Pity the lot of our public administrators in these difficult times.
Governments are imperfect organs and they will make mistakes. Not, it must be said, with poor intentions. At the federal level, it’s difficult to find fault.
Paul Keating once referred almost apologetically to state MPs as low calibre, .22 pop guns when something with a little more kick is needed to get the job done. The states and territories have been reasonably good overall through these early days of the pandemic with one notable exception: the New South Wales government which has been a showcase of bad performative art like they’ve been running around trying catch the virus by waving a plastic resealable bag around in the air.
The casual air in which the NSW government waved through four cruise ships into Circular Quay, allowing infected passengers loose on the populace might be seen as a sort of typical state balls up except for the fact that just weeks prior, the cruise liner, Diamond Princess, had been locked out at harbour in Yokohama, Japan with Australian passengers having to be evacuated, brought home and placed in quarantine.
I am reasonably sure it made the news at the time.
Having learnt nothing from that episode, the sister ship, the Ruby Princess was permitted to disembark 2700 passengers at Circular Quay on March 19. Of all infection hot spots or points of origin, it accounts for the equal highest number of COVID-19 fatalities with five of its passengers having died.
Four hundred of those on board who disembarked have tested COVID-19 positive accounting for a tick under ten per cent of the total of all recorded cases of COVID-19 in Australia.
The duck shoving on who made the call persists to this day, a crow caw of bickering between NSW and the Feds — the state Department of Health, the federal Department of Agriculture, who have carriage over the Bio-Security Act, and Border Force. The fact remains it was down to NSW Health to pull the pin on that floating virus incubator and three others.
When the ‘Live’ icons disappeared from our sport channels, when the cinemas became no-go areas, when the theatres closed their doors, we were left bereft of entertainment, leaving us to fixate on news services which seem little more than a rolling series of press conferences these days.
Still we may glean some amusement from them if we look hard enough. It’s pretty much all we have left.
Two weeks ago, in one of the more bizarre press conferences in a strong field, New South Wales Health Minister, Brad Hazzard stepped forward to offer something of a mea culpa.
It started badly with Hazzard coughing into his hand and then, perhaps understanding his COVID-19 faux pas, coughed again into his bent elbow. But moments later he was giving his face a massage, rubbing his eyes and running a finger dangerously close to his left nostril before clearing his throat and taking care of business.
“If I had my opportunity to have my two bob’s worth, with the benefit of what we now know about those … people I’d have said yeah, maybe we should hold them on the ship,” the ironically named minister said.
Yeah, maybe?
Look, it’s bad, Brad. Your department has unleashed a virulent epidemic on an unsuspecting population but don’t beat yourself up about it. That’s why they put erasers on pencils.
If you were bemused by Hazzard’s performance, it was followed just minutes later by something even more jaw dropping, starring NSW Police and Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott, the Minister who decided Paris was a much nicer place to be at Christmas time than the inferno in southern New South Wales. Remember him?
A week later, he slunk back into the country and resumed his duties as if nothing had happened. Regrets, he had a few but then again, too few to mention.
The presser featured Elliott and Assistant Commissioner of NSW Police, Karen Webb and another official whose name I didn’t catch but was probably dragged in to make up the numbers for a human rose between two thorns mis en scène.
Elliott and Webb harrumphed about people failing to heed the message of social distancing which might have been a timely and useful public announcement except for the fact they did so while standing shoulder to shoulder presumably to give the media a nice, tight shot for the evening news.
Having infected not just the state but the country with nary a peep into the rear-view mirror, the NSW government moved on to set about punishing the people of New South Wales on the off chance they might spread the infection they themselves had kicked off.
While Victoria and Queensland had earlier prescribed on-the-spot fines of a gorilla and change to scofflaws thumbing their noses at lockdowns, the Premier State aimed for the more Himalayan peaks of draconian sanctions with maximum penalties of an 11 grand fine and/or six months in the clink.
That’s right. If you’re not social distancing they’re going to bang you up in a tiny bathroom with a man bearing some lovely facial tattoos that really make you think who will make social distancing problematic at best.
I pity the states who don’t have a David Elliott or a Brad Hazzard. In New South Wales, if we didn’t have a David Elliott or a Brad Hazzard, we’d have to create them for entertainment value alone. But is there enough of them to go around?
This column was first published in The Australian on 3 April, 2020
Looks like the Swedish ‘let it rip through’ approach is going to backfire on them?
