Richard my son, does some maintenance for a local bloke with a trucking company, mainly on semis, tractors, forklifts & an excavator. He also dose the occasional day delivering hay back loaded from north Queensland. He got a call for urgent help the other day.

Apparently a driver on a trip to Victoria was at a truck inspection stop near Penrith, & had been told his covid log was over the limit or something for NSW. He was legal in Victoria, & Queensland, but not in NSW. He could not move the truck, & the company was given 48 hours to move it, or suffer impoundment. The driver was not allowed to drive anything in NSW until his log book status changed, 14 days I believe.

Richard got the urgent call. Would he pick up a driver from near by, drive him to the truck, & bring the original driver back. Although he would be driving his own car, it would have to be a logbook trip, with all the rigmarole.

Richard was happy to help out, but what stupidity. Legal in QLD & Vic, but not NSW. The original driver could not drive himself home, as it would be considered a commercial trip, all because he had driven through a part of Sydney, even without stopping.

God some bureaucrats need a swift kick where the sun doesn't shine.

Mein Fuhrer Hasbeen,

This is a great story.

Have you thought about making a movie out of it?

Hasbeen,
Insanity reigns supreme & oxygen thieves like Mr Opinion are required by Law to perpetuate it via compulsory voting !
That's why we need a National Service to rid us of such stupidity !

Hasbeen,

It sure is crazy. A permit is now needed to enter Victoria. Seems as though we are going back to separate colonies. The federal government might as will disband.

A couple SA truckies obtained permits to drive through Victoria, but there was nobody at the border to check them. They continued on their journey to NSW unmolested by Dan's political police.

I don't know what Mr. Opinion is doing with the oxygen he is stealing; it's not getting to his brain.

individual,

National service in an Asianized Australia? You propose to train Australians to fight against their ancestral homelands?

Are you joking or just plain you stupid?

I don't think Chinese Australians would be happy knowing that they are being trained to fight against their ancestral homeland China.

How would you think Bogan Australians would feel if they were told they were being trained to fight against their ancestral homeland the UK?

I don't think any political party will introduce conscription in Australia now that it is an Asian nation-state.

You're living in the past individual. National service is a Bogan Australian relic - just like you!

"had been told his covid log was over the limit"

What the hell's a 'covid log'? More bureaucratic make-work schemes? Or perhaps someone who stays at home, lounging about watching 'Days of our Lives' while on job-keeper.

"The federal government might as will disband."
Oh. So some good might come from the viral lockdowns after all.

A coupla years back I was in court doing battle with the local council over a dog registration. While waiting for my case there were a procession of trucking companies being prosecuted for various breaches. One was a bus driver whose bus was found to be overweight on some wheels. That is, the bus overall wasn't over-weight, just that some wheels were carrying an over-weight load. The reason, the bus company explained, was that the passengers were mostly 'large' (ie fat) retirees and they'd all moved to one side to witness the bus weighing. Too bad, says the judge. The bus driver pointed out that had he instructed the fat passengers to redistribute their weight he'd have been in breach of discrimination laws. That's a different court, says the judge, so not my concern.

Fine - $3000 plus costs. Everyone recognised the injustice of it all, except the court.

mhaze,

I like your story and hope someone will make a movie out of it. Yours is definitely a much better story than mein Fuhrer Hasbeen's story.

I have a very low opinion of court officers.

What do you think of their discount system where criminals are awarded discounts for crimes committed. The victim never gets a discount, it's only for the wrongdoer.

Whenever there is a trial scheduled the media should go straight to the judge and ask "How big a discount are you thinking of giving for that crime?"

Dear Hasbeen,

There have been many instances of holes in the COVID bureaucracy here in Victoria. Many of us have joked about them and been a little exasperated. But in the end we are bloody grateful for COVID being kept largely at bay from our communities and have generally cut the government some slack. The high compliance levels have been a welcome surprise to me

Keeping COVID at bay is easy. Just stop any incoming people.

The UK has kept it's incoming tourist traffic, which it really does depend on, & look where it has got them.

Stop all incoming flights, & stop anyone disembarking from any ship, & the problem is solved. Then life can return to normal.

Can someone do something about the village idiot ?

Bazz,

"Can someone do something about the village idiot?"

Apart from expressing a negative Opinion, not much!!

The the shadowy, unelected bureaucrats in SA have punted for the police surveillance information gleaned from the QR app and sign ins at shops being kept for longer than the 28 months. Fortunately, the government has knocked the idea in the head. The whole thing should be knocked in the head. Since its inception in SA, it has not been used; has not been needed. But, who knows what the secretive public service has been doing with the information for reasons not connected to the China virus.

Bazz,

What's up, can't take being shown what people are really like, warts and all?

Why don't you go and then we will both be happy?

It does appear that the majority of our new community infection is coming from hotel Quarantine, as it is being practiced. We need to make the system foolproof, & stop letting overseas travelers into the country, until we have improved the system.

The current system of part time security personnel, working in other jobs as well, is a recipe for spreading any infection as far as possible. The system may be great for hotel owners with no other source of clients, but it does not appear to be well enough run to be of much use for the safety of the general population.

