As we leave 2021 - a year I want to forget - I am trying to be optimistic about 2022.
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The management of the pandemic has been a bit of a mishmash. Governments have made what they might believe are good decisions only to hurriedly change directions when consequences are negative, ineffective or unnecessary.
One real issue is the decision by the PM and Federal Government to delegate management of the pandemic to the States while the Commonwealth merely stands back and provides funding. This is a major mistake - a failure - on the part of the PM and his Government.
We have seen it result in the States and Territories setting their own conditions for travel and movement of citizens which have differed widely - especially in States governed by politicians opposed to the Federal Government like WA and Queensland. They have taken the opportunity to play politics with the pandemic and disregard the impact on people and families trying to travel, often for essential reasons.
Premier Perrottet was off to a good start by removing restrictions and freeing up citizens for travel, shopping and socialising. Unfortunately it coincided with the upsurge of the Omicron variant for which some national news media and opposition MPs criticised him. In fairness to the Premier, the Omicron variant wasn't his fault (it would have spread anyway) and he has reinstated some requirements but given we are 95 per cent fully vaccinated there is no need for further restrictions. We have all had enough of lockdowns.
I am not convinced the critical negativity of opposition MPs and some in the national news media is helping the situation. All Federal Opposition MPs (are any of them medically qualified?) criticise with hindsight only causing confusion and reluctance of some to get vaccinated. I am not convinced they could have managed the situation any better. Our State Opposition leader seems to be less critical and more understanding of the need to get the economy going again.
The daily news reporting of the pandemic by some national media seems to be somewhat negative and misleading. We might have 20,000 new cases daily but only a couple of deaths. So what? The majority of the deaths and patients in ICU have the Delta variant, not Omicron, have other serious underlying health conditions and are not vaccinated. Tell us these numbers each day please instead of just blaming or implying Omicron variant caused their deaths.
Social media needs to have some long overdue regulatory controls - especially where blatant lies are allowed to flourish under 'free speech' . This has also caused reluctance of some people so influenced to get vaccinated. These people should be removed from vaccination target statistics or we may never get there.
The 'expert' health advisory panels and people like ATAGI, Institutions and CMOs, also seem to be on a roller coaster with their advice to Government. I am sure they are all academically and scientifically qualified but have they had experience in pandemic management previously? We have seen several 'about turns' in short timeframes, when recommendations that the Government acted upon don't work or something new learned from overseas needs to be taken seriously. It's been moving targets everywhere. For citizens like us keeping up with daily changes is a challenge.
As for 2022 I am looking forward to the end of all restrictions on fully vaccinated citizens like me. The PM needs to enact Federal control of the pandemic management so that all laws and regulations can be applied equally to all Australians everywhere and national business can plan ahead with some certainty.
