The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

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."…..

Hi Alan
Politicians only have our best interests at heart. The above was done to protect boaters from risking life and limb by sailing into QLD waters during cyclone season. Saves rescue costs to boot. Win-win.

We have lately been happy putting our health care in the hands of politicians and their selected chief health officer. Why not everything else?

PS Did you notice Young is stepping down (or more correctly up) from her role in a couple of weeks? QLD is shortly to have a new governor.

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

….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?….

I’m not a good person to ask. I change my mind a dozen times before breakfast .

SWL

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

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.

No problem getting the vax cert into Wallet or on to ServiceVictoria site. Ditto the passport linked one.
Service NSW keeps saying 'site under maintenance ' and 'email not recognised'.

Wondering now how I link my Australian vax with my UK passport.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

...........
* 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. ...........

Nah, Wottie occasionally learns from his past errors and this is one of those times .

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

...........
* 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.]

However Wottie remains pedantic enough to add (not correct) the observation that the premier for Australia also hails from the North Shore. This is the new dominant position in the OZ body politic.

[Jim Cate]

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.

Gosh Allen, that's kinda demeaning. If you would like to examine the 10 volumes of our logs written since we first sailed into Gladstone in 1992, I'd be happy to show them to you, and offer you a cuppa at the same time.

And of course we've seen unpleasant Aussie boaters... just like everywhere else we've sailed. But on the whole, the diggers have been welcoming and friendly... but your politics are opaque to me, and as a non-voting temporary resident, I've not studied them at all.

Comparing aussie and yank governments is of little interest to me and I claim zero expertise in either one. How federal and state and local jurisdictions have handled Covid issues is only of interest to me in how it protects and otherwise impacts my life. I do have great admiration for Peter Gutwein whose courage in maintaining a hard line of protection for us in Tasmania is exemplary. Hard choices carefully and successfully made (so far). IMO he is a hero, but other's opinions may differ.

For Ann and I, the reality of being in Australia, and in particular being in Tasmania is a feeling of gratefulness. We have been so fortunate, as old and vulnerable persons, to be here during these hard times rather than in our country of origin, or in the other areas in Australia that we've spent time exploring. Partly luck, partly good planning on our part... maybe mostly luck with the timing.

So, back to our travels in Oz: we've been in and out of Moreton Bay many times, including several visits to Scarborough marina and environs. We've many friends in the MBTBC and RQYS marinas to vouch for those appearances.

Haven't seen you down here in Tassie, though...

Jim

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Gosh Allen, that's kinda demeaning. If you would like to examine the 10 volumes of our logs written since we first sailed into Gladstone in 1992, I'd be happy to show them to you, and offer you a cuppa at the same time.

And of course we've seen unpleasant Aussie boaters... just like everywhere else we've sailed. But on the whole, the diggers have been welcoming and friendly... but your politics are opaque to me, and as a non-voting temporary resident, I've not studied them at all.

Comparing aussie and yank governments is of little interest to me and I claim zero expertise in either one. How federal and state and local jurisdictions have handled Covid issues is only of interest to me in how it protects and otherwise impacts my life. I do have great admiration for Peter Gutwein whose courage in maintaining a hard line of protection for us in Tasmania is exemplary. Hard choices carefully and successfully made (so far). IMO he is a hero, but other's opinions may differ.

For Ann and I, the reality of being in Australia, and in particular being in Tasmania is a feeling of gratefulness. We have been so fortunate, as old and vulnerable persons, to be here during these hard times rather than in our country of origin, or in the other areas in Australia that we've spent time exploring. Partly luck, partly good planning on our part... maybe mostly luck with the timing.


Jim

Struth Jimbo, you been hereabouts in Oz for how long? Howlong: Visit Our Little River Town the New South Wales gateway to the wineries of victoria.
Only two things will see you right in 'Straya - arse and class - and there isn't much class in this fair land.
What has got you through is neither luck nor planning - its arse - pure old fashioned 'strayan arse - nada mas.

Been working for me for years.

[El Pinguino]

And also - I think you Taswegians just have to get a grip and toughen up.

Up here in the NE of Vic it was all very abstract from early last year until....

Until a few weeks ago - now we seem to have active cases popping up like pharts in the bath https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/...ZjM0YzM5In0%3D
Strangely it doesn't feel at all threatening but you are aware that wearing masks is maybe a very good thing and it's rather nice to be fully vaxxed.
Having my eyes checked in Albury this arvo.. my optometrist said her daughter - year 9 - so maybe 14 yo - is terrified - or is she just a little bit concerned ( I must run the hyperbole checker over that one )? Doesn't want to go back to school for three more weeks - two weeks after she has had her second shot.
Is she scarred for life or is she is just a sensible child teenager?

