By Kerri
Around this time, last year, when Melbourne was heading into our longest lockdown, I posted a comment; “Not the worst, just the first.”
Last week Dr Norman Swan commented that Melbourne people are more compliant and more likely to follow rules and Sydney people are more complacent, and that is why Melbourne has been better at addressing outbreaks effectively than Sydney.
Read an article yesterday where the writer claimed that NSW is not as bad as everyone is saying! It is simply the old Melbourne vs Sydney rivalry. I didn’t read the last few paragraphs as I had picked the writer for a Sydneysider doing the usual “we are beyond reproach because we are Sydney and are so much better than the rest of Australia.”
Am currently watching a presser with Mark Mc Gowan where he was asked about lack of compliance in NSW and replied that he was horrified by the footage he had seen of beaches and outdoor venues in NSW, and that both Morrison and Berejiklian were basically begging people to be compliant. He also commented that it was not acceptable for any state or territory to let the virus rip then send their infected citizens off to infect other states and that we shouldn’t have to apply hard borders when other states were not being as careful. (Keeping in mind WA’s recent lockdown was from a resident who was infected in NSW.)
So it’s not just a “Melbourne/Sydney” thing! It may well be a LNP/ALP thing but Gold Standard Gladys, whilst being criticised less, is being criticised by more than just Melbourne residents.
It is definitely a political thing because the LNP could not resist painting Dan Andrews as the demon (Dictator Dan) in our first serious lockdown, both to bad mouth Andrews, who has an approval rating Morrison can only dream of, and to deflect blame from the federal authorities who were pretty much abdicating responsibility for anything COVID-19.
#Scottyfrommarketing, just as he did with his vaccine preference, put all his political eggs into the vaccination rollout, figuring it would be a good PR exercise and a sweet little vote-getter. He also figured it would be less work than controlling the virus spread and he would have time to watch the Sharkies or do more photo ops or announcements or maybe even slip off to another tropical island like he did with the bushfires!
From all eggs to eggs all over his face the Machiavellian Morrison just keeps digging and distracting and re-writing history.
I have taken to watching a YouTube channel where a group of highly-experienced body language experts discuss and analyse televised interviews. These guys do military interrogation training and tactics for public speaking so they are not simple daytime TV guests. One phrase that crops up regularly, because it happens regularly, is “chaff and re-direct.” This refers to bringing up useless, pointless narratives and information (chaff) to cloud the topic and send it off in a different direction (re-direct).
Morrison considers himself an expert on this tactic. That is one point on which I would like to agree with him, however, I suspect most Australians are now beginning to see through that play.
Smirkmo is renowned for his regular smirk which has sometimes been credited to “duper’s delight.” “Duper’s delight” is when a person feels they are getting away with their lies and getting one over their opponent.
IMHO Smirkmo suffers from “premature smirkulation” in that he smirks when he thinks he has said something that will fool his audience rather than when his audience shows signs of having been fooled by him.
Meanwhile, the conspiracy theorists and Dan Andrews haters continue with their belief that Dan’s stair fall was a case of him being drunk! As my 27 year old said:
“I still don’t understand why it matters if he was drunk.
We are not in prohibition era America.
It is not a crime to get drunk and fall over hahaha!”
And as I keep saying when this is argued: He was on leave. He was not at work. If he did get drunk it is no-one’s business but his own.
Wishing that Andrews accident could be blamed on something scandalous and 1920s and nefarious or something more befitting our newest 2nd time ‘round deputy PM, does not do much to dent Andrews reputation other than with those who are already happy to swallow the “duper’s delight” the federal politician in chief is offering.
PS: Which is worse?
Getting drunk and falling down some stairs?
Or being perpetually drunk, being accused of groping women and having that complaint covered up by a mate with similar accusations?
Just saying? 🤷🏼♂️
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