you know, I was going to just be lazy and snarky and link to a news article about the announcement... but... fuck it. i need to vent.
for the last two years, australia has had what was generally accepted to be one of the best pandemic responses worldwide, using lockdowns, health advised mandates, and income support, to very successfully contain and limited outbreaks, keeping infection, deaths, and disability from the virus low. we were no NZ, and there were still issues, mostly with the federal government refusing its responsibilities regarding quarantine facilities and under sourcing pfizer vaccines because government MPs had investment in astra zenica, and they cut unemployment payments in half at the end of 2020.... but overall, we did a good job as a country, especially compared to the two big empires that usually set our policy.
well, late last year, that changed. scott morrison, the prime minister, decided we were going the american route of "fuck you all, actually" and declared there would be no more lockdowns, no more mask mandates, no more income support, everyone get back to work. he told us it's time to "live with the virus."
so everyone went back to work, and because the government said it was safe, also went back to partying and socialising and holidaying and travelling all over. just in time for omicron to come along and infect everyone at christmas and nye, all while the federal government refused to even suggest people should be careful or limit holiday gatherings. the PM assured us it was "mild". state governments seemed to have their hands tied by the federal, and health experts' pleas for everyone to be careful were barely heard in the face of federal encouragement to enjoy the holidays. "live with the virus," and enjoy a big christmas lunch.
what happened next was entirely predictable; we went from hundreds of cases, to thousands, to ten thousand... the case numbers rocketed up so fast that they stopped being counted. not that it mattered, our PCR testing capacity was quickly overwhelmed so we have no idea how many cases there are truly; although the reliable estimate put us in the top ten most infected countries per capita, ahead of the usa and uk.
with so many people infected and forced to isolate, workplaces started becoming understaffed very quickly, so scott morrison quickly called a national cabinet to shorten isolation periods and allow negative at home rapid antigen tests (RATs) to be an acceptable benchmark for returning to work. no attempt to contain or limit the spread was made. "live with the virus." the economy demands it.
this resulted in two outcomes: RATs quickly sold out absolutely everywhere, because it turns out the federal government ignored health/logistics advice given to them in september past year about the need to stockpile rats if they were refusing to lock down, meaning there literally aren't enough physically in the country to meet demand. so nobody could really know if they were infected, and asymptomatic carriers were back at work... which is the other outcome. more people back at work while contagious, infecting more and more people. even if you're sick, there's no income support, so if you have to pay for luxuries like avacado toast, or rent, or medicine... back to work, it's the american way, which means it's the australian way now. "live with the virus."
now every system is crumbling as a result of the PM's decisions. supermarket shelves are bare, not because of panic buying but because the supply chains that stock them simply don't have enough workers. perishables are rotting in warehouses, deliveries are backing up, palettes remain unloaded, shelves unstacked, because too many people are dangerously sick to work, and the mildly sick aren't allowed to isolate long enough to protect the as yet uninfected workers.
school goes back in a few weeks, even though vaccinations for under 12yos has only just been authorised. there is not enough time for the kids (and by extension their families) to be protected, even if there were enough vaccines available. it appears that the federal government didn't actually do anything to increase our supplies of vaccines before expanding the age range. keeping kids back at home has been ruled out, because that would require keeping parents home with income support, and they have decided there will be no more spending on helping people, only back to work and back to school. "live with the virus."
as for hospitals... it's grim. ICUs are over capacity, outpatient wards are converted to covid wards, ambulances are taking over 12 hours to reach critical cases, all elective medical procedures are cancelled because every available staff member and then some are being put on full shifts at covid wards without time for bathroom breaks, and even vital surgeries for terminal illnesses are being cancelled because there are no beds to care for them if there are complications. the death rate is chilling. the hospital staff that dare speak out paint a shockingly dark pictures of the mental and physical health of themselves and their coworkers, to the point that many are quitting despite the overwhelming guilt and shame of leaving even less staff, because resignation is better than suicide. they all speak anonymously, and if you believe what i hear from my ex nurse friends, it's because they've been threatened with criminal and/or civil legal action if they blow the whistle. because we wouldn't want the public's morale to drop, it's an election year.
the country is in a state of despair, everything we worked so hard for and sacrificed throughout 2020 and 2021 had been lost in less than four weeks. the most vulnerable are sick and dying, the systems designed to support them beyond limit. people are terrified, and angry, and desperate for leadership. nurses and doctors are working themselves to the brink of suicide to desperately try and prevent as many people as they can from dying, and they are failing.
and it is against this backdrop that the prime minister, scott morrison, announced his grand plan to ease our pain, that he would take to the national cabinet and beg the premiers et al to support:
he asked the states to allow under 18's to operate forklifts in factories, to speed up supply chain operations.
scott morrison's solution to the disastrous human suffering born of his own callousness and reverence for profit over life and health.... is weakening child labour laws.
scott morrison is a fundamentalist pentecostal christian that admits he lets his faith and belief guide his policy. he believes in wealth prosperity gospel and the rapture, and that illness and suffering are punishment for sin.
he means die with the virus.
and hey, get some kids to work in the warehouse while you're at it.
