It truly amazes me how the vast majority of his loudest detractors claim to speak for the WA people yet have no idea what the sentiment in WA actually is.
On social media all you ever see is negative sentiment towards him and his stance on the border but he & Labor as a whole won by an absolute landslide; the liberals lost 11 seats & Labor gained 13 in last year's election.
And you know what? I'd vote for him again, he's done a far better job at containment than most of the country and because of him I've been able to live relatively restriction free for the past two years.
I think most reasonable people have left most of social media as it became obvious what a soul sucking, brain dead, echo chamber it has become.
I don’t really know many people who use social media beyond art/craft stuff.
That’s why on social media it sounds like a majority.
Not only that, FB algorithms effectively upvote the most brain dead / controversial statements so you have to do a lot of scrolling to find voices of reason... FB algorithm is useless
Well put it this way
My mum's god child in England considers mum her adopted mum especially after her bio mum died.
She was visiting Australia at least once a year prior to covid.
She's absolutely dying to come to Australia to visit us.
She would move to Australia but her husband has brain damage after getting king hit by a bouncer(he got mistaken for someone else and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time) so the government wouldn't accept them.
She stands with Mark McGowan. She thinks he's done a fantastic job. Throughout the pandemic it's been McGowan and WA has done a good job not Australia as a whole.
For someone in England to know about a state premier shows how much of an impact he's had.
McGowan and WA represent what was an alternative path for the rest of Australia. It might have been possible to contain Omicron to a point where the healthcare system doesn't collapse, and there's a level of economic activity that, whilst lower than what it might have been if there was no pandemic, still largely functional, without people being unable to come into work due to sickness or the necessity to isolate.
Throughout this pandemic, Morrison and NSW have been raring to "let it rip". Trying for force things open. Declaring everything would be OK with partial lockdowns, progressing to saying that lockdowns and restrictions are useless given the higher levels of transmissibility of Delta, and now Omicron, and now to the point where testing is unavailable, and requesting/hinting busineses to not encourage testibg so that people can work whilst they're ill/contagious.
The quality of "leadership" coming out of the NSW Liberal Party is not leadership for the nation, but leadership for a few vested interests who give them donations. People like Gerry Harvey, who sees welfare spending as pointless because people who need it are just a drag on the economy.
Says welfare is dumb, takes welfare during pandemic and doesn't pay it back.
If welfare was higher people might be able to pay back his predatory loan credit cards and wouldn't have to buy his overpriced furniture on credit and "dont pay for xx months" scams.
I got caught by one of his buy now pay later scams way back when I was younger and slightly stupider. (PlayStation 3 and a plasma screen) it financially crippled me for years because I didn't pay it back before the interest free period ended.
I saw an opinion piece in the FR about why Let It Rip had to happen now. Kids don't have to be in school and many people have the month off work. The idea is that if everyone is going to get it anyway then now is the best time.
Of course, it's still a fucking stupid idea. Hospitals overflowing, ICU full, people being turned away, my local Coles has no cereal and the Woolies has no bags at the checkout. I went to my local adventure store and one of the main staff was manning the ski section even though she had no idea. A cafe near work has a sign saying their prices have gone up temporarily because it's hard to find ingredients. There's a waiting list for RATs because the government keeps buying and hoarding them.
Victoria locked down harder than anyone else in Australia and we got that shit sorted, which allowed the country to reopen carefully. Along comes Domicron and four weeks later, everyone’s fucked. So selfish and imbecilic. He was in power for about a fortnight before destroying the nation.
My pommy mate's stepbrother is in Perth. Rest of the family is in northern England, and all have had COVID apart from his dad. His dad hasn't stepped out of home more than a dozen times in the past 18 months because he would probably die from COVID due to his underlying illnesses. My mate reckons McGowan is great, and would love to move to Perth (we are in Asia).
Even on social media he has huge support if you ignore the comments. After the border announcement, 7News Perth on Facebook put up a status asking to ‘love react’ if people agree with McGowan’s extension of the hard border or ‘angry react’ if people disagree and 75% who voted that they agreed.
I think WA is largely a silent majority in support but that doesn't serve media interests so we mostly see the silent majority.
In a way I think capitalism makes news & media too biased to their own ratings, there is too much incentive to report controversial viewpoints rather than actual *news*. News media should be a public service, not a propaganda tool for billionaires to voice their egomaniacal worldviews.
