A "good scare" is right; it keeps us under the control of a smirking PM telling us we'll get through it "together", despite that fact that it's going to take "six months" (wild guess) - so 2020 is buggered - and he is wrecking the economy. The bulldust about 20-30% of Australians dying has turned into an actual 0.9% of the population who would have carked it soon from some other cause, anyway. Yesterday I was told by my GP that I now had to have my prescriptions faxed to my chemist, who was now PAID EXTRA by the power-drunk PM to deliver medication to me. I live only a few hundred yards from the chemist, but someone might infect me! I can still do my daily half hour walk, as long as I don't speak to anyone! I'm sure my GP, whom I like and respect, is convinced that he's doing the right thing by me, but - jeez! Is it really worth plunging the country into recession just to moddycoddle old folk who don't get out much anyway. Or, put healthy young people out of their jobs. Or close down businesses, many of which will never start up again. More people die of the common flu in Australia each year than will die because of the China virus. We haven't seen gormless politicians wrecking the economy over that.

The PM has often said that he will do what's right for Australia, not overseas countries. But now, he is blindly following overseas countries that are far, far worse off than we are, without any of our advantages.

The author's final paragraph says it all. The Morrison government is acting like a bunch of socialists; and I fead, as many people do, that when the Chinese virus pases into history, they will continue acting that way.

Brendan: Sorry but this article is garbage and demonstrably so! You need to try talking from much higher up next time and be guided by the experts, as opposed to extremely biased opinion!

This is shite stirring of the lowest kind! And reeks of financial self-interest, in my opinion!

Predictably, in Queensland alone, over half a million small family businesses will close their doors permanently and walk away never ever to restart? And that's is just here! Other larger states, but particularly those areas ravaged by runaway firestorms, May experience far worse outcomes?

All of these small to medium operations may have employed 3-4 of more semi-permanent employees? Many past 50? And for the in their relative millions? Added to dole ques that may well eclipse the great depression?

And compounded by a government stacked to he gunnels by extremely counter-productive, callously indifferent, shite stirring, bean counters like you who just don't get and don't give a flying french frankfurt!

Go straight to the corner and put the dunce's hat on until the 12th of never.

I will once again lay out a solution based on historical what has worked evidence, to get the economy up and running ASAP and as a turbocharged, snowballing economy that embraces cooperative endeavour to create it own unstoppable version of the Celtic economic miracle! You could actually help?

But only if you display a far better grasp of the most basic economics!? And the causative factors/government policy, that created the initial success followed by allowing debt-laden foreign investors, who destroyed it!

Who should have been allowed to do what half a million Queensland businesses are facing!? TBC.
Alan B.

"Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded" (Hayek).

Cont. We don't need socialism nor communism comrade! To see us through this crisis but a new/old form of capitalism! Just not the extreme version that simply led us into the great depression and the later GFC! And caused by the concentration of our and I do mean ours, finite wealth, in too few hands!

Which to date has widened the gap between the haves and the have nots/increased exponentially expanding deserts of poverty that surrounded shrinking ilands o often extreme wealth! Most of it purloined be legalistic means and or divine right? Rather than actually earned personally?

We could restart all those small enterprises that have been killed by the economic downturn/firestorms! By employing cooperative capitalism. Those who see it different, can go join the dole queues, and live on the bones of their asses, or who knows how long?

The return to the future Cooperative, free market, private enterprise business model, will not suit the Brendans of this world?

Because it basically rules them and the extreme capitalism model out as it did when we recovered fro the great depression and went on to become the third wealthiest economy and a creditor one at that!

Ditto disruptive control freak unions/union officials along with their BS demands for poorer wages and conditions for the new shareholding workforce!

Implemented as a Cooperative capitalism outcome, with helicoptered, government grant money! And where we go from Great Depression style or greater dole queues to overfull employment and almost none. Save those who wouldn't work in an iron lung!

And where we retired all debt by growing the economy and in the process, created a period of unprecedented prosperity, in a far more unified, egalitarian (Christianised, do unto others) society! And not necessarily with increased church attendance!

The debt burden will be ok, if it creates a far better more egalitarian Australia with it and end forever unaffordable housing, but instead, the return of the great Australian dream of homeownership replete with a real backyard!TBC.
Alan B.

No country has responded perfectly to the c-virus. Morrison could have copied other countries by much earlier closing air traffic to foreigners and forcing ALL arrivals into mandatory isolation.
He also could have better served all businesses with respect to assistance.

But what many don't like, and the list is long, is the unknown duration of the lockdown; the mandatory changes to their lifestyles and the vagueness about what is and what is not "reasonable" behaviour. Also the mixed messages about schools: one edict from CBR and another from say SYD.

My concern is that the advice the PM is receiving is not first rate. And NSW Health Minister, Brad "Ruby" Hazzard's repeated claims that "we have the world's best health advice" (or similar) is a bad joke.

Just compare those advisors to the White House's Dr Anthony Fauci.

Dear Jonathan J. Ariel,

A government can be receiving the best advice in the world but if they do not listen to it as happened with the Trump administration then it is rendered ineffectual very quickly.

Fauci is in a country with a dead rate from this disease per million people is nearly 40 times that of Australia.

It took a while but I think the Morrison government is hitting the right note in what is completely new territory for any recent government. Sure there have been mistakes, a couple pretty huge, and we unfortunately have lost the chance to eradicate it, but still we are luckier than most.

Brendan, please stick to the accounting. You are just so much better at it.

Cont. Every western-style economy rests on just two support pillars, energy and capital! Just two and just those two!

