In these circumstances, some of the restrictions being proposed at the national level may become, if you will pardon the inappropriate term, overkill.

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Keeping a safe distance

Maybe I am being hyper-critical of the Prime Minister but I wonder whether his desire to be totally in charge is over-reach, given that he has a finite skill-set.

I actually live alone but most people do not.

If a family, all of whose members are living in the same house, goes to a restaurant for a meal, how does social distancing affect them?

Clearly, if any of them has picked up the Covid-19 infection, just living under the same roof pretty much guarantees the others are at high risk of becoming infected.

Yet the restaurateur might feel that (s)he is breaking the law if they are allowed to sit closer together than the regulations allow.

Will they have to provide proof that they do live under the same roof, even in some cases sleep in the same bed?

Or will whatever laws or regulations which are eventually released, make it clear that it only applies to people who are not in the same household?

I live in the Top End, where, to date, the number of Covid-19 cases notified requires only the fingers of one hand. There are also others in self-isolation who will shortly be emerging into the public.

We are about to close our borders – and rightly so, as the compromised health of so many of our remote Aboriginal people would lead to a disastrous outcome were the virus to gain a foothold among them.

In these circumstances, some of the restrictions being proposed at the national level may become, if you will pardon the inappropriate term, overkill.

I fully appreciate that the virus outbreak has a deadly potential – but so has driving on Northern Territory roads!

In fact, with the recent introduction of fracking, climate change leading to lower rainfall totals, water table levels reducing and growing fears of running out of potable water, we have other really major concerns needing to addressed in our backyard!

I do not wish to seem flippant, but I also feel that if regulations are not very carefully drafted, they might run the risk of making the law seem like an ass.

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14 comments

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  1. New England Cocky

    Now, now Rosemary, in this very serious time of medical emergency you have surely recognised that the only reliable source of information about COVID-19 is Dr Norman Swann on ABC television and ABC Radio National.

    Also read the AIMN research report article: https://theaimn.com/preventing-the-spread-of-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR3KmdO2jiuckKI0mafCb6ARgcvhwv4dsZjIIFnEGEtuoyAA2WoW3HBrJaA

    Your comments about intra-family infections are, sadly, accurate but do not apply to the US president and his cohort of interview backers who stand shoulder to should to get in camera shot because the interview venue is in the White House Bubble.

  2. Ken

    No Rosemary you are not being hyper-critical of ScottyFromMarketing. You are on the money.

  3. Lambchop Simnel

    Personally, I would love too know the back story to the ship in Sydney that was allowed to release hundreds of ill people into the community without testing.

    The Berejiklian government is now absolutely notorious for its stuff ups, by this writers lights.

  4. Kerri

    As to the family in the restaurant,
    What about the wait staff?? Will the family of five be asked to step outside while the server lays out the food on the table??
    Take away or home delivery it better still home cooking is sadly the new, but hopefully temporary, normal.

  5. Keitha Granville

    Tasmania is also in the very small numbers arena, and we shut the door first, not soon enough in my opinion, but hopefully we have stopped the imports. We have as yet no cases of community transmission so I am with you in some respects. If we have stopped it here, we need to be able to get back to work and back to life asap. We need to let our citizens out into cafes and bars and theatres and stadiums asap. We need workers to be working.

    I think the States are going to have to be allowed to make their own decisions for their own citizens. Sorry PM, but you haven’t got this right from the start.

  6. Allan K

    Rosemary, you will know the NT govt has drunk the cool-aid when they shut down Mindal Beach. The closure of Bondi Beach is one for the books. Will future generations look back and laugh, or will they be forever slaves to fear as intended by our feeble media who to a person seem to be unable to think critically. Has it escaped health authorities that swimming and outdoor exercise, fresh air and direct sunlight are healthy options likely to destroy a virus. If the plan is to use the appearance of Corona virus as a Trojan Horse to destroy the modern freedoms associated with our Western lifestyles, eg. the freedom to go to the beach or to assemble and say protest CC, or the freedom to use a motor vehicle to go to the beach (don’t worry, car travel is next on the naughty list to be banned during city-suburban lockdowns), then the plan is going along perfectly. In using quarantine measures, then protect the elderly and those with auto-immune conditions as a matter of course. Shutting down the whole show looks like paranoid over-reach. As noted in Bloomberg (2020-03-18) this week, “More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions”. Look after that vulnerable group as a priority and let the rest of the population engage in healthy activity.