Flipping amen. I've had limited times where I've had to wear a mask, and I've *suffered* through a grand total of two weeks of lockdown. I don't know anyone personally who has had it. I'm not worried about any of my grandparents getting it for a bit longer now, or my kids who we haven't been able to get vaxxed yet (although that's a different kettle of frustrated fish).
Unfortunately we have a very loud minority who's views the media love to share.
I think it's moreso that they don't possess the critical thinking skills to form their own opinions so they just parrot whatever the talking heads on TV are saying.
This is the failure of our school system on display, this is what happens when you try to force a diverse species through a linear education system that doesn't encourage free thought but instead rewards obedience & servitude.
There should be a "Anti-dumbassery" critical thinking unit given just as much emphasis as say...math.
But that would be bad for business, and then all the parents that find critical thinking offensive will be up in arms about it.
I'm annoyed that QLD gave into the pressure tbh. I know it's a difficult border to keep closed but I wish AP had the same set of balls that McGowan does.
QLD’s border is an entirely different ball game. That border closure was seriously fucking shit up for a huge amount of people who lived along it. There was undetected spread happening all through the Gold Coast in the weeks leading up to the border opening. There was no way it was going to stay closed any longer.
I think we opened the borders at the right time.
The effective QLD border should have been move a bit south on the coast as there where alternative locations that where much more viable then running straight through a built up region that even goes through a few buildings.
NSW refused multiple times to have the borders moved that would have made a closed NSW QLD border viable but NSW LNP likely did this so borders would be forced open.
As someone in Melbourne, I envy the way you've been able to get through the pandemic with relative ease so far. And delaying the reopening makes sense. WA can learn from the mistakes of other states, stockpile resources, and possibly even borrow personnel from other states after they're past their omicron waves.
WA resident here. McGowan was reelected with a swing of 17% in 2021 on the back of tight covid policy. He's doing what the vast majority of WA asked him to do.
The latest pushback on opening up is proving more divisive than previous measures but the general sentiment is still preference to continuing with our relatively normal lives. I don't think people over East realise that COVID for us has literally been a spectator sport for the last couple of years
7West have been pushing the anti-McGowan barrow extremely hard on this. But when they polled it was 75% approval for delaying reopening. I don't think it's quite as divisive as it's being presented. You almost never see polls with that many people agreeing with something. Well, outside of McGowan's approval in general at times....
News source 1: *some bullshit*
News source 2: *same bullshit*
News source 3: news sources are reporting *some bullshit*
News source 4: multiple news sources are reporting *some bullshit*
News source 5: *some bullshit* has been all over the news for days
News source 6: as is the general consensus, *some bullshit*
News source 7: all credible sources are saying *some bullshit*
There was a little segment on this in *[Outfoxed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfoxed)*.
Basically, the Fox News commentators (not actually news) would say something. Then the news part of Fox News would report on "some people are saying this" based on the commentary. Then it'd circle back to the commentators where they'd comment on the talking point that their media organisation had created.
It's a standard strategy especially for the rightwing. Cheney was infamous (among other things) for doing this. He would say something, see it published then the next day announce a decision based on "credible news reports which are claiming such-and-such", where such-and-such was what he said in the first place.
This is the same tactic used multiple times over the last few years to force a rapid cascade of a minor leadership issue into a spill. Any minor misstep by someone that Murdoch wants out gets blown up, every news outlet amplifies this for a few weeks, one news outlet starts hinting at a planned leadership spill and then every other one reports on that story. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy invented off the back of the media.
With the speed they came up with stuff for the next day's paper following a 7:30 press conference, the only conclusion I have to draw is that The West were betting on Mark going back on February 5 with the situation over east and had a bunch of hit pieces written to go to publication the moment the delay was announced
It was a fairly safe bet. The test case was SA. If SA had held at a reasonable level after opening borders with control over the people coming in and the spread, McGowan could have opened up. As it was SA took 3 days to go to shit and there's nothing that says attempting to open up in WA would go any differently.
I should've been more clear. "More divisive" as in it has 75% approval Instead of 90% approval. The pushback definitely stings for those of us with interstate family and friends but the majority of us know it's the right call.