At least we had an alternative view. Give it a week and we’ll see.
Things going very well with SCOMO at the helm JTI so what’s the bet the 21/20 budget is a 15% GST on everything to pay the debt down. A sunset clause included as a softener maybe. That way he’ll be taking it to the people to obtain a mandate in the 2022 election. Or, if this clears by October, an early 2021 election. If he’s still on the crest of the wave and fought on the same issue. The only problem will be the unemployment rate. But if, and it’s a big if, unemployment is starting to trend down then he may go for it on the back of the nations responsibility to clear generational debt. Those who would be opposed wouldn’t vote for him anyway. Some food for thought I’d say.
Here in the Sunshine State, Mr Insider, we too have a few “Barry Crockers”, one Jackie Trad come to mind and in normal times Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would have shown her the door for some appalling lack of judgements, but am told Trad’s “faction” keeps her safe now.
Besides, Premier Palaszczuk is travelling nicely in the Polls with a scheduled October Election that I feel will return her for a 3rd time.
On a happier note, Lawrence Springdorg has been elected Mayor of Goondiwindi. I liked Lawrence when he was in the State LNP, however he had 4 goes at being Premier and was “knocked” down each time, would have done Anthony Mundine proud!
“Springborg”
Jack, “China’s economic power will almost certainly rise in the aftermath and the decline of the US will be accelerated”.
From my vantage point China was in all sorts before the virus, so I am puzzled by this.
How do you think the US is going to get on, mate?
Before the virus I thought the US economic trajectory was a good deal better than China and I don’t see any reason just yet to think the virus has changed that.
I don’t believe that the US will be hurt more than China, as I strongly suspect that China has had a much much bigger hit than it is disclosing.
All very tricky making these projections of course, and figures from China are notoriously unreliable, but the good news is there are now credible reports of factories and shops re-opening.
I think this depends on how quickly the administration can get the economy out of lockdown. As we’ve seen in the last three years, the most powerful force on the planet is not nuclear weapons, but entrepreneurialism.
I think the evidence that the Chinese economy was struggling pre Virus was pretty strong, and we know that the US economy was booming.
Now what comes out of this is a bit of luck and some good quick strategic moves, and as you say Dwight, the strength of entrepreneurialism.
My view is that that magic potion is present in both countries, and China has boomed when the government has let it run free, or more free than before at least.
good to have a civilised discussion about these things, not always possible in comments and hardly ever on twitter.
cheers
China still has all that bad debt on the books of the BoC. That’s where I think things will start to sink for them.
Xi and Trump, two appalling men running the worlds largest economies.
And then there’s Putin, be interested to know the true tally of the disease in Russia
Now that you mention it Tracey, Putin has indeed been very quiet through all of this
Yes, now that a criminal investigation is underway into the Ruby Princess debacle to determine if national bio-security laws and other state laws were broken, it remains to be seen if the outcome of the investigation may jeopardise the future of anyone’s ongoing career prospects (ie. become a hazard).
What should be looked at is where the replacement crew that boarded in Sydney – not a lot but they flew in from somewhere – came from and whether there were infections on board when the ship arrived in Sydney to take on the last set of passengers.
The answer could be it was all OK but it needs to happen to quieten things down.
I do not know how many of the passengers were hospitalized as a result of catching it and how many just suffered in silence at home.
If they had been left on the ship, we would have had a Japanese situation with 300 infected people needing to be housed in some public institution while the disease whipped through the rest of the passengers cossetted in their cabins on board the ship.
Maybe somebody made a correct decision for all the incorrect reasons.
Apparently the ship had had sick passengers on the voyage previous to the ill-fated NZ cruise. You’d have thought that after the Diamond Princess affair they would have been seriously considering cancelling any uncommenced cruises at that point. The virus was out and about – and cruiseships are the perfect environment for it to party.
The police investigation will be interesting .
But even if Carnival line are found to have been culpable, it is still incomprehensible that NSW Health let the passengers out into the community. There’s no escaping that unpleasant fact.
I rather liked the WA premier’s comment on the Artania still lurking with sick crew aboard today – “I just want that ship to get out, never to be seen here again”. That’s calling a spade a spade!
Gladys is a bit more woke along with some of her cabinet and a lot of the press.
Some commentator on a panel discussion I was watching made the astute comment that Border Force has been very proud of their success in turning back boats over the years – except they failed abysmally with the one boat that really mattered.
It wasn’t a Border Force failure.