In any recovery, traditional price-gouging, tax-avoiding, profit repatriation will ensure the rapid recovery and debt reduction, will be stymied for literal decades and banana republic economic outcomes!

The business as usual and cronyism that has so marked various patently corrupt administrations cannot be allowed to reemerge, nor deals done with vested interest, that does not serve the best service to the national interest!

Moreover, we cannot socialize the losses and privatise the profits, if we would actually recover anything like lost ground. Nor can there be the sweetheart deals that are rolled out by corrupt governments for a privileged, if undeserving, Hotel Bravo, elite!

All the impediments to cheap clean safe nuclear energy must be removed ASAP and the government to employ an expert who is up to speed with MSR, SMR, thorium and retasking that as nuclear waste burners, using waste we are paid annual billions to accept.

And preference, tax breaks, tax holidays and grants reserved for new energy co-ops that will force fierce competition for market share, along with the rapid uptake of new for us, tried and tested technologies!

And continue that theme across the entire economy in the sure and certain knowledge, we'd be employing the one economic measure that not only survived the Great depression mostly intact but enabled unprecedented prosperity to assist unparalleled growth and debt reduction!

Make every one dollar do the work of seven or more and return a profit of at least $2.50 for every dollar of government money helicoptered in to cooperative capitalism startups.

Which must have competent managers and adequate operating capital to avoid dying on the vine!

And founded on the best practice principles of private enterprise and free-market capitalism with no peer! That's is how we reclaim our economic sovereignty going forward! No question!
Alan B.

Steele

You write:

A government can be receiving the best advice in the world but if they do not listen to it as happened with the Trump administration then it is rendered ineffectual very quickly.

True. But Trump is not alone. BoJo too ignored the severity for a while. My point is that Brendon Murphy and his deputy (not to mention the state equivalents) are not first rate. Hence their opinions are not the best. For what it's worth, I think the Victorian socialist, Andrews, has a first rate health minister Jenny Mikakos, who calls out bad behaviour from medicos when she sees it.

You write:

It took a while but I think the Morrison government is hitting the right note in what is completely new territory for any recent government. Sure there have been mistakes, a couple pretty huge, and we unfortunately have lost the chance to eradicate it, but still we are luckier than most.

I agree that the PM is doing well now, but let's not delude ourselves. Our 'great' record is for a winter morbidity where we have summer and autumn casualties. My money is on the situation getting far worse as we mosey on towards Aug/Sept and that the current lockdown will be extended by many months.

Anyone thinking it'll be lifted soon is enjoying one too many scotches.

What a pointless bit of scribble !

I don't agree with the cash splash of the Morrison govt. Morrison and co. have done a back flip re Newstart/JobSeeker payments. Not long ago he absolutely refused to raise the Newstart payment by even $10 a week; now, he has doubled the payment. The $750 payment to senior pensioners supposedly vulnerable Stay at Home; most stores are closed and why would a senior go out shopping at risk of a fine.

Francesca,

The jobseeker allowance was doubled to stimulate the economy as the govt knows the money will be spent into it. Same with the $750 bonuses. Stop whining when I pay the tax and you spend the money! (....and BTW, I provide free public housing because I'm stupid enough to have a rental investment that my tenant has stopped paying rent on knowing he can't be evicted. I have a mortgage on that and my bank has been so kind as to capitalize the interest to get me through). Just stop bitchin', already! (PS From my bitter experience, landlords are given short shriftin the courts when up against a tenant, and this will be exacerbated by covid).

Meanwhile, I wouldn't judge Trump, Morrison, Adern, male leader, female leader, transexual, any leader, on the basis of deaths per capita at this point in time. I find Trump as amusing and alarming as anyone, but the US health system hasn't been overrun, with enough oxygen and beds for all and the 10% chance of recovery (or less) on a ventilator for all who have needed the option. His sin, according to all those with the 20/20 hindsight, is not putting 330M people into lockdown to emulate NZ, as if this is an option in the land of the free!

The virus is patient and will do you long or slowly, flat or in waves. It will exact its pound of flesh in terms of mortality per infection, regardless of how the curve is shaped. The smart move is Sweden's, which some will point to as a failure at this point with higher deaths per capita than neighbours (as expected through its strategy, of course), and having a male rather than female leader.

In the final washup, Sweden will have a lower mortality per infection than the rest of the world, and will have maintained a working economy thoughout.

I'm happy with the Morrison Government and it's handling of this.

I'm also happy with Gladys Berejiklian and her government actions generally.

I'm not happy with Coles, but then again, I never am.

I'm still toiling away under water. First dive for the day yesterday, was to find my car keys on the bottom of river.

Things are bad but they could be worse!

Dan

Brendan, thank you very much for a well thought out essay. You didn't have much to say about the university sector which will be decimated without overseas students. It seems to me that a viable policy would be to let them all back in provided they go through a fortnight quarantine period and engage in the same distancing conditions where possible. As well as that, regular routine testing should be mandatory.
I am also in complete agreement with your comments about golf, fishing etc. Whoever thought that up should hang his head in shame.
I will refrain from making any disparaging remarks about any of my fellow contributors.
David

Francesca,
I thought the same as you about money thrown at people now but then I realised that it wasn't just money given away, it was Boomerang currency so, not actually that bad a move !

The two pre-ceding pandemics of flu in 1957 and 1968 were far worse for illness and death. I lived through both and there was no recourse to people wetting themselves, ruining the economy or any change to ordinary life. How weak are we to trust scum politicians, medicos and public service idiots inflicting this total nonsense on us?
We deserve all we suffer!

Luciferase, the largesse that I am getting from the government will be staying in the bank for the inevitable rainy day.
David