The political blame game is now deafening

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Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia are arguing, as might be expected, for a reduction in the already very small number of international arrivals. This is even if NSW has always taken the essentials since the Australian borders were closed almost 18 months ago.

Currently, the caps are 3,000 per week in NSW, 1,300 in Queensland, 1,000 in Victoria and 530 in WA.

But Daniel Andrews said he would ask the national cabinet to dramatically reduce the number of people entering the country and entering hotel quarantine by 75 to 80%.

It is the authority of the Prime Minister to put a strong position on behalf of the Commonwealth which has been much more damaged. This has lasting consequences for the federation.

It’s better to lock some people up than lock up everyone, he said.

It is even better for state governments to ensure that everyone working with arrivals is properly vaccinated and masked, that hotel ventilation systems are of an acceptable standard, and that health and care workers to the elderly should be vaccinated.

It’s too late to worry about it now apparently. Even the potential risk created by a single unvaccinated health worker or driver was not sufficient to require a consistent or enforced immunization system.

Instead, the simplest policy response for most prime ministers beyond NSW is to close the borders even more tightly.

Andrews concedes that it would be desperately sad to tell some people that they couldn’t return home to Australia for compassionate reasons.

But if you come home for these compassionate reasons it’s much more likely that there is an outbreak and you have to lock down everyone, then you have to make that tough call, he said. The greatest good for the greatest number and that is exactly what to do well.

Warnings from the business community that Australia must maintain and increase international arrivals to fill some of the growing skills gaps in the workforce are likely to be overtaken by this kind of political panic.

Gladys Berejiklian’s ability to counter such rhetoric is also severely diminished given the rampant number in NSW from a single unvaccinated limo driver.

But it was the Prime Minister’s authority to put a strong position on behalf of the Commonwealth that was much more damaged. This has lasting consequences for the federation. Morrison’s decision to step aside from challenging the states has been apparent for months. The current debacle demonstrates the growing cost.

Consider the absurd accusations, especially from the Premier and the Queenslands Chief Medical Officer, that Morrison was indeed risking the lives of young people by encouraging them to speak to their GP about the possible use of AstraZeneca. Even for the most parochial of Queenslanders, it’s extreme.

At least his fellow Labor Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has shown some sense of perspective.

Don’t take the medical advice of MPs, polls, take the medical advice of your GP, he said. Talk to your doctor. Talk to your pharmacist.

Andrews argues logically that the statements of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization that do not recommend AstraZeneca for those under 60 are very broad and risk averse and do not necessarily apply to individual circumstances.

The difference now is that general practitioners receive professional compensation for having these one-on-one discussions with those under 60.

But, of course, such a strategy has no hope of being properly tackled until the vaccine rollout in Australia begins to unfold. And while this is improving, it will only happen several months at best due to a still insufficient supply from Pfizer and conflicting messages on AstraZeneca.

Even the end-of-year calendar seems overly optimistic. So what’s the point?

Berejiklian says normal COVID requires 80% of the adult population to be vaccinated. Andrews is more blunt, saying everyone needs to be offered the vaccine even if they don’t want it.

We wouldn’t have a lockdown to protect people who weren’t ready to protect themselves, he insisted.

Of course, a cautious prime minister was nowhere near so definitive.

Some of the immediate fury could fade away assuming Queensland and Western Australia are able to proclaim victory over their clusters, as seemed likely on Thursday, and lift their lockdowns tonight (Friday). There have been no new cases in South Australia and Victoria.

But another 24 cases in NSW also reported on Thursday show the virus hiding among a mostly unvaccinated population, which has yet to be brought under control.

The contrast to the success of vaccines elsewhere, particularly in the UK and US, is becoming increasingly shocking. Maybe more Australians should fly to Los Angeles and make Pfizer jabs available to everyone at the airport. Oh that’s right. Most Australians are not allowed to leave or return to Australia. We are left with our fingers crossed. Brilliant.

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