As sophisticated as modern government is, as evinced by crowd behaviour at the supermarket, in the end it's every man for himself.

Dan

Well, yes: epidemics are nothing new, and I suppose the numbskulls with no knowledge of history need to be told this (whether they will listen is a moot point), but the knowledge is not much use in the here and now. And the 200 years of 'struggle and panic' in Australia is a bit of an exaggeration.

The reality is that no living Australia has been confronted with anything like the China virus, which has invaded our borders, thanks to an unprecedented movement of people. Our island advantage has been blown, by the stupidity of globalisation, and economic over reliance on a country, China, whose people and practices are not equal to ours.

And HIV/AIDS should not be mentioned in the same breath as something that can strike any normal person down.

This article is of no use or comfort to anyone. We have a chief medical officer for the Commonwealth, and one for each state. They are the people we should be listening to; not every Tom, Dick and Harry putting his oar in and stirring up media panic merchants like Tracy Grimshaw and others who are doing a lot of harm.

It is clear that some folk just don't give a toss, given they'll be alright! Others think it's the sort of thing that comes with liquid dysentery and have consequently bought five-year worth of toilet tissue?

I watched the Sunday footy as did a few local die-hard supporters and to a man crammed in like sardines in every advantageous viewing spot. Social distancing!? No attempt, not even arms lenth!

It's like we have two societies, one that gives a dam, like old school Australians/Anacs.

And a new cohort who are ride-sharing just don't. Agree already n the road with holiday caravans in tow. To spread this highly contagious infection as far and wide as possible against a mostly trusting and defenceless population

And that OK, give we flatten the curve, acquire herd immunity?

Laugh and cackle madly about another's personal misfortune or demise, are thinking about Gran's inheritance rather than Gran, think that they are personally bulletproof, it won't happen to them as we've seen in all conflicts.

And are content that the 20% of fatalities will be in the older cohort, you know those old foggies eking out a miserable existence on the public purse and eating into/competing with the negative gearing budget etc.

It's the economy stupid.
Alan B.

The travel junkies & mass tourism are the single biggest factor in the spread of any virus.
They all but killed off the Great Barrier Reef & now we're copping it !
Haven't heard of any more refugee boats anywhere, have they stopped ?
Instead of masks we should all wear a burkha now !

Individual: I'd add a set of goggles and rubber gloves to the suggested dress code for almost complete protection!

Go into any infectious ward to see almost the exact same. Except it'll usually be all white.

Take care and stay safe.
Alan B.

tbbn, well said, and needed to be sayed.

As my Granny used to say (born 1899 generation). If you can say anything useful, or good say nothing. T

There are too many armchair spoofers, publishing opinions and flooding the airwaves, particularly the ABC and Dr Norman Swan (Grrrr!) Who does he think he is, to flaunt his own opinion over that of the Chief Medical Officer and the Government, just because he and the left-wing socialists of the ABC commune hate SCOMO etal. They nearly managed to crucify him over the bushfires, now they are hounding after him//Frydenberg 24/7.

And what makes it worse the keep spruiking that is "Your ABC", what hypocrites.

Alison Jane,

Glad to see your take on that scruffy little Scotchman. For all his posturing, he is just another ABC activist with no official standing.

I'm glad that you appreciate the need for straight talk. There is no place for weasel words when it comes to the China virus. China is where criticism should be directed , not at our own people - officials and some politicians - who are trying to get us through it. They need our full cooperation.

has anyone in the abc taken a pay cut or lost their jobs yet? Are we see funding all these activist to cr p on whities and push their gender, race, femininst, marxist doctrines. Have any of them swallowed an ounce of pride yet and come clean with the gw hoax?

runner,

Oh.. those are tough questions... now give a nano-second to respond

NO (never will, as sure as water don't run up hills, except in under pressure, just to cover any smart asses out there!)
YES (its a criminal/fascist politically correct outpourings are not consistent with ""your ABC", cos its theirs)
NO (not until someone admits to Who killed Kennedy or we get a true reforming Chair/MD and Board!)

pass the panadol and gin, sun is past the yardarm somewhere?

Don't know if there is such a thing as historical memory. Wisdom can only be gained. It dies with the person.

My father spoke of how off guard Australia was caught with ww2. He said all the ones warning of the danger beforehand were dismissed as cranks.
Getting a feel for what he was talking about now.

Worse now with our extraordinarily city centric population coddled by an artificial environment where everything's taken care of. There's no need to think ahead so it's all about feelings. Children for life.

Be thankfull it is just a virus this time.

jamo,
Not trying to rub anything in here but I have said on several occasion that Australia's worst enemies are among her own people !
To my mind it's the Leftists !

Dear runner and Alison Jane,

My God what a pair of whingers. The ABC has been a godsend. It is the only place which has delivered timely information for the most part undiluted with political spin.

And runner, why are you even bringing up GW in this discussion?

If either of you think that Morrison has done a good job on this you are stark raving mad. There will be thousands of extra deaths on his hands. I'm pissed off with Andrews too for letting himself get talked down by Scomo.

If you want to see what letting experts and the doers speak instead of the politicians looks like check out this video of Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, USACE Commanding General and 54th U.S. Army Chief of Engineers keeping it real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csfCKuy5HH8&feature=youtu.be

The likelihood of Scomo ever letting his ego take a backstep so we can get someone like this as the face of what is happening in Australia is almost zero.