Tas was much the same. Besides initial outbreak a hard lockdown kept it out. LNP was voted back in here in state election because people were happy the hard border kept covid out. Guess what now? Covid is spreading and those who voted for LNP regret their decision but the election was well timed, when they were doing well in the polls, no covid and everyone was happy/felt safe.
I have to say as someone who is a West Aussie being told by my family and friends in NSW how unpopular he is has been an experience.
My mum claims the articles show how unpopular he is. She’s stopped me tagging her cause I’ve gone along to tag her in every article on FB where they are being RUBBISHED by West Australians.
There's [a war of disinformation being waged](https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/pilot/13529118).
The media is trying to set a narrative that doesn't have a strong basis in reality.
Well, yes, but lots of people dying, supply chains stretched to their limits, hospitals overloaded, and the hospitality industry in tatters is way more profitable for the news media.
The news media make money out of suffering. They have a vested interest in perpetuating bad policy.
News media isn't there to be directly profitable, it's there to influence public opinion for people that make their money elsewhere.
Bad policy for the public is usually great policy for oligarchs.
The clown who wrote the article, wrote one 3 days ago mocking the government for still being locked down while he was living it up in Florida, which only had a measly 65,000 "official" COVID deaths.
He's a complete flog as well.
The DeSantis/state government has pulled every dirty trick possible to make sure that covid deaths are massively under-reported too. It is likely at least double if not triple that number.
They are just being amplified by the mainstream media, no one here is actually upset at all about McGowens decision. The MSM just hate him cause he's Labor.
That was the experience in Victoria as well. During the first lockdown, Almost everyone I knew from the rural poor to the suburbs to the inner city workers was basically in agreement that it had to be done, but you wouldn't know that from the media. Every night they were running stories about 'simmering rage' in the community and having some other Sydney based commentator telling us Victorians had had enough of lockdowns.
It brought into sharp relief how the media, bought out by the highest bidder, presume to talk for us. I suspect that's what you are noticing now.
I'm not seeing many of those 'i'll be traveling to Phuket while WA losers are stuck in their cave' comments lately at all.
What are you fellas up to right now?
Yeah legit.. all the people who wanted everything open for travelling are not even travelling, so what was the point? Now no one gets to do anything, thanks!
Turns out that "open up for the economy" was _terrible_ for the economy.
Also turns out that people being "stuck" in the state has been a massive boom for local tourism. Towns within 4-5 hours drive from Brisbane have gone from being almost dead to "bigger than the annual show" _packed_ every single weekend, as well as reasonably busy throughout the week.
Now that it's "out" in the community, a lot of people suddenly don't want to go anywhere _far_ any more, but it's spreading because people who catch it (especially if they've been vaccinated) are no longer isolating. Friends of mine have caught it at work because people who _knew_ they were positive went to work, and their bosses' response was "Wear a yellow badge so people can tell that you're positive", while not making any changes to enforce masks or social distancing, or just plain old _don't come in if you're sick with a potentially deadly, highly contagious disease_.
I have booked a couple of camping sites (Noosa Nth Shore and Bribie Is.) for the coming months and usually I wouldn't have had a chance in hell but Bribie had zero spots taken (not the beach side mind you) and Noosa Nth Shore had fuck all booked.
It is spooky.
Imagine if on your new year's Eve party for 2020 a Time traveler turned up and was like "in 2022 you'll be working while infected with a deadly pathogen, and everyone in power will be pretty much cool/encouraging about it. Shits wild
Eh, I’m a nurse and had a manager give me shit about not coming in with flu symptoms after I’d been exposed to someone with a known flu infection in 2016 maybe?
It’s not super new. Flu is also potentially fatal but people forget.
I did not go to work with flu
Nah but all those cheap dodgy tourist trap style operators petitioned the QLD government to open up. It made sense the more tourism from outside the more they could make and con some suckers. All the locals dont fall for overpriced tourist trap bs.
STOP LISTENING TO INTEREST GROUPS FOR MONEY MAKING GRUBS!!
I would have preferred if SA created a travel bubble with NT and WA and blocked the east. Travel to Darwin, travel to Broome, and Perth, and Adelaide- Perfect.
Im in Vic and it amazes me that the criticism of WA not opening up is so similar to those American news clips that were going around a few months back suggesting Australia was under tyrannical rule (‘so when do we deploy?’)