To be clear it was the NSW Dept of Health who had the ultimate call and they have accepted that but to an extent the department relied on Border Force, and the federal Dept of Agriculture which has carriage over the Bio-Security Act to provide advice. The advice was not forthcoming. NSW Health is the culpable party but the federal departments were certainly guilty of not being as attentive as they could have been.
The more I hear WA Premier Mark McGowan the more impressed I become. Just need to clone him for Queensland to be rid of Anastasia who’s honed the fine art of selling-out our ecosystems to dodgy Indian corporates for a few temporary votes.
I’d rather eat lawn grubs than hear her or Deb Frecklington utter one more lie.
At least I’ll be able to tell my new granddaughter that I gave it my very best in peaceful protests against greed & environmental vandalism.
This gal is done with compulsory voting. Much rather pay a fine than trust a cheat.
“Paul Keating once referred almost apologetically to state MPs as low calibre, .22 pop guns when something with a little more kick is needed to get the job done”
Keating was an exemplar of that Canberra conceit that holds the national capital as an effective place full of competent people capable of solving the world’s every problem. It’s a myth that persists despite the ballooning body of evidence to the contrary.
And BASSMAN, the Federal Senate as “Unrepresentative Swill”. Am currently reading and can recommend Don Watson’s “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart”, a Portrait of Paul Keating PM.
Cheers, keep safe as we
G’day Blow Fly-I consider myself reasonably well-read and up-to-date on politics but if someone asked me who the leader of the Labor Opposition was in NSW I would be stumped. This is how hopelessly invisible and ineffective is NSW State Labor…and I live in NSW!! FAAAAAAARRRRRKKKK!!!
Gday BASSY, yes we have something similar here in QLD with the LNP Leader, Deb Frecklington, she is a bit like the Ghost Who Walks and if she becomes QLD Premier in October I will polish YOUR shoes for 1 year!
Cheers stay safe and healthy as we
Apologies TBLS typed in the wrong correspondent. Cheers
It’s certainly not top flight at the moment BLS
I know, mate. Not meaning to piss in your pocket but you are one of the exceptions.
In fact, you know, it’s not even that. There are a lot of good people in Canberra. Having dodged the place for most of my time with the Commonwealth because I thought it was full of idiots, I only ended up going there the last two years of my public service because I discovered there was a worse place than Canberra: Darwin. Canberra was the escape hatch from that joint. It was a pleasant surprise to find it wasn’t the hot-bed of idiocy I’d assumed it to be.
But nor is it a wonderland of all the answers. That’s really the main problem with the place – too many people there assume they have all the answers because, hey! Why would they be in charge of the country if they didn’t, right?
Brilliant column as always Mr Insider and you certainly highlighted a couple of Class A “gooses”. I think that Hazzard fool has an Anger Management problem coupled with his lack of Knowledge makes him a person to avoid taking ANY notice of imho.
This COVID-19 has brought to the fore, from some, glaring and foolish comments and actions, two come to mind, Alan Jones and greedy old Gerry Harvey.
The Public are saturated with Information not only in the Media but in places we go to on a “normal” day – Signs galore!
I am predicting a surge in the sale of Alcoholic Beverages as “Joe Punter” struggles to wade thru a forest of advice. Do hope you are relaxed and in the peak of good health as we, Mr Insider, and Bloggers too.
Buy shares in rehab clinics Henry – most of us will raving alcoholics by then. We will be quite at home with the Russians and a few other nationalities.
It will not be long before the fun police bans the sale of it.
Our AFD is now down to one day a week and every time I pass the bottle shop I keep thinking a nice bottle of Single Malt would be nice – as long as it does not smell like a peat bog.
It is only a matter of time before I break down.
I myself, John L, have stocked up on Jim Beam, not that that is bad of course, it can make the World seem a very happy place, I note my Princess has quite a few “samples” of Sherry (Romate), she does love a tipple after a hard days Charity work, which seems to be drying up I note, damn this Virus.
Cheers as always.
Now & then I’ve heard my new neighbour putting bottles in his recycle bin in the evening. He introduced himself to our small culdesac at Christmas, keeps to himself (usually) & owns a successful pool building business. Last week he came over with $200 & offered to clean my pool every week for free for a whole year if I could just run to the local bottleshop & buy 2 bottles of rum for him & to keep the change! Says he can’t go himself cos he’s an alcoholic & is ‘probably’ over the limit. It was lunchtime. 😄😮😎
Crikey Bella! I think I’d rather run with a dirty pool! 🙄
I did Boa. 😉
I fear the quarantine is confirming my wife’s suspicions–even though she’s been locked down in the next suburb for three weeks.
