Melbourne now has the world record for the number of days in lockdown and despite a multitude of stuff-ups, Premier Dan Andrews, whilst conceding Victoria will never get to zero Covid cases for the foreseeable future, is still playing coy about when it can all end. The same is true of the WA and Queensland premiers. 

With his NSW colleague, Andrew Barr has handled this pandemic better than most, and he has generally been a good team player in the National Cabinet. However, he does not appear to have an exit strategy. There are significant problems now in the ACT with many small businesses that have been forced to shut down going to the wall, fully vaccinated families not being able to travel interstate to see mothers, fathers, children and grandchildren, significant increased mental health problems, especially with young people and loved ones still not being able to see their seriously ill relatives in hospital. Whilst I am confident the ACT, NSW and maybe the NT, SA and Tasmania will reopen state borders at some stage soon, what of Victoria, WA and Queensland?

I thought all the States, Territories and the Commonwealth agreed on a roadmap out of this several weeks ago, but it seems only NSW is following it.

When 80 per cent of people in a state are fully vaccinated that jurisdiction should be fully opened up; the ACT is set to hit this target in October. As at 25 September, both the ACT and NSW have over 60 per cent of citizens aged 16+ fully vaccinated (health.gov.au). We cannot totally eradicate the virus, just inoculate against it. 

As a nation, we cannot afford the cost in human and economic terms much longer. The Australian taxpayer cannot afford to have the Commonwealth bailing out the states all the time. Politicians cannot continue to hide behind unelected health bureaucrats. It is the PM, Premiers and Chief Ministers who are ultimately responsible to the people, not the health bureaucrats. Public servants give advice, Ministers make the ultimate decisions and can either take the advice or some of it but should not treat it as gospel all the time. Perhaps if public servants and politicians all took a 10 per cent pay cut for the duration of the pandemic, then we could truly say we are all in this together (some of the advice might change, too).

The PM needs to get tough and put the pressure back on the recalcitrant State Premiers who are reneging on decisions taken by the National Cabinet. He controls the purse strings. The states and territories are dependent on Commonwealth grants to survive. If Morrison told Andrews or Palaszczuk that their state grants were being cut by 50 per cent until they complied, they would soon fall into line. Otherwise, they could not pay for their bloated public services. The PM also has a number of powers under the constitution he can use as well. Politically, if he is seen to take control, it won’t hurt his electoral chances either.

With Bill Stefaniak

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.

Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.