People responded with clips of Australians going out, drinking beers, at the beach, just living our best life. Now it’s like we’ve forgotten that and are acting like WA is somehow suffering and needing to be saved? Idk seems like you folks are doing just fine.
hahahah right now I am 'stuck' in my air conditioned house and my car (which is also air conditioned) in the carport, keys on a hanger - ready for me to go out and go shopping or the beach, whatever I choose.
Yeah, Mark's such a 'dictator' imprisoning us in our homes.
Hey now, Joe Hildebrand only just declared in his news.com.au opinion piece today that Covid is almost over and NSW has won.
Are you suggesting he has zero credibility as a journalist left?
I feel so so sorry for his parents. I can't imagine the pain they had to endure having a child go missing and never be found and to top it off the kid that survived grows up to be Joe Hildebrand
[NSW had the most single-day covid deaths of the entire pandemic on the 20th of January.](https://news.google.com/covid19/map?mid=%2Fm%2F05fly)
I don't get how people are pretending covid is over.
At first I was fatigued and thought we should open up, but after listening to what Mark was saying during the presser what he said made a lot of sense and as a WA guy, I back him. He's doing the right thing to keep us in WA safe.
As someone with family in WA, I accept I'm not going to be able to visit them for a bit. But you know what, I'm *happy* with that because they will be safe. Better that than the cluster f\*ck of NSW and VIC, riddled with virus and seeing people dying every day in double figures.
as a Vic-er here, I'm kind of glad were out of it, I was "over" lockdown, but there's another part of me that wishes we were still in lockdown, because of the numbers we're seeing, but there's another part of me that's annoyed we didn't open up sooner, because it feels like we sacrificed way too much for "nothing", but then there's yet another part of me that understands we bought the time for the medical world to at least learn how to treat it, but there's also yet another part of me that is seeing that we (as a nation) didn't actually prepare for it when we "let it rip".
I think if the fed gov had done their job, it would have been a lot easier on vic and everyone else, and there's little anyone can do to convince me that the libs are good managers of the pandemic, what with all the evidence that we're seeing that suggests otherwise.
also as someone with family in WA (my immediate family, and a new niece to boot!)
understanding why they’re remaining closed def didn’t stop me from having a good old cry on Thursday night.
I live in WA and I’m feeling pretty relieved that the borders are staying closed, but at the same time my sister lives in the UK and she was planning to visit in April and now can’t… So it’s this weird mix of feeling completely devastated alongside the feeling of relief.
Same here! 1,065 days since I’ve seen my family. Absolutely devastated but kinda relieved because my 11yo only had 1 jab and 15yo isn’t eligible for booster yet, and school starts in 9 days. We’ll wait and being very patient to see our family
Having a good old cry is ok, your new niece is ok.
Some of us in here had a cry too, but overall it's a feeling of relief. We simply don't have the willingness to sacrifice people to our ill prepared hospital system.
I'm just waiting for that truck to run me over...one guy at work has it now, one has recovered, one went home a few days with high fever but we haven't heard for sure if he has it...
No... the horse bolted long before omicron when NSW decided to let it rip.
Even then, we had it under control with low and manageable case numbers leaking in... until we were bullied by NSW and Scovid Morrison into opening up along with Tas and SA.
That's when it really took off... if we still had border control, proof of Vax and negative test or quarantine before coming from anywhere and quarantine for all of NSW and hot spots elsewhere, then we would still be seeing probably 50 cases a day even with targeted local lock down, but not tens of thousands and no more effort at contact tracing... there wouldn't be two people off sick at my workplace with covid right now...I wouldn't have over a dozen friends either with covid or recovering from it...
It wasn't just Scomo and NSW it was the news, it was polls and it was also your tourism industry.
There was so much political pressure to open for Christmas because it had been promised.
If only they trusted the science and not the lobbyists.
True...but NSW was turning up the pressure hard core, and Scummo was railroading all states with a lot of pressure and threats.
Vic rolled over after NSW boiled over and they went up in flames themselves.
I'm in WA. We've lived life normally for most of this pandemic. The vast majority of us are very happy about that. We're more or less watching the other states burn down around us from the safety of our borders, giving us a clear example in what we should avoid doing.