Norman Swan shouldn't be having to take the role he is. If this government was doing its job we wouldn't need to hear from him at all. Right now there are very few who are as trusted.

Thank god for the ABC.

Dear individual,

It wasn't a rightwing government which took us through WW2 mate. Look your life matters as does everyone your age. You really should be pissed of at those who through inaction have put your life at grave risk. This think is likely to see off quite a number of us posting here and the only way we will know is the posts will stop. That is daunting to me and it should be to you.

Jamo, I concurr, and while the me-too, Greta worshiping media (led by OUR, (really Steelredux's) ABC") promote our young-uns (sub-25-yr old) to demand and expect everything on a gold, "Kardashian" platter, our real hardworking ancestors will be continued and trashed. These ABC/Greta types are just so ... what the word. Shallow!

Jamo and individual you continue to impress/amuse me..

steel-nut.... are you a "Arts luvee"? If so, you need practice and better material if you want to succeed as a court Jester. I was surprised you didn't engage in the Viv Forbes Carbon capture Storage article debate of a few days ago.... we missed your insight. Maybe you were displaying your perfect body along with the other know-it-alls on Bondi Beach during that one!

Have another Spliff and dream of the Day Andres can outsmart anyone. Thank goodnees I immigrated to a state that wasn't run by pricks like him, Bracks....

Happy Isolation day ta ye all.

ps tbbn, minor, but DEADLY point. Its Scots man, not Scotchman.

If you call a Scot that, he (even worse she or it) will creak its neck and get "laid-in-ta-ya" with fist, hog-nail boots and waht every glass weapon they have in both hands, as Billy Connolly would put it! Just a well-being tip mate!

A Joke to all you Scotsmen out there, honestly... please.... I beg you!

It wasn't a rightwing government which took us through WW2 mate.
SteeleRedux,
........ the Coalition Government now relied on the support of the two Independents to remain in office. ALP leader John Curtin, while supporting the war effort, resisted Menzies' offers to form an all party national government.
Resisting common sense then & resisting it now !

I quite like the colourful names we give these pandemics: The Black Death, the Spanish Flu, and now the Wuhan Virus.

Alison Jane,

"Scotchman" was deliberate. I'm half Scottish myself, but the one and only time I visited their gloomy country I felt they were a miserable lot. I suppose that makes me half-miserable.

John Curtin was a hopeless drunk, who got on a train and went back to Perth for a holiday during the war. Totally out of contact during the train trip from coast to coast. What a whacker.

Dear Alison Jane,

What garbage.

Why aren't you and your ilk bagging all the modelling done by the epidemiologists? Well actually plenty of you started to. Now suddenly, when your lives are at stake, those pesky academics are okay by you. How deeply hypocritical is that.

Science sucks when it doesn't align with your toxic ideology, but now the tone has changed. You still prefer to pronouncements of right wing shock jocks and politicians compared to a trained physician like Swan because you lot revel in your pig ignorance.

Your brains are so thoroughly addled by your denialism and denigration of those who are capable of challenging the propaganda you cling to yourselves that any reasoned conversation is impossible. So why do you persist on afflicting your afflictions on the rest of us?

...pesky academics are okay by you.
Steeleredux,
No, they're not & never will be ! It's the REAL scientists we appreciate.

Peski Rat,
The story is narrated by a rat who wishes he could live the life of a proper pet. He visits several friends who are proper pets, including a chinchilla and a cat. However, he doesn't like the way any of them live. In the end, he puts up signs, asking if there is any one who wants a rat as a pet, and goes to a pet store. He is finally taken home from the store by an old man with poor eyesight sees him in the display window and mistakes him for a cat. In the end, the rat says that he doesn't mind pretending to be a cat and that he likes his life as a pet.

Sound familiar to you ? Blind bureaucrats & BA flashing pseudo intellectuals !

Individual. Indeed ol'kid. No rub at all. My opinion the only thing worse than a bad idea is a bad idea thoroughly held to be a good idea.
The only equal to the lefties belief in their bad ideas is the pseudo cons belief in theirs.

Cheers Alison.

Steel Red-nuts, apologies sincerely. I forgot to respond to you model whinge on Monday. The reason is that the Epideme models our that.. just models to help understand the data. They are not " 97% settled gods, that you I guess is which you worship the GCMs CC crap.

As a real world climate scientist I read weather maps (back to when they used to be A0 fax maps with early satellite images). No hitech computer power then when my prize tool was a BBC-8bit, motorola coimputer with two floppy discs. then, ya had to have a brain.

But even weather models, "deterministic models" as a taught students are limited, despite farms of super computers and a wealth of live data, they cant forecast past 3-days... remember the 31 Dec 19 BOM statements that no rain until mid April/may 2020 in the midst of the CCC bush fire frenzy? don't see you criticizing them or you ABC luvie mates who promoted that crap to scare people. "Our ABC" my foot!

CCC model graphs used by IPCC are statistical representations of usually 40- models, which they average to tell their story that you love. I shouldn't waste time on your carp, its not for you but the open mined out there in OLO isolation so they might think..., you and your KKK like CCC nutters will never admit you might not be right.

What the angle that makes you call your self "Steel Redux"?... (weird mind, or weed/majic mushroom stuff?)