  7. Jon Chesterson

    STEP ASIDE MORRISON AND FRYDENBERG – NO MORE DAILY POLITICAL SERMONS AND GRANDSTANDING – YOU ARE NOT THE EXPERT!

    A law that cannot be effectively adhered to will fall into disrepute. Of course it would be ridiculous for any policing of this to expect family members of the same household to sit 1.5 metres apart or for businesses to face fines or retribution from an unworkable and unreasonable interpretation of that law; and is it a law passed through our legislatively assembly or an executive decree, government policy?

    Morrison is a control freak and yes he is politicising and milking this situation for all it’s worth. He is claiming high moral ground from the groin of his own political and social abuse. Yes he has to be the total all out ‘fat controller’ and he will continue to throw lectures and sermons at us every day claiming relentlessly and illegitimately his bipartisanship – What a marvellous opportunity he now has to do this and imprint his ‘fat’ ugly politics and image on us, promoting his own product and social design. He will use this authority to impose and imprison anyone or by publicly shaming them, any who question or critique his authority, especially in social media where he has less control and influence, where the public voice will be heard; for it is less likely to be heard through the trombones and siphons of public and private media which he increasingly controls.

    And we should not trust this government whatever they say or do. They have never levelled with us, they have lied and abused their authority at every point of government, that will not change with Covid-19. And what transparency, constructive and meaningful debate there never was will be buried deeper still while we are all confined to home by decree. They will use this to formalise the powers of executive government. As I write this I am reminded by Morrison and Frydenberg’s public address this morning, how they frame, manipulate and milk the false generosity and attitude that belies their announcements and their political monopoly, as if we should bow down and kiss their feet, wailing our praises. They simply can’t help themselves blowing off their own trumpets all the way to the next election, and they will.

    STEP ASIDE MORRISON AND FRYDENBERG and wipe that dead smug ugly smile off your face.

    I am far more sick of them than ever I shall be of coronavirus with all its worts and fears!

  8. Neil

    Agree, Jon. Well said.

  9. Harry Lime

    Correct weight, Jon, and don’t forget, he’s building that”bridge” to the other side,can’t take the marketing out of the failed ad man.
    Looks like a prick,acts like a prick,talks like a prick,is a PRICK.

  10. Jack Cade

    I went to the supermarket this morning. A sign on the door said ‘no toilet rolls are available’. I was not seeking any, but plenty of shoppers were . Now most toilet paper in Australia is made on SA, so you’d think Adelaide shops would be chock-full of loo paper. but we are in the country that sells its natural gas to overseas buyers before it sells it to its own citizens.
    Most of the shoppers were observing the ‘social distancing’ rule most of the time, excepting at the checkouts, where most paid BY CASH, handing almost certainly microbe-encrusted currency to youngsters who handed back almost certainly microbe-encrusted change.
    Seems daft, to me…
    I assume public transport is not expected to conform? Or do we get a bus or carriage each?

  11. RosemaryJ36

    Keitha – you are spot on. If you are keeping in isolation those who test positive while stopping people who might be infected from coming in, why cannot business as usual apply?

  12. whatever

    Scotty is speaking in Parliament right now, and he keeps mentioning our Anzac tradition and building the Snowy Mountains scheme but also the Great Depression.
    This is supposed to be a medical emergency, but most of the speech concerns the economic collapse occurring at the moment because people have invested in stupid things the ASX should never have listed in the first place.

  13. A Commentator

    How quickly these types of opinions date. Right now most are saying Morrison should have gone harder and earlier.

    Yes Rosemary, you were looking for a reason to be hyper-critical, but you chose the wrong direction.

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