[Wotname]

Looks like QLD now has the potential to join NSW and VIC.

An 30 year ex Victorian Uber driver now on the Gold Coast has been confirmed with COVID and has been infectious in the community for 10 days. He is so sick he can’t communicate with authorities trying to trace his movements and hasn't been using any electronic check in apps.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/quee...20-%2020211021

[El Pinguino]

Not one of ours - at least how I read it ( in that link and elswhere ) is that he is a Broadbeach, Q, man who had visited Melbourne.

My worry at present is that while the PM for Victorian Announcements was banging on bright and early this morning about '70% fully vaxxed in Vic' the six urbs where the bulk of the cases are ( Hume, Brimbank, Dandenong etc ) are all down at between 54-59%.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Today is the last day of the current “stay-at-home” lockdown in Melbourne.
At midnight the curfew will be lifted and some restrictions eased, the most important of course being that specific reasons are no longer needed for leaving home. Travel is still only permitted in the metropolitan area for now and general retail is open only for outdoor service.

This provides a good summary of how rules will ease both tomorrow and at the next stage:
https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/ne...s-roadmap.html

Once out of the house, most of the “freedoms” are restricted to the fully vaccinated. “We’re not locking people down any more across the board,” said Andrews. “We are instead locking people out who have not got vaccinated to protect themselves and protect everybody else.”

People are of course being warned not to have “freedom parties”. What are the chances of that not happening?

SWL

[El Pinguino]

'Morning Wotty,
Your teenaged ratbag in Lonnie and the wonk in Hobart are put in the shade by this star turn.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...old-Coast.html
The Gold Coast only has 55% of it eligible population fully vaxxed - this will be interesting.

Good to see the people of Melbourne didn't go the 'Full Norwegian' last night.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Your teenaged ratbag in Lonnie and the wonk in Hobart are put in the shade by this star turn.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...old-Coast.html

Should the widely-reported news be genuine, this bloke is certainly a fine example of a responsible citizen. Not.

Another firm believer in freedom from govt control, but wanting to avail for himself of the freedom of taxpayer-funded health care and careless of freedom from Covid-19 infection. Libertarian popularism for the win!

So will Aus recapitulate its experience of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic?

Successful dealing with the First Wave in 1918, because govt imposed mask mandates, closed state borders, closed cinemas and schools. And the populace, familiar with war-time discipline, responded accordingly.

Then came the self-congratulations, over-confidence, relaxation of mandates, and the pressure from capitalists to open the economy so they could make sure that no one was free from their market forces and the Second Wave of 1919ff.

If so, will what comes next yet again confirm the thesis of Donald Horne, that Aus political leadership is 'second rate' or 'air fridge' at best? And that any success in Aus is only due to arse, the so-called Lucky Country.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country
https://www.naa.gov.au/blog/closed-b...-flu-australia
https://theconversation.com/how-aust...navirus-134017
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-mome...uenza-pandemic

[Lucky Luke 1]

I haven't read the thread.

But i live in Australia. My state hasn't had a Covid transmission since May 2020. Life has been normal. Had to wear a mask twice in the last 2 years, both times when i got my Covid vaccine shots.

[HankOnthewater]

Lucky Luke, unlike with real boating threads, it is no great benefit to read posts of many weeks or months ago, as it all old news. Ideally, a thread like this will keep sailors up to date with the covid situation downunder, and certainly on travel restrictions; here are some links:
1. WA https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/d...irus-travel-wa
2. SA https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/restr...l-restrictions
3. NSW https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/rule...r-restrictions
4. QLD https://www.covid19.qld.gov.au/gover...border-closing
5. NT https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au/travel...spots-covid-19
6. ACT https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/community/travel
7. Tas https://www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au/t...avel-alert#vic
8. Vic https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/travel-updates

[El Pinguino]

When this is all over never let it be said that Australia didn't do its bit in the pandemic.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/h....html#comments

I recall in April 20 seeing an announcement about this in The Age
Similar to this
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-...cientists.html

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

When this is all over never let it be said that Australia didn't do its bit in the pandemic.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/h....html#comments

Just contrast the statement by Dr Glen Begley: “The preclinical work about ivermectin should never have been published,” Dr Begley said. “The university was aware that there were problems with this research before it was published, but it went ahead anyway. And the truth is that in the fullness of time, Australia will be embarrassed by this story.”

with:

https://cairnsnews.org/2021/09/15/pa...ckmail-in-nsw/

or with:

https://www.palmerfoundation.com.au/...-the-pandemic/

And you'll see positive proof that, while the People's Republic of China has not enough freedom of the press and publication, Aus has a little too much freedom of the press and publication.