And they are?
Like a lot of wives, she thinks I drink too much–and she drinks not at all.
Jack, I have The Right Stuff on TV, and was looking at some of the history of these remarkable men. I stumbled up Gen. Chuck Yeager’s twitter feed. Really interesting stuff from the 97-year-old legend.
I think he visited the Avalon Air Show a couple of years ago. Still well upright and sprightly by all accounts.
Not much that I can add to that.
NSW is going to create a new NSW Government agency, Resilience NSW .
Not too sure what it will do but Resilience?
Surely to goodness they could have come up with a better name in a world that is used to acronyms.
Something like the NSW Commission for Disaster Co-ordination.
That way it could take care of all the suspect pollies that find their way into Macquarie Street as well as the naturally occurring ones.
I like the name of that new government agency you propose John L. Brad Hazzard would be a walk up start for the top job, eh.
The NSW Rural Fire Brigade Commish, Shane Fitzsimmons, has got the top job at Resilience NSW. He came out of the fires looking like Danaerys Targarean carrying the dragons eggs. For those not familiar with Game of Thrones let me just say she looked pretty damned good! Anyway I digress. My reading of the politics is his appointment and the timing of the announcement was made just as NSW sunk to their lowest ebb and this was a diversion. A poor diversion but a diversion none the less. NSW have some significant issues ahead of them and the posture their police have taken is one of them. Once the Community consider the police are the enemy then all sorts of problems, including significant public disorder, evolve. Other states have adopted an educative approach, followed by enforcement in particular circumstances.
Shane actually preempted the Premiers announcement by announcing his resignation as chief of the RFS to all the RFS the night before and his new appointment to the errr Resilience NSW.
That is how I picked it up. ( I am in the CFU which is a type of auxiliary to the RFS that helps in the background and also trains people in the basics. In my area there are lots of acreages and many of the owners now have the full kit plus the basics.)
Something is going on in NSW and I cannot put my finger on it – maybe they are procrastinating about going into total lock down for certain suburbs having been spooked by the Ruby Princess.
I will be totally pissed off if I am included with those clowns down at Manly as I am in the same council area as them. To isolate 250,000 people in Northern Beaches Council Area. all one has to do is block off two bridges and one road.
I never go near the beach and just wander around miles of near deserted bush tracks.
For the life of me, I cannot see the problem with a guy sun baking in splendid isolation and reading a book or two women sitting 1.5m apart on a bench chatting. If there is a problem, it has not been explained.
Yeah, not Victoria, mate. The two most populous states are in a race to see who can get the dumbest the quickest.
Bit of distrust of the NT Police here at the moment Razor and with good reason I think. It’s a case of poor communication along with a lack of support from senior management for the front-line men and women.
The NT Government is handling things well though, surprising really seeing as the Chief Minister has been seen as incredibly weak, but he’s definitely shining through. Not that hard though with an opposition of two. Three independents got together and said they should be the opposition….very mature stuff when all this serious stuff is going on
In my opinion Penny something is crook in tullarook with the charging of the young copper with murder so quickly. I am not suggesting he shouldn’t have been charged as I do not know the evidence. Though on the evidence I do know I have a strong opinion. What I can say is I have personally investigated police shootings both when the offender is deceased and when the officer is deceased and I can tell you that was one hell of a quick investigation and crime scene examination, especially given the isolated nature of the scene.
That incident with the charging of the young officer was exactly what I was referring to Razor. A friend of mine here has a daughter in the NT Police, she’s 24 and has been out in to a lot of situations that someone twice her age would find it hard to cope with. The young man charged was a good friend of hers and she and most of her colleagues were devastated by it. His background before he joined the NT Police was military and he had served one term in Afghanistan. We went back to Penang not long after it happened and in our return 3 months later we are told that the morale among the police is very low. All I know is that it was handled very badly and the decision to charge him with murder was not made by the internal investigation team.
Surely it should be ‘Disasters NSW’
Did you see Hazzard’s interview with Sharri Markson last night? She’s not the type that goes for the jugular, but he was sputtering, blame shifting and side stepping any and all responsibility. He’s got to go.
Missed that but I did see his presser on Saturday. It was a baffling performance.