The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[El Pinguino]

Meanwhile yet another challenge given the boot
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/f...18-p590x2.html
'An industrial commissioner who railed against vaccination mandates as “medical apartheid” in a recent unfair dismissal case has been criticised by a senior NSW Supreme Court judge, who says she descended into politicking and made claims without evidence.'


and some rozzers being shown the door ( also from The Age )

Victoria Police has stood down dozens of officers for not complying with the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for authorised workers.

In a statement, a spokesperson said Victoria Police was aware of 34 police officers and nine protective services officers who were yet to comply with the Chief Health Officer’s direction.

The direction required all authorised workers attending workplaces in Victoria to receive a first jab by last Friday, or show by then that they had a first dose appointment booked in for on or before October 22.

The spokesperson said the officers faced being fired.'

Jolly Good.

[El Pinguino]

Queensland just blinked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqAN...m0GL_A&index=2

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Queensland just blinked….

That was an unexpected announcement! Annastacia was saying not long ago that Queensland would not open up until the under 12’s were vaccinated as well.

Families will be super excited to be reunited . Good friends in Mooloolaba haven’t seen their grandchildren who live in Melbourne since early last year so I know they will be booking flights ASAP.

One difficulty with tourism though is that if cases escalate in any particular area in QLD, local lockdowns will apparently still be occurring. It makes booking a holiday risky unless you have unlimited time and unlimited accomodation. Not very enticing, particularly in cyclone season.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Queensland just blinked

Premier Palasczuk has never strayed far from the supposed national plan, regardless of the media ever wanting to use (or even distort) anything she says to sell newspapers or screen views.

And I think Palasczuk likes it that way (when Steven Kilometres has acted in the role of premier, he has at least sometimes dealt with the same topics in a more boring way that has frustrated journos seeking a media grab/column centimetres without needing to trouble their own intellect).

As far as I can see, the notional dates she announced fit in with the vaccination levels stated in that supposed national plan. And so, no surprise!

The problem in QLD still seems to be a mix of:

[1] supply of vaccine, which I thought most of VIC agreed had been preferentially directed to the Big Smoke instead of being shared equally. Supply still remains under control of federal authorities;

[2] distribution of vaccine. Unlike the plague states, QLD is relatively decentralised (although less so than a few decades ago); and

[3] a nasty mix of several factors, including:
* decades of underinvestment in schooling and education, particularly of science, economics, and almost anything would lead to QLDers having a world view that places them where they currently are;
* decades of media dominated by News Corporation publications to the exclusion of other voices, the very things that seem to have led SWL and others astray in their thinking about the reality of contemporary Aus, neo-liberalism, libertarianism, and concepts such as freedom;
* well established contrarian political parties, generally focused on individuals selling some sort of Messiah myth (you're likely familiar with Mrs Seccombe's little girl Pauline; a family descended from a Lebanese migrant who has established a local dynasty centred oddly enough on the northwest corner of QLD; a D-shaped rich man who likes the colour yellow and giant plastic dinosaurs, and uses his $$ to distort party politics to what he imagines is his own short-term advantage; and an ex-military officer who briefly held the job of premier but who now wants to be a senator (because the pay and benefits are good and the duties light) while also playing some funny games as an investment advisor.

Toss in that unlike the plague states, QLD has plenty of settlements in which no one knows anyone who has had Covid, where consumption of international and national news is low, and where anyone who has not lived in that settlement for a decade or five is regarded as untrustworthy (with a smattering of xenophobia, white supremacy, etc). In the SE corner, plenty of suburbs remain far below the ethnic diversity of SYD or MEL. Outside the SE corner, you can find everything from relatively closed communities of Lao, or Italians, or Sikhs (to mention just a few), all living almost side-by-side with white pfellas but as if in mutual agreement to ignore the existence of the other.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Premier Palasczuk has never strayed far from the supposed national plan, regardless of the media ever wanting to use (or even distort) anything she says to sell newspapers or screen views.

