Tim Dunlop: “There is a good case to be made, in fact, that Morrison has tied the idea of opening up with his re-election strategy, playing on our exhaustion with lockdowns and other restrictions to conjure a light at the end of tunnel that he will deliver with fudged figures on overall vaccinations rates. Under this scenario, an adult vaccination rate of around 70% will be held up as a threshold, restrictions will be eased, and in that moment of sunshine, an election will be called. If he wins, he wins, mission accomplished. If he loses, Labor will be left to clean up the mess. Cynical? Not even a little bit. Let us never forget that what has driven us into the mess we are currently in is not incompetence by the Morrison Government, but actual decisions they have made to handle things the way they have, aided and abetted by the NSW Government in particular. It wasn’t an accident vaccination rates were so slow, it was decision. It wasn’t an accident that financial support for those affected was cut when it was and not reintroduced, it was decision. It wasn’t an accident that Morrison held up NSW as the gold standard and tipped a bucket on Victoria while we dealt with that second wave, it was decision. It wasn’t an accident that Morrison praised Berejiklian for not locking down at the start of the current Delta outbreak, it was a decision. At every point, Morrison (and Berejiklian) have made bad decisions, and the idea that their ideas about opening up might prevail is terrifying.” Tim argues that we should be opening up carefully and gradually — and not with election day as a deadline.
24 August 2021