You can always judge what is the truth by assuming the opposite of whatever Australia’s pathologically lying PM says. Hence, yesterday afternoon, he lied about the pandemic on all fronts:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to “maximise the workforce”, with state leaders to tick off on new guidelines that will allow close contacts to avoid having to isolate if they work in a wider range of critical industries.
Mr Morrison also rejected accusations from Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and some health experts that he had “let the virus rip”, saying it was a comparison that did not stack up because a raft of public health measures remained in place.
“I don’t accept that analysis because that’s not the approach that the government is taking at a Commonwealth level or in the states and territories,” Mr Morrison said.
Yes, it is. Morrison has ceaselessly cheerled the virus on for months under the rubric of “can-do capitalism” as he systematically coordinated states to open up too fast.
Now it has backfired spectacularly and staff shortages everywhere have forced the ludicrous situation of cutting isolation protocols so that virus can rip even faster.
Morrison’s “let it rip” has shocked the economy to a standstill as households duck for COVID cover and collapsed demand is met with a labour supply shock.
Moreover, the collapsing economic structure is putting more and more lives at risk:
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has blasted the Coalition government for overseeing a COVID “crisis” in aged care, with barely half of Commonwealth facilities having received vaccine booster shots so far and hundreds of homes battling active outbreaks.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said 1500 of the nation’s 2600 Commonwealth aged-care facilities had received vaccine boosters, with the remainder scheduled to receive them by the end of January.
But with hundreds of homes battling outbreaks and thousands of residents in effective lockdown, Mr Albanese claimed the Morrison government had dropped the ball.
“How is it that in spite of what has occurred before, the aged-care system, which is run, funded and regulated by the federal government, still hasn’t got this right?” the Labor leader said.
“It’s something that should just not have happened. It could have been foreseen.”
No tests, either:
Aged care providers warned the federal government in November last year that widespread rapid antigen testing was needed to protect vulnerable people in care, as the sector says tests are in short supply and face crucial delivery delays.
Good luck with child vaccines too:
Vaccine supply problems are again challenging pharmacies and GPs, with children aged five to 11-years-old now eligible for their first COVID-19 jab.
The federal government says supply isn’t an issue, but some doctors have reported delivery disruptions have forced them to reschedule vaccinations.
State-run vaccination hubs are also offering the jab for children, but attempts to make a booking on the weekend show that many sites only had appointments available from early February.
Melbourne General Practitioner and founder of M3 Health GP Clinics, Dr Todd Cameron, told 3AW Breakfast the earliest he could put an order in was last Friday.
Meh, you’re just not trying hard enough:
Lieutenant General John Frewen sought to reassure parents on Monday there were more than enough vaccine doses to inoculate all eligible children.
But he acknowledged not all parents had found it easy to book their children in to get their first dose.
“I do want to emphasise again that there is enough paediatric doses in the country to offer every five to 11-year-old a first dose before they commence the school year,” he said.
I booked a few days ago for three weeks away after ringing around as many places that I could find. My kids will not be going back on time. I doubt many will. This will extend Morrison’s “let it rip” recession, though it shouldn’t push past Q1 as OMICRON flames out.
These problems might be forgivable if this were our first rdoeo (not really!) but to rerun them like we’ve had no experience is so inept that we can only conclude that stupidity is the defining characteristic of those involved. David Crowe gives us an idea of why:
The Prime Minister’s assurance from late last year about the wonders of “can-do capitalism” is no help for a family trying to find out if they have Omicron when the state test centre suddenly closed and the free market forgot to supply enough RATs.
…Many Australians will hold Morrison to account for the summer outbreak whether he likes it or not – and that means it would be political madness to call an election after Australia Day and go to the polls in March.
“Can-do capitalism” was code for “let it rip”. LIR was supposed to be Morrison’s great pitch for re-election. Instead, it is the central cause of another recession three months out from the poll. Morrison is utterly destructive even as a basic psychopathic politician.
The truth of it all is LIR is the final straw in an abjectly failed prime ministership:
- the collapse of public policy behavioral standards;
- the collapse of public policy process;
- the collapse of public policy probity and accountability;
- the collapse of vital public service delivery;
- the collapse of the economy three times, one of which was made worse by Morrison and two of which were the direct result of Morrison idiocy;
- the collapse of community faith in the office of the PM and in politics.
Finally today, as much as I would like to ignore him, The Joker is everywhere in one of the most bizarre distractions I can remember:
Novak Djokovic’s father has called Prime Minister Scott Morrison a “dictator” and called on Queen Elizabeth to intervene in his son’s visa drama.
Great idea. Dear Queen Elizabeth, please sack the spectacularly inept Scott Morrison.