Despite only the 16+ year olds being included in vaccinated numbers that were “supposedly” agreed to in the national plan, early September she “pledged to “stand strong” on Queensland’s border controls “until I can get every child vaccinated”.”:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...aises-concerns

She has now announced that QLD will progressively open on two fixed dates in November and December regardless of the vaccination rate. That is quite a turnaround in my book.

Every premier is still continuing to do their own thing .

SWL

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

...............

The problem in QLD still seems to be a mix of:

[1] supply of vaccine, which I thought most of VIC agreed had been preferentially directed to the Big Smoke instead of being shared equally. Supply still remains under control of federal authorities;

[2] distribution of vaccine. Unlike the plague states, QLD is relatively decentralised (although less so than a few decades ago); and

[3] a nasty mix of several factors, including:
* decades of underinvestment in schooling and education, particularly of science, economics, and almost anything would lead to QLDers having a world view that places them where they currently are;
* decades of media dominated by News Corporation publications to the exclusion of other voices, the very things that seem to have led SWL and others astray in their thinking about the reality of contemporary Aus, neo-liberalism, libertarianism, and concepts such as freedom;
* well established contrarian political parties, generally focused on individuals selling some sort of Messiah myth (you're likely familiar with Mrs Seccombe's little girl Pauline; a family descended from a Lebanese migrant who has established a local dynasty centred oddly enough on the northwest corner of QLD; a D-shaped rich man who likes the colour yellow and giant plastic dinosaurs, and uses his $$ to distort party politics to what he imagines is his own short-term advantage; and an ex-military officer who briefly held the job of premier but who now wants to be a senator (because the pay and benefits are good and the duties light) while also playing some funny games as an investment advisor.

Toss in that unlike the plague states, QLD has plenty of settlements in which no one knows anyone who has had Covid, where consumption of international and national news is low, and where anyone who has not lived in that settlement for a decade or five is regarded as untrustworthy (with a smattering of xenophobia, white supremacy, etc). In the SE corner, plenty of suburbs remain far below the ethnic diversity of SYD or MEL. Outside the SE corner, you can find everything from relatively closed communities of Lao, or Italians, or Sikhs (to mention just a few), all living almost side-by-side with white pfellas but as if in mutual agreement to ignore the existence of the other.

This should be required reading for any 'mexicans' attempting to understand the peculiarities of the bananabender's homelands and aspiring to make informed comment.

A highly commendable disquisition on the northern heteroaustralians though a trifle understated IMO.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Despite only the 16+ year olds being included in vaccinated numbers that were “supposedly” agreed to in the national plan, early September she “pledged to “stand strong” on Queensland’s border controls “until I can get every child vaccinated”.”:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...aises-concerns

She has now announced that QLD will progressively open on two fixed dates in November and December regardless of the vaccination rate. That is quite a turnaround in my book....

She may have had a bad hair day on one of those occasions - dunno which one though - tis confusing to me as well but at the end of the day, it's par for the course for most (all?) pollies - as fickle as the wind.

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

.....Every premier is still continuing to do their own thing .

SWL

Actually I see some merit in having different 'leaders' having different approaches in times of novel emergencies where a lack of prior knowledge and established solutions are encountered. IMO it is possible for different approaches to trialled and the lessons learnt to be transferrable to other states. Of course, party politics and state rivalries do get in the way...

The bigger problem IMO, is the disconnect between the federal and state responsibilities and the constant bickering between them.

The existing arrangement a poor system but I reckon a unified central system is poorer.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Wotname

. .. Actually I see some merit in having different 'leaders' having different approaches in times of novel emergencies where a lack of prior knowledge and established solutions are encountered. IMO it is possible for different approaches to trialled and the lessons learnt to be transferrable to other states. Of course, party politics and state rivalries do get in the way....

I agree with this. HOWEVER, for this to work, the political culture has to allow for mistakes being admitted and courses being changed, as the benefit of experience is gained. I don't know about Oz, but in this U.S. this is just impossible to imagine. An American politician would kill his own grandmother (not to mention kill thousands of his constiuents to COVID) before admitting to any mistake.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

She has now announced that QLD will progressively open on two fixed dates in November and December regardless of the vaccination rate. That is quite a turnaround in my book.

