After Prime Minister Scott Morrison released his three-step plan for relaxing coronavirus restrictions on Friday, almost all states announced moves to get life back to normal.
But leaders in Victoria and New South Wales refused to make changes and suggested most rules will be in place until June – even though there have only been four coronavirus deaths across Australia in the past week.
Their stubbornness means more than half of Australians are still banned from leaving their homes (except for ‘essential’ reasons) under some of the toughest restrictions in the world.
With one million jobs lost and the economy bleeding $4billion a week, premiers Daniel Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian need to urgently prioritise ending lockdown.
One million Australians are depending on state leaders to relax lockdowns so they can work once more. Pictured: Centrelink queues
It will be up to the states and territories to decide when outdoor gatherings can resume. Pictured: Surfers’ Paradise
A ‘roadmap’ showing the way out of lockdown was presented to Australians on Friday. Pictured: Volleyball on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in March
Ms Berejiklian’s decision to gradually restart NSW schools from Monday is welcome – but her bid to encourage shops to re-open is an empty gesture when residents are still being told not to leave home.
And she has not said a word on cafes and restaurants, which the federal treasurer wants open as soon as possible because of their importance to the economy.
Outbreaks are not a reason to slow things down
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
It seems the state government which all but destroyed Sydney’s after-dark economy with the 2014 lockout laws is finishing what it started.
The outlook is even bleaker in Victoria where fishing is still banned and family members living apart are prevented from visiting each other.
Labor Premier Andrews, whose party is backed by powerful teachers unions, has even refused to let children go back to school, causing untold damage to their education and keeping parents from work.
The federal education minister’s accusation that he showed weak leadership over schools foreshadows further clashes with the Australian government if he refuses to relax restrictions fast enough.
Swimmers are seen at the Nightcliff Swimming Pool in Darwin. The Northern Territory allowed outdoor non-contact sport from May 1
Under the first step, gatherings of up to ten people will be allowed and cafes and restaurants can re-open with a maximum of ten people at one time
With one million jobs lost and the economy bleeding $4billion a week, premiers Daniel Andrews (left) and Gladys Berejiklian (right) need to urgently prioritise ending lockdown
It is true that both states have recently suffered local outbreaks – at a carehome in Sydney and an abattoir in Melbourne.
But as the Prime Minister said today: ‘Outbreaks are not a reason to slow things down. Outbreaks are going to happen.’
Properly managing inevitable clusters is part of the national plan to end lockdown, so they cannot be used as an excuse for delay.
And both premiers should stop referencing the death toll in the US and the UK as a scare tactic to keep Australians in their homes and make themselves look good.
The comparison is false.
With a vastly lower population density, warmer weather and more hospital beds per person, the virus was never going to affect Australia as badly as those countries.
Even Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, is around 80 times less densely populated than New York and around 15 times less than London.
The lockdowns – together with shutting the borders – have been crucial to Australia’s success in flattening the curve and buying time to build up the health system.
But now we have enough masks, ventilators and beds, and have significantly suppressed the virus, the lockdowns have served their purpose.
Mr Morrison’s plan to have a COVID-safe economy by July will get 850,000 Australians back to work – but only if state leaders comply.
If they do not, it is the ordinary working Australians – not the six-figure politicians – who will suffer.
As one Daily Mail Australia reader said: ‘It’s easy for people making good money to say stay at home. But if I can’t work, I can’t feed my kids.’
It’s time to think about the waitresses, the flight attendants and the tradies who’ve had their lives turned upside down.
It’s time to end the lockdown.