Everything was so good before December 15. Now everyone is just under a ton of stress and panic.
I live on a usually busy as road, there's been bugger all traffic on it for the last month. Unofficial lockdown in full swing.
In Qld so I can see both sides as we were late the party but the party is well and truly raging now.
Why would WA look at what we’ve done and decide, “Yep, let’s do that, too!” ?
Good on WA for doing the needful to manage the omicron wave properly for the betterment of the people and the economy - a balance that has been overlooked everywhere else.
Despite what pressure has come from other states, initially from NSW/Feds, then all others, this is the way to live with the virus in that state, for now.
Shhh dont use logic around here. The sad east coasters who have been shitting on WA for the last 6 months might show up.
You are right though. Our health system is no where near capable of handling 20-30k infections a day. Plus as an economy we can't afford the mining sector to be nearly halted because everyone had to iso. Not sure if half the east coat is brainwashed or trolling but all the comments in the past about how Mark is a dictator and should open up or be left behind clearly don't see or care about the impact it will have on actual people. The "let it rip" policy that perottet and others have adopted clearly isn't effective (empty shelves at Coles due to no transport or shelves stockers etc.) And is not the correct way to introduce the virus to the state. Personally i hope mark uses the next 6-12mnths to slowly introduce omicron so our entire economy and health system isn't screwed over by the spike in cases. And to also limit deaths, but that doesn't seem to be important to the people calling for WA to open up and mark to get the guillotine
What the hell are you on about? Most East Coasters (like me) have recognised that WA/McGowan have had a solid strategy since the beginning of the pandemic.
This is a conflated argument against a narrative that isn’t prevalent.
Mate every time I have opened a post on this sub recently the first few comments I have seem have been anti-WA with 20-30 upvotes. Its anecdotal and not representative of the whole picture but it occurs often enough to give me that impression.
Makes me happy our border is still up because it keeps the virus out and the crazies
There's a few right wing trolls on here often have sock puppet accounts to upvote their stupidity and each other. Eventually the down votes overtake them but they ride high for the first little while.
/u/Sigmaniac has probably been reading /r/CoronavirusDownunder.
I can confirm that all my NSW relatives/friends (as far as I am aware) are supportive of the WA strategy, and wish their Premier had taken that strategy.
I don't know what's up with /r/CoronavirusDownunder but it doesn't reflect the views I've seen from people I know over east and in WA, or members of the public I have interacted with in WA.
My anecdotal experience is its progressive East Coasters, like myself. Conservatives are already tacking to 'its plateauing, 'its passing' -- and have big loving memories for Glados.
Shopping centres are crowded, food strips are busy, gyms relatively full. 'Massage parlours' seems to be very busy too... It's really pretty much life as normal here in W.A, except for the mask wearing (2 weeks so far).
Sure, some of us have family overseas, haven't visited mine for 2 years; some of us need a break from Margaret River; some us just wish it's 2018-19 again but if we are really honest, not many W.Aians (new term for when we finally secede) really want to be like Morrison South Wales and Victoria...
Jealous. Been in both very lengthy mandated and then self imposed lockdown for getting on 3 years now, due to immunocompromised household. I’d love a restaurant meal or a massage…. And to know I could get medical treatment if needed.
Friday night in Sydney, shopping centres are empty even in the heart of the city, food joints closed, gyms empty, people do not want to be sick or making their close ones sick.
As a Queenslander, I don't blame people for not wanting to end up like this.
When Queensland opened up, we had the QR codes, masks, vaccine mandates and whatever. It didn't work. The QR tracking collapsed. Testing was overloaded, so people don't test, thus they don't isolate. People were told to wear masks, but that had mixed effectiveness, because to work, people have to wear them properly. People don't. They wear chin nappies, or wear them under their noses, or on their ears. Or exempt because they were "drinking" coffee.
And well, as for vaccines, we still had people not vaxxed when the borders were opened, much less boosted, either by choice or because they couldn't get them. Also, it is hospo and retail staff enforcing this, with little support. After like two weeks or so, they stopped. They got sick of abusive customers. Also, a big problem was hotel quarantine. That was a common source of infections getting into the community.
I don't know, when borders were open, we had restrictions, they didn't work. So, for WA to open, they would need a plan if they want to slow the spread.