Dear Hasbeen,

Clearly, quarantine facilities should be run only by those who already recovered from COVID, or been fully and effectively vaccinated. Such people, in any numbers, should be well-paid and welcomed to arrive even from overseas, provided they agree to dedicate a certain period to work in quarantine facilities.

Jumping the gun a bit there Yuyutsu. These are not a full vaccine, they should stop anyone reinfected becoming sick, but we don't know if they actually prevent the recipient from becoming reinfected, & possibly pass the infection on to others.

Certainly not time to start letting people in, just because they have had the jab. More experience & research is needed before we know the percentage of recipients that will actually become immune, let alone no longer dangerous.

I think that there is little doubt that Victoria's management of the covid crisis has been the worst and the statistics prove it.

Danistan has the highest infection rate, death rate and negative growth in the country.

#givedantheboot

shonkyminister, we don't often agree, but the Victorian response to the hotel quarantine outbreak was unacceptable. The subsequent inquiry into the matter and its failing to identify the decision maker(s) involved in the whole fiasco should be judged by the people of Victoria at the next election. You have a political bias against Andrews, which is understandable, I have a political bias against certain politicians myself.

I am concerned that the Federal government was not more hands on with the response to hotel quarantine, after all boarder security is a federal responsibility. Just as I am concerned that there have been some failings in NSW, particularly the 'Ruby Princess' fiasco which the NSW Health Minister, The Hassard' was able to dodge a bullet over. The NSW government also failed to fess up to the origins of the northern beaches outbreak. Again questions asked about The Hazzard and any special exemption for a possible Liberal Party friend.

China virus vaccine kills 30 oldies in Norway. Talk now of it being useless for people over 65. List of sides effects awaiting Australians - 60% will suffer from fatigue and headaches on top of a list off other dire results. What a f..k up. It's a good thing that the government has ruled out compulsion.

Dear Hasbeen,

Obviously those who arrive from overseas that were already fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID, must first undergo some kind of quarantine on their first 14 days in Australia, though possibly not as stringent. They may be able to perform some roles in quarantine hotels during that period, so long as they do not mix with the general Australian community. They will of course be tested daily.

---

Dear Ttbn,

There is this saying: "No pain - no gain"!

The vaccination symptoms indicate how strongly the body is fighting the "virus". The fatigue and headaches that follow the Pfizer vaccine demonstrate how effective it is. With the mediocre AstraZeneca compromise they want to offer us as substitute, we are sadly likely to feel much fewer side effects.

I will do what I can to get the Pfizer anyway. If possible I will purchase it in the open market.

Dear paul1405,

You write: "the Victorian response to the hotel quarantine outbreak was unacceptable"

I thought it was pretty spot on. It was the things that led up to it that I have an issue with including hiring a private company on something this important.

Inadequacies did get shown up but most Victorians that I know are prepared to cut him some slack precisely because of the way he responded.

His failures compared to people like Trump and Boris are infinitesimal but it was the way he showed leadership in tackling them was what people have appreciated.

How did the first incidence of Covid get into Australia? Where did it come from? Who brought it here?

Pauliar,

The federal government authority covers only customs and immigration but not what happens after that. Morrison offered to assist with the running of quarantine which Daniel Andrews refused. The responsibility for the quarantine cock up lies completely with covid Dan.

While I am ideologically opposed to Labor, McGowan in WA at least has the semblance of competence and is not a tin pot authoritarian like the hopelessly incompetent Andrews.

From NSW, Victorians seem to be suffering from a group Stockholm syndrome.

Shadow Minister, I think the constitution gives quarantine control to
the Federal Govt, but health is a state matter.
So it might be that before disembarkation it is Federal but from then
on it is a state health matter.
So anyone already here that catches it their quarantine is a state matter.

The first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was been confirmed by Victoria Health Authorities.

The infected person, a man from Wuhan China, flew to Melbourne from Guandong China on 19 January.

Hi Steele,

"the Victorian response to the hotel quarantine outbreak was unacceptable". Sorry a bit unclear with that, I should have said the political response was unacceptable, the medical response was first class. The heath minister and a couple of bureaucrats were thrown under the bus, which was fair enough, but no one within the Andrews government was willing to come clean and fess up that they actually approved the use of private security in hotel quarantine, someone did, but someone within the Labor government was unwilling to say "it was me, buddy!". Maybe I am looking for a non-existent culprit, but the electorate can judge that for themselves. Trump was politically executed for his pathetic response to the pandemic. Bug Ridden Boris admits he is the bloody fool who is reasonable for over 100,000 dead in Britain, but is it enough for him to resign, he don't think so.

shonkyminister, you failed to mention biosecurity, during the 1919 flu pandemic the North Head Quarantine Station in Sydney was totally run by the Federal government. Morrison is a master at palming off responsibility. State cooperation has been absolutely necessity during the pandemic as we operate within a federation, and the States have considerable authority, but not absolute authority. Morrisons National Cabinet was a very good idea which allowed for coordination between federal and state. A good test of that will come with the vaccine rollout and distribution. Mostly a federal reasonability, but the states will have their part to play.

Paul,

The Vic government's medical response was 3rd class. Their contact tracing was a shambles, they sent sick people into age care homes etc.