You missed the big things, relevant to CF members.

1. the usual landlubbers disease

* at 70 per cent of population vaccinated "expected by November 19, anyone who has been in a declared domestic hotpot in the previous 14 days can travel into Queensland if they are fully vaccinated if they arrive by air, have had a negative COVID test in the previous 72 hours and undertake home quarantine for 14 days"; and

* at 80 per cent of population vaccinated "expected on December 17, there will be no quarantine required and travellers from an interstate hotspot can then arrive by road, in addition to flying."

What do those statements (text copied from the issue of Brisbane Times that is to hand, because I'm not fussed to get Palaszczuk's media release) leave out, well:-

For one, the Bicentennial National Trail, the horse trail that runs down the east coast of Aus from Cooktown to the place wot Johnny Batman and his bunch of weirdo van Demonians plus that well-known dealer of recreational drugs Johnny Pascoe Fawkner established, now called Melbum or Bleak City after some titled lord in perfidious Albion (https://www.bicentennialnationaltrai...ver-the-bnt/); and

For two, the briny, the drink, the sea, the coastal waters that since the late 18th century provided the most reliable means of transport of people and cargo between settlements along the east cost of New Holland.

Whacko for your china plates on the Sunshine Coast who might want to gad about in planes to some stinky midden heap surrounded by tacky shacks. This forum is oddly enough about cruisers, who ply the briny (and not so briny) ways of the world.

2. politicians in what imitates the form (but clearly not the essence) of a political democracy

Aus politicians, at local, state, or federal level supposedly represent constituents.

Those in academia often argue that 'representation' is about the social and economic interests of those qualified to vote. Whether that happens (or even could happen, given that no electorate has a population who uniformly occupy one location in the class/status group/caste/ethnic/race spectrum) is open to much debate.

'Tis clear that Aus politicians are dominated by white male sociopaths. 4% are non-white non-indigenes, in contrast to the 21% of the whole population.

More to the point, QLD has 6.5 K (six thousand 5 hundred odd) recreational sailing boats registered with the state government. And another 250K registered motor boats (i.e. things called 'motor boats' and 'speed boats', and so not including tenders to registered vessels). I've not seen statistics about the number of recreational marine drivers licenses on issue in QLD or the number of politicians who hold recreational marine drivers licenses on issue in QLD or any other Aus state or territory.

So one leg of my point No. 2 is that QLD politicians (and probably those of every other government in Aus) are more representative of landlubbers than cruisers.

Another leg of my point No. 2 is that, in one sad way, Palaszczuk like most other QLD politicians and dare I say it politicians in Aus and elsewhere, is representative of the electorate. AP and other QLD politicians have a track record of behaving in way inconsistent with their spoken and written words, approaching the point that a reasonable person would judge that they are not honest, they tell fibs, they lie, and they mislead and they commit what SWL has called a turnaround.

I've mentioned earlier that every peacetime premier of QLD since Sam Griffiths and every QLD premier in my lifetime promised to build a railway line to Redcliffe, on the peninsula that juts into Moreton Bay and the site of the first convict settlement in what was laughingly later called 'Queen's Land". Johnny Howard told fibs and repeated Tony Bliar's fibs about Saddam Hussein's supposed possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Every candidate for prime minister or QLD premier in my lifetime has made promises that were likely impossible to keep. White 'pfella politicians and government officials in Aus have without shame chanted lies about the official and private efforts at genocide of the Palawa, Murri, Koori, Torres Strait Island, and other First Nations peoples of New Holland. In the Big Smoke to the south of me, a few dozen people are watching keenly in coming days to see whether the NSW ICAC has the courage to paste the word 'liar' on the forehead of The Armenian, thus marking the ICAC as having ended a record of three state premiers. And so it goes ..

To get back to the sad part, even casual inquiry confirms the academic research finding that 70% of Australians tell fibs, tell lies, or mislead and commit turnarounds. Either that or all Aussies tell lies and untruths about 70% of the time.

And for some part, I support turnarounds and such like. After all, when new facts emerge or the facts change, I change my opinions and actions. What do you do?