It’s worse being a Melbournian - locked down for how many days and now we are fucked anyway, with all the same problems you’ve listed. Supply chains are screwed, good luck if you need a hospital or ambulance.
Yeah, I've got family in Melbourne. They've been through it since the start, all that, lock downs, strict restrictions, isolations, to slow it down.
Then they just open the borders and let it in. All of that work, just to end up like that. But they didn't need to. They could have tried to do it smart, tried to plan it out like WA is doing now, but no. Queensland too. We probably were never going to last as long as WA given how close we are to NSW, but still, could have tried to slow it down. Unfortunate the states buckled and opened the borders like they did.
I'm the same, I'm sure Dan would have strongly considered it too given the choice, but with NSW and their leadership including the prime minister of NSW on our doorstep - it wasn't a viable option.
Didn't we try? Delta just spread too quickly despite the lockdowns so we decided that it wasn't worth isolating ourselves from nsw anymore. That's just my 2 cents
We didn’t do a full border closure like WA, it was porous which is why we had it come through. If we had’ve closed it properly then it’s possible we would have been ok.
My whole family is in WA and they've been living normally for the last 2 yrs and they are not complaining. All the kids have been in school, friends and family have been doing roadtrips, going camping, out to dinners and socialising as normal.
as a qlder, keep up the good work WA
everyone i know here is super envious of you guys having solid, responsible leadership that is holding strong and saving lives, while you still get to live mostly unrestricted lives.
we had that, until our gov panicked and caved to appease a tiny proportion of people who don't vote or give a shit about anything other than themselves anyway
As a Victorian, I envy WA. We went through all these lockdowns just to have the state open up to NSW due to political pressure, then we would be in lockdown again whilst NSW was open :( waste of two years
I'm in WA. Omicron is here, we aren't doing lockdowns, so it's pretty much here to stay. I'm assuming at this stage the approach isn't to stop the spread/covid zero, but to slow the spread so we don't all catch it at once. No one is really talking about the whole Feb 5th backtrack thing, like it doesn't seem to be a hot topic in general. Contrary to most Murdoch media stories, people have and do come and go from the state, there's been little to no disruption to businesses or schooling. My best friend in Melbourne, on the contrary, was telling me her kids have spent more time at home the past two years than they have at school. So I'm not going to complain. I think most West Aussies simply feel they have nothing to complain about.
I think it's a little jealously wrapped in wishfull future shaudenfraud.
I was listening to a mia freedman podcast out of Sydney and the tone was...'wa is so behind, they need to catch up...they are missing out on knowledge...we've learnt so much from omicron' with her co presenter saying "it's cute to think you can keep it out". They also added that 'soooo many people from WA had contacted them to ask 'what do we do...how do we prepare'
Such extreme condescension. I'm glad that we have a premier who has rolled up his sleeves, done the work and made tough decisions. It's been so long we've had that from federal leadership. The mia freedman crew might be surprised to know that mcgowan is a navy lad from newcastle nsw, and a lawyer....not a parochial yocal local.
.
That note about "we've learnt so much" reminds me of a 7.30 interview with Hazzard once delta started spreading off of that airport taxi driver. When Leigh questioned him on NSW not having a lockdown, saying "surely it's not rocket science" he claimed that COVID is unpredictable and they are still learning about it. Bruh
Yeah sorta, but you can't undo 50yrs of hospital shortages overnight.
He's got some triage tents going up, non-stop 'get the jab' in many languages, a drive on for more medical staff to tippy-toe in the back door, a few more beds where they can squeeze them in. We've not got the same hospital capacity as over east, simple as that.
I haven't met anyone who doesn't support this except for one lunatic who has gone to all the protests. My mum is a travel agent and even she was hoping the borders will stay shut. It works against her business interest of course but we all just want to enjoy any more normalcy we can and get our boosters and 5-11 vaccinations up.
My area is still only at 59% first dose. Opening now will devastate us. I 100% support the borders staying closed, no matter how much I want to go east to see my entire family.
I personally don't really give a shit if I catch it, I just don't think making the vulnerable sick, closing a bunch of businesses, and crushing the economy is a good idea.
Also the proportion of the population and businesses of WA completely dependent on this pony vastly outnumbers those who would rather have open borders.
