What would be wrong with that? Has to be weighed against the billions spent, and massive human cost of lockdowns.
We spend millions on bushfire prevention in years where there are no fires, we spend big on security at events and there are no terrorist attacks, and we spend on medical research that doesn’t always lead anywhere.
Just because something isn’t successful or isn’t used doesn’t mean it was wrong to invest in it. People understand calculated risks. Even in the pandemic context, we have quarantine facilities being constructed that will probably be white elephants and ordered 60 million doses of novavax which won’t be used. I don’t think anyone is outraged by that.
The rest of the world had the information they needed to know to back all the main horses in the race. The critical period was in August 2020, when the front runners were well known. It should have been a no brainer.
I agree with you but I also can see the reaction of the media and the public if they ‘wasted’ so much money. Example is the covid safe app. That cost a lot of money and is often said to be a waste of taxpayers money.
Yes, I get this impression too, particularly when members are being purposefully vague with an unpopular opinion.
Exactly. It shows you’re willing to vote on policy and not party or personality, which every Australian should be doing. But it does help when the PM you’re voting for actually has a baseline personality that isn’t foreign to everyone.
This is true, but there’s no point man. If someone wants to purposefully block out the truth just to stay aligned with their preferred party, then they’ll do it. There’s no convincing them.
I think that’s a long bow to draw - we (as a Country) took an overly cautious approach to vaccinations thanks in part to our comparatively mild first wave, subsequently, we made a series of decisions that at the time made some sense but are in retrospect considered at worst the wrong ones, at best not great ones.
We should have been better prepared, but that’s something that can be said about a lot of this country’s response to the evolving outbreak (we’re seeing similar right now with rapid testing)
Absolutely. Disappointed WA Labor government have seemingly done very little to prepare for Omicron, even when we have had a head start. State Health Minister claims we are prepared, but then she says we need this extra time to review our health system. So who knows where we sit.
I can assure people I’m not trolling. It’s always going to be difficult for me and a few others to share our opinions when the majority of this forum are clearly left leaning.
I really don’t like Scott Morrison that much. He is all style and no substance. What I was saying above was that I think his team of ministers are actually quite competent and would be a big loss should Labor win the election.
Yes, 12 months ago everything was pretty much fine and if I remember correctly there were mixed views in the community about whether the vaccine should be fast tracked or whether we wait it out a couple more months or so to ensure the vaccines are tested and safe. The federal government weren’t to have the foresight at the start of the year of what was to happen over the last 12 months, i.e. multiple lockdowns and outbreaks across the country requiring vaccines to be fast tracked.
I think we’re at that point now where the majority of Australia will lean left at the ballot box.
I’d like see some more detail with this argument. I don’t even think Sky News would be prepared to take this position despite their unrelenting support for the coalition.
I think you’ll find that there is a sizable part of the Australian population that shares that a similar worldview. They’re just not as likely to frequent these parts of the internet (or the internet full stop). One of the dangers of the internet is that it is very easy to lose perspective when you are primarily among like minded people.
Do I agree with a lot of those views- no. Does that make their views trolling and/or less worthy? Also no.
Fair call- while definitely a very controversial point of view though on here in the context of the MS community, I know certainly around here (which admittedly is a relatively conservative area politically) in general society that view would not be considered all that controversial.
It would be seen as an extremely long bow to draw by everyone else though. I mean, I wouldn’t even go that far with describing a Labor government. It’s a borderline troll position to claim the Liberals are basically perfect at their jobs.
I don’t think this is true either. I have read a lot of comments from people that disagree with you who have said some right leaning comments as well.
The issue is your comments weren’t based on fact. You haven’t even done any research into some who might hold similar positions in labour. Do you not think a Penny Wong, Tanya Plidersek, Bill Shorten etc could do a similar job?
Your comments can be so one sided that it can come across as trolling. And this is coming from someone who has stood up for you in the past.
No one is expecting them to be able to accurately predict the future - but the signs that the situation could rapidly turn here in Australia was always there, we ignored them, and then when things rapidly changed we were caught napping.
Not all of that lies at the feet of the feds - several states need to be held accountable for it as well. We might have won round one, but we monumentally and royally fucked up rounds two and three by thinking and acting as we could rely on what we did before rather than tempering our response with the sheer amount of information and data from outbreaks in other countries.
In some respects, it almost meaningless what the Libs actual performance was - they’ve been able to curate such a narrative that a lot of people have simply lost any faith in what they say and what they do. A significant amount of damage was done prior to Covid, but Covid has just resulted in it doubling down.
I suspect it’s still a lot closer than what the current polls are suggesting - if we have indeed seen the peak of the omicron wave on the east coast and the market gets flooded with rapid test kits in the next few weeks, it may be enough to sway people back towards the Libs (and I suspect that this is a key strategy in their election strategy - hope that things improve before the election needs to be called knowing that people could more easily sway back)
Its easy to get consumed by what’s posted online and to believe that the Libs are cooked at the next election, but online and especially social media is predominately a series of echo chambers that are not necessarily reflective of the broader community (and a number of them do a pretty good job of amplifying a particular message and forcing out counterpoints and counter opinions). Their position may indeed come to fruition, but its something that you need to be mindful of.
Misinformation is going to be a major issue for the election and its not necessarily from a nefarious foreign power - its quite often people who think they’re doing the ‘right’ thing and get wound up trying to find ways to discredit their enemy. You only have to see the sort of shit that people like Leo (of 6 News fame) for calling out some of the utter shit that is being spread as true.
That’s a fair call that most people wouldn’t go to that extent in normal conversation regardless of political affiliation- understandable though if you are particularly passionate about the party you support (although I respect that others may disagree with that).
I do know one lady at work who would though, but she’s a card carrying member of the Liberal Party which explains that.
The lockdowns were a necessary evil.in my opinion even here in the UK. The problem with.the Morrison government was the.idea.to.leave it up to the states and then back peddled when he didn’t like what they were doing.
No, it’s because you’re very right leaning on the scale and this is leading to your perception as most members here being on the left, where in reality most are centrally screwed on most issues.
I disagree. Without getting into it too much, my posts at the moment could be judged as centre-right. With issues relating to coronavirus more so than others I’d be to the right, but on a whole lot of other topics and subjects I’d see myself in the centre or to the left. As captaincupcake said, some of the things I say on here wouldn’t be considered controversial in the real world.