For the TL;DR crowd: Australians tell lies and untruths; Australian politicians are representative of their electorate in that they also tell lies and untruths. And by some mechanism that is not clear, the process that selects sociopaths to become career politicians in Australia eliminates any cruiser or even recreational boater. So the pollies care not one bit for us!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_of_Melbourne
https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/S...0620.pdf?la=en

[JPA Cate]

And, do you not think it is better that way? Better to be invisible and ignored than over- regulated.

Ann

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

And, do you not think it is better that way? Better to be invisible and ignored than over- regulated.

If your concept of democracy is populism and mob rule, then I can see your point Ann.

My concept of democracy is one of democratisation, an unending process of increasing the legitimacy and authority of people embedded in institutions, perhaps in a representative constitutional parliamentary system.

I understand you come from a different system, which might explain your preference.

I'm in favour of a system of fair taxation with taxes spent on infrastructure such as aids to navigation. And that goes with regulation, including the concept of the Rules of the Road, imposed by the heavy hand of govt on boaters especially when accompanied with good quality facilities including accurate hydrographic charts.

The history of Aus is different from that of the US.

Aus was not started by a small group of settlements, each finding its own way. And then, after cutting bonds with imperial Britain because the empire wanted to tax trade in surplus attained by hard toil, working their way to a federal system underpinned by a constitution, amendments to that constitution, a Bill of Rights, clearly defined separation of legislative, judicial, and executive powers. Etc, etc.

In the US, that produced or unleashed entrepreneurial spirits, a sense of personal sovereignty that is expressed by some even to this day in populism and libertarian ideas, and more -- all of which are more-or-less unrivalled.


Aus has a few origins, some of which were entrepreneurial. Batman & Fawkner and the entrepreneurial sealers and whalers in Bass Strait being the 'best' examples - if you want to celebrate people who raped and enslaved Palawa women and committed genocide of the Palawa; that's people like Batman who were riddled with syphilis to the point of tertiary syphilis and madness (and spread syph liberally to the Palawa). But even the South Australia Company deserves a mention in the list of entrepreneurial origins of Aus, as do the several multinational settlements, from Broome to Cooktown where Malay and Nipponese pearl divers and pearl seeders worked alongside Chinese, First Nation peoples, and other disparate peoples.

But the dominating origin story is that of New South Wales and the convict-settler society.

You and Jim have been here long enough to know the story and its sub-text. But let me spell out the central points one more time:-

* Contemporary Australia recapitulates the convict-settlement based society that sprung up in NSW centred on Sydney.

* Real power, real economic and political power, is located in the Australian Club and has been in that institution or its ancestors since John Macarthur ran the Rum Rebellion. Macarthur's descendants personally controlled the Australian club until, unless my memory fails me, 1969.

Malcolm Turnball, the multimillionaire who was prime minister of Australia before Scotty Morrison, is a member of the Australian Club. What's MT's middle name? Why, 'tis Bligh. And why is it Bligh? Oo! It's because Governor Bligh stood up against Macarthur and the Rum Rebellion thugs, protecting the business entrepreneur who was that generation's ancestor of MT.

* Real political and economic power has almost always been located on Sydney's North Shore. Prime ministers of Australia, premiers of NSW (the biggest slice of the Aus economy), the local capitalists who fund that economy, the managers who do the bidding of those local capitalists and the ones who act as compradors of foreign capital - those groups are all dominated by those raised and/or living on the North Shore.

* That NSW economy, since the late 18th century, has sucked on the teat of the British taxpayer and been dependent on British and (more recently) US capital. Unlike settlement on the eastern seaboard of the US, no white 'pfella had to go hungry, starting from 1788. All that was needed was a letter from the governor of NSW to London, and food from British colonies in south Africa or India was sent to NSW. Big thanks to the Brit taxpayers. No need to grapple with agriculture (quite the contrary, the agricultural and pastoral base of the kooris, the First Nation people in VIC and that part of NSW south of the Hunter River, was deliberately destroyed with prejudice).

