacks on Qld did not go down well.


Our local governments have done well considering. They are all suffering from increased costs to be Covid safe but potentially reduced income due to rate relief programs.


I think all the states have tried to do the best they can and reflects the risk appetite of their constituents.


I don’t think border restriction decisions were impacted by state elections. In Qld, I don’t think the CHO’s recommendations would have differed depending on who was in power. I am just glad AP supported her and allowed her to do everything she deemed necessary. In electorates that relies on tourism and would have been negatively affected by border restrictions, the vote swung towards the ALP. Even in traditional LNP seats, most decreased their margin due to the swing towards the ALP.


I think parts of the media have a lot to answer for trying to stir up angst and inflame things.

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State Governments have managed local politics very well overall. The Victorian Government is understandably risk averse given its experience, and elections appear to have had a strong impact on border controls in WA and Qld.

 

 

I’m in WA and I don’t think the upcoming election has been a strong impact on our border control. The majority of people in WA have been happy with the closed border as it has let us live a pretty normal life for almost a year. A lot of people weren’t happy with the recent lockdown and wearing of masks. The state election is a month away - McGowan knew he was making alot of people unhappy but still went ahead with the lockdown and restrictions beginning of February.

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Not an argument I want to have, but I said what I said and I stand by it. I think the people of NSW did well, I do not think the NSW government did.

 

The State Governments all had to mandate what they have when they had to.


One thing we have all come to recognise is that people are not going to wear masks, socially distanced, sign their names and check into places until it’s mandated.


I know plenty of people who were bitching and moaning about the mask wearing. They didn’t bother signing into restaurants until they weren’t allowed to enter the restaurant until they do so. They didn’t stand 1.5 m away until there was signs and people telling them to do so.


So yes, I actually give some credit for all the State Governments to mandate things when it felt necessary to do so.

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