COVID-19: Discussion of Impact 😷

The US has hit their lowest 7 day average since November.

Victoria’s latest numbers as tweeted by DoH.

No longer DHHS. As of today, DHHS has been split into two departments.

  • Department of Health (DoH)
  • Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH).
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You’re missing the point; in the Australian Constitution the federal government has responsibility for quarantine, customs, etc.

The states & territories shouldn’t be running quarantine facilities, they’re only doing so because Morrison showed up to his first “National Cabinet” without a quarantine plan and something had to be done, so the states did it.

The international arrival caps which have stranded ~40 000 Australians overseas is because of the lack of proper quarantine facilities.

It’s been a year, Morrison & Dutton need to do their job instead of fobbing it off onto others, while at the same time criticising those states for what’s happened!

On funding, the federal government has the taxation powers: Australian states & territories cannot implement taxes, for example some years ago the High Court of Australia ruled that the states’ petrol excises were illegal, and the federal government introduced retrospective legislation for excise, and then gives the states & territories the money.

Just because the feds can raise taxes doesn’t mean they should micro-manage everything the states do, but they - the feds - should do their jobs first (e.g. quarantine).

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I don’t disagree but they’ve set a precedent. Always very risky to start something you cannot finish without concrete arrangements.

Are you saying the states should’ve also dropped the ball (like Morrison) and allowed the pandemic to run rampant?
(Remember Morrison declaring defeat early last year with his false claim that we have to live with the virus?)

That decision is up to each state to make as I said, if they’re willing to fund it then good for them.

As for living with the virus, we are living with it. This has been going on for a year and will continue for quite a while yet.

I think that was the original point, Anastasia and other premiers are not willing to fund quarantine indefinitely. It was poor form for Scomo to set targets and say he wants all Australians home before xmas but then not plan to do anything to make it happen.

When Scomo said it, he meant we should accept defeat against the virus and accept that it will remain spreading throughout the community, people had to die and businesses would have to remain closed. He was wrong, thanks to the premiers overriding him, we didn’t have to accept it, he should be held to account for that.

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Since what I’m saying doesn’t seem to be getting through (perhaps I’m choosing my words poorly), I’m going to let this go with a final thought:

Thanks to the states & territories COVID-19 has basically been eliminated (no community transmission) in Australia (as well as NZ and several other countries), which allows life to return to near normal (albeit except for when a leak from quarantine occurs, & without international holidays).

This (elimination) is something Morrison had derided, wrongly claiming it was impossible, and that we instead had to accept the virus in the community.
He should do his job instead of fobbing it off/claiming it can’t be done.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: COVID-19: Australian Open Saga :tennis:

so new dept new New Dept… New dashboard on the daily media update email: heidi murphy-twitter

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So Victoria is back to it’s old tricks of blocking its residents from returning home… such bloody poor treatment of its own residents.

Minsters and frankly anyone defending that action should be ashamed - it’s one thing to make a zone red and close your border to not accept people coming into the state who have been in hotspots, but when it is a resident returning home there should not be a need to go through an exemption process - simply allow them home, get tested and if necessasry quarantine at home for 14 days - the harsh response of hard closing your border (in this case to WA with 1 fucking case) and not allowing people who live in Victoria to return to THEIR HOME is absolutely appaling.

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Completely agree. it is completely shocking that an option of hotel quarantine isn’t at least offered. Even though the risk is really low coming from WA.

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It shouldn’t even by hotel quarantine unless the outbreak is sizeble like Melbourne’s outbreak was at it’s peak.

Residents should be allowed to return home, the end.

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Look I agree completely. But I am saying at the very least this should be an option. There is no reason people shouldn’t be able to return and continue the ‘lockdown’ in Victoria.

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I am not defending the govt here but I can see the reason behind it. can we trust the victorian people who are in the red zone if they got granted an exemption to get tested though?? we know from what our premier here in VIC has said b4 the govt and the health teams have now finally realised that not all people get tested when they should or get tested days later by then it’s to late.

Don’t they have police that can enforce it?

Not unusual for politicians to do that.

Having a permit system means they have a method of contacting and following those individuals up.

Of course compliance can be a problem but treat people like adults and that’s how the majority behave. Treat them like belligerent children and that’s the behaviour you’re fostering.

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