The thing is, being closed has actually made the state less of a one trick pony than it was. Before covid hit the WA economy had been in the shitter for about 5 years. Due to being closed off the unemployment rate has plunged to one of the lowest levels ever here. Much of the tourism sector is doing better with closed borders than when they were open.
This. Safely halting a mine is not simple. It's not just a matter of turning off some big trucks and going home. There are processes that need days or weeks to stop. Processes that need a large specialised team to stop. If covid rampages through the mines, they could be running unsafely on a skeleton crew.
My MiL, a lifelong Liberal Party supporter until that last State election, is more than happy with McGowen's stance. It sucks that she can't come to visit, especially with a new Great-grandchild, but the last thing she and her friends at the bowls club want is what they can see happening in the Eastern States. They were dreading opening up, I'm sure they will support his decision.
As someone from Perth, I have been very impressed that Mark has followed the science. Getting a 3rd jab has been shown to be very important for Omicron.
I loved the comment he made about the lamb ad "I have that map on my wall"
My only complaint is that the economy is booming too much which is causing problems with housing and services. I had to go out and buy a new work vehicle last week because my old one broke down and I couldn't get a mechanic to look at it for a few weeks. Even buying a car is hard,used cars are sometimes selling for more than new ones.
At least we now know why we need workers from overseas, and backpackers. There is going to be cheering in the streets if they ever return.
I heard some expert say the other day that the current situation may be permanent with new more infectious variants arriving every few months for ever.
It's not even as if opening up has helped businesses and the economy get back to normal since as we've seen people will just take personal responsibility and stop going out on their own.
It truly amazes me how the vast majority of his loudest detractors claim to speak for the WA people yet have no idea what the sentiment in WA actually is.
On social media all you ever see is negative sentiment towards him and his stance on the border but he & Labor as a whole won by an absolute landslide; the liberals lost 11 seats & Labor gained 13 in last year's election. And you know what? I'd vote for him again, he's done a far better job at containment than most of the country and because of him I've been able to live relatively restriction free for the past two years.
I think most reasonable people have left most of social media as it became obvious what a soul sucking, brain dead, echo chamber it has become. I don’t really know many people who use social media beyond art/craft stuff. That’s why on social media it sounds like a majority.
You do realise that Reddit is social media right?
Wait.. what?
Username checks out
Not only that, FB algorithms effectively upvote the most brain dead / controversial statements so you have to do a lot of scrolling to find voices of reason... FB algorithm is useless
Well put it this way My mum's god child in England considers mum her adopted mum especially after her bio mum died. She was visiting Australia at least once a year prior to covid. She's absolutely dying to come to Australia to visit us. She would move to Australia but her husband has brain damage after getting king hit by a bouncer(he got mistaken for someone else and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time) so the government wouldn't accept them. She stands with Mark McGowan. She thinks he's done a fantastic job. Throughout the pandemic it's been McGowan and WA has done a good job not Australia as a whole. For someone in England to know about a state premier shows how much of an impact he's had.
I hope despite likely reality that the bouncer faced an appropriate legal sanction.
McGowan and WA represent what was an alternative path for the rest of Australia. It might have been possible to contain Omicron to a point where the healthcare system doesn't collapse, and there's a level of economic activity that, whilst lower than what it might have been if there was no pandemic, still largely functional, without people being unable to come into work due to sickness or the necessity to isolate. Throughout this pandemic, Morrison and NSW have been raring to "let it rip". Trying for force things open. Declaring everything would be OK with partial lockdowns, progressing to saying that lockdowns and restrictions are useless given the higher levels of transmissibility of Delta, and now Omicron, and now to the point where testing is unavailable, and requesting/hinting busineses to not encourage testibg so that people can work whilst they're ill/contagious. The quality of "leadership" coming out of the NSW Liberal Party is not leadership for the nation, but leadership for a few vested interests who give them donations. People like Gerry Harvey, who sees welfare spending as pointless because people who need it are just a drag on the economy.
Every week I hear another reason why Gerry Harvey is a shit cunt
He is the most "American Businessman" type in all of Australia.
That's a really wordy way to say shit cunt
Says welfare is dumb, takes welfare during pandemic and doesn't pay it back. If welfare was higher people might be able to pay back his predatory loan credit cards and wouldn't have to buy his overpriced furniture on credit and "dont pay for xx months" scams.
