At The Australian:
Queensland and Western Australia have rejected Scott Morrison’s plan to reopen borders, vowing to keep their restrictions in place despite the most populous states, NSW and Victoria, being ready to adopt new rules on interstate travel.
Amid fresh divisions over Queensland’s ban on NSW, the impasse has weakened the national cabinet’s ability to drive the pandemic recovery and frustrated Coalition MPs, who say people are being treated unfairly, particularly in border communities.
The whinging is almost as unbearable as the borders. Apparently, the Morrison Government is being driven mad, by Phil Coorey:
With parochialism being blamed for questionable border closures that in turn are hampering the economic recovery and driving the federal government mad, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg channelled Howard during this week’s Coalition party room meeting.
“I am, first and last, an Australian nationalist. When I think about all this country is and everything it can become, I have little time for state parochialism. This government’s approach to our federation is quite simple … our federation should be about better lives for people,” Frydenberg said, quoting from a speech Howard gave in 2005
When federal Labor drew even with the Coalition in Newspoll this week, Morrison government sources ascribed this to its impotence over the border chaos, not the aged care failures in Melbourne.
It also suffers financially. The longer the borders stay shut, the greater the need for assistance. There was great unhappiness in Canberra on Wednesday when Palaszczuk visited tourism operators in Cairns. Their businesses have been battered, in no small part due to people from NSW and the ACT being locked out from their annual winter escape.
More one-eyed drivel. Pollies criticising pollies for polls and border protection. Jeez.
Paul Kelly breaks his phone dialing the whaaaambulance:
Most of the premiers — not every one — are betraying the compact of free movement within Australia, along with humiliating Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Deny free movement and you deny the essence of nationhood. This is the sad plight to which COVID-19 has reduced Australia. Our unity is smashed; our prospects for national economic recovery are compromised; and our culture has reverted to a reactionary Fortress Australia on state lines.
Our constitutional inception 119 years ago never envisaged this fracture and it is entirely possible the populist champions of provincialism are acting unconstitutionally. But premiers Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mark McGowan have found a golden path to unimagined popularity.
And what is that path? Protecting citizens rights not to die for a few bucks and live normal lives while passing the costs the Feds. What a deal!
None of this political fabrication is the real issue. What is is that VIC and NSW set out on opposite paths of unilateral action. NSW has done a great job of demonstrating virus suppression. So far. VIC has done the complete opposite and been forced into lockdown. That’s a 50/50 bet for virus-free states and we’re still only in the first innings.
I’m all for suppression if we can prove it works but that is not what VIC has done. It was on the verge of letting it rip. For other, virus-free states to reopen, and for those calling for it to happen to have moral authority, both NSW and VIC have to illustrate that their methods work. So far so good for NSW. So, far, so bad for the VIC leper colony. Given they share a border and voluminous ponzi-economy exchanges, they come as a couple anyway.
Until both states have proven that they can suppress the virus successfully for an extended period then the other states are right to keep their borders shut. The economic risks of their own outbreaks outweigh any upside from opening up.
Morrison and his various whingers should either get on board with a unified and unifying strategy or shut up and keep writing the cheques.