I'm sure by now you know the story of murnong and the destruction of the murnong fields in VIC and NSW. If not, you're culpable (but not an exception, since most white 'pfella Aussies are as thick as bricks and ignorant as logs on the topics; so if you're culpable, then the Aussies around you are somehow more than culpable if that were possible) - but then you might just wonder why those first generations of (largely but not entirely) Brits (some of the First Fleet were German, even a few Africans) refused to participate in further development of the native agricultural base centred around (at least in VIC and S NSW) murnong fields and kangaroo pasture and insisted they would only eat wheat, cow muscle meat, or sheep muscle meat (wif a few that deigned to eat fish or fowl).

At no time has that NSW economy had to be independent. The one prime minister/federal govt that tried was squashed, with rumour suggesting that the USA and the UK interfered in Aus politics to ensure that independence of foreign capital was terminated with prejudice.

* Accompanying that is an exterior form (where 'form' is the counterpart of 'essence') of democratic politics. All of it mandated. Wotname will doubtless utter yet another statement of petty pedantry, but in general terms qualified Aus citizens have to enrol on a voters' registry and have to attend a polling booth. Not because that is the only way to get legitimate citizen participation (in contrast to the jokes of Germany anointing a political party with votes amounting to no more than 26% of the 75% who attend polling booths, or the similar dismal participation rates in the US), but because the political parties found it too expensive to get out the vote. Simple. The political parties, supposedly in fierce opposition to one another, got together and agreed that it was too hard to get money and publicise policies and motivate voters, so they made each step compulsory).

* Compulsion and regulation of non-elite settlers started with the the convict settlement. Has been challenged a time or two, but has always been squashed. With prejudice. And no matter how much expatriate toffs floating around in the N Atlantic rant about their personal concept of the domain of the free, all but the tiniest number of acquaintances, friends, and relatives of mine in Aus have wholeheartedly supported Palaszczuk, Comrade Daniel, lockdowns, mask mandates, and more.

If you've done have as much boating in Aus waters as you claim to have done, then you would have seen plenty of Aus citizens behaving badly on the water.

Those of us native to the place are quietly very thankful of the heavy hand of state coercive officials on those who behave badly. While also being in contradiction because none of us like the heavy coercive hand when officials direct it at us. We're used to resolving that contradiction as part of daily life afloat. It's why many of us love going foreign to the Philippines, Malaysia, PNG, Solomon Islands ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M..._(wool_pioneer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_(Sydney)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murnong

[Alan Mighty]

The Queensland Institute of Medical Research - Berghofer Medical Research Institute has released modelling, with various assumed levels of vaccination, of what happens next in QLD.

See (if the Channel Nine Entertainment server and your browser give you entry): https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...19-p59185.html

One of the key graphics:

[El Pinguino]

Hot off the press, McGowan says eastern states can get stuffed, he's not opening any borders this year.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/w...19-p591bg.html

I've just managed to sort out my international vax pass - the one with the QR code and linked to my passport. Simples.
Still can't sort the NSW one.

[HankOnthewater]

Regarding above post, travel to WA
My take on it is that it could well be close to Easter next year before all borders to all states are open.
Being 'open' meaning, one can travel without quarantine and the G2G pass is a 5 minute formality, and double dose vaccination to be a condition.

Travel from Queensland will be easier as from midnight this coming Thursday: no more need for quarantine

In between now and April, we may well see some 'open, close, open' scenarios with various states.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I've just managed to sort out my international vax pass - the one with the QR code and linked to my passport. Simples.
Still can't sort the NSW one.

Congratulations.

I was officially told the other day that no one, repeat no one, wants to see my WHO yellow International Certificates of Vaccine book. Good enough for yellow fever, but this generation of officials apparently cannot read nor turn pages.

Brielle did a good job of informing me how to get vax record into the basic apps on the mobile device: https://www.mamamia.com.au/how-to-ad...cate-to-phone/

Brielle has even done a quick job on QLD reopening: https://www.mamamia.com.au/queensland-reopening/

It seems her stern employers have not given her the okay to write on how to get vax certificates into the weird mob of state apps! BB is in NSW, so she should ought be full bottle on the NSW app. I've not descended to signing in and writing a comment pleading for help. Yet.