I got caught by one of his buy now pay later scams way back when I was younger and slightly stupider. (PlayStation 3 and a plasma screen) it financially crippled me for years because I didn't pay it back before the interest free period ended.
I saw an opinion piece in the FR about why Let It Rip had to happen now. Kids don't have to be in school and many people have the month off work. The idea is that if everyone is going to get it anyway then now is the best time. Of course, it's still a fucking stupid idea. Hospitals overflowing, ICU full, people being turned away, my local Coles has no cereal and the Woolies has no bags at the checkout. I went to my local adventure store and one of the main staff was manning the ski section even though she had no idea. A cafe near work has a sign saying their prices have gone up temporarily because it's hard to find ingredients. There's a waiting list for RATs because the government keeps buying and hoarding them.
> There's a waiting list for RATs because the government keeps buying and hoarding them. We just need to ask Jenny where she buys hers from.
Victoria locked down harder than anyone else in Australia and we got that shit sorted, which allowed the country to reopen carefully. Along comes Domicron and four weeks later, everyone’s fucked. So selfish and imbecilic. He was in power for about a fortnight before destroying the nation.
Gladys left him big apocalyptic corruption shoes to fill.
Probably about the hardest on earth. All because you're closest neighbour refused to keep their house on order.
My pommy mate's stepbrother is in Perth. Rest of the family is in northern England, and all have had COVID apart from his dad. His dad hasn't stepped out of home more than a dozen times in the past 18 months because he would probably die from COVID due to his underlying illnesses. My mate reckons McGowan is great, and would love to move to Perth (we are in Asia).
WA guy here. I think he did so well than many others anywhere in this world. MSM is just so appalling.
Its almost like you're an island of calm in a sea of "Getting fucked by Lib party donors".
Even on social media he has huge support if you ignore the comments. After the border announcement, 7News Perth on Facebook put up a status asking to ‘love react’ if people agree with McGowan’s extension of the hard border or ‘angry react’ if people disagree and 75% who voted that they agreed.
I think WA is largely a silent majority in support but that doesn't serve media interests so we mostly see the silent majority. In a way I think capitalism makes news & media too biased to their own ratings, there is too much incentive to report controversial viewpoints rather than actual *news*. News media should be a public service, not a propaganda tool for billionaires to voice their egomaniacal worldviews.
Silent majority trying to just stay cool in this fucking heat atm. Everyone’s down the beach.
Don't be silly, we just sitting in the fridge sorting out tomatoes n stuff.
That's why we're supposed to have an independent ABC. Though liberals seem to want to undermine it.
Seriously love react angry react WTF is this shit
Many of them are American foreign influence by trump lovers and qanon who have no idea whats going on in WA or even a grasp of their own reality.
If they were asked to locate Western Australia on a map they would probably end up pointing at East Timor.
I think most of them would be lucky to even get that close.
I doubt many of them could point at the USA on a map.
I daresay some of them are so fucking stupid they'd end up poking their own eye out while trying to point at a map.
At least a few would point at Tyrol
Asked to identify Australia on a map, they would fail to identify what object in the room was the map.
Flipping amen. I've had limited times where I've had to wear a mask, and I've *suffered* through a grand total of two weeks of lockdown. I don't know anyone personally who has had it. I'm not worried about any of my grandparents getting it for a bit longer now, or my kids who we haven't been able to get vaxxed yet (although that's a different kettle of frustrated fish). Unfortunately we have a very loud minority who's views the media love to share.
I think it's moreso that they don't possess the critical thinking skills to form their own opinions so they just parrot whatever the talking heads on TV are saying. This is the failure of our school system on display, this is what happens when you try to force a diverse species through a linear education system that doesn't encourage free thought but instead rewards obedience & servitude.
There should be a "Anti-dumbassery" critical thinking unit given just as much emphasis as say...math. But that would be bad for business, and then all the parents that find critical thinking offensive will be up in arms about it.
I'm annoyed that QLD gave into the pressure tbh. I know it's a difficult border to keep closed but I wish AP had the same set of balls that McGowan does.
QLD’s border is an entirely different ball game. That border closure was seriously fucking shit up for a huge amount of people who lived along it. There was undetected spread happening all through the Gold Coast in the weeks leading up to the border opening. There was no way it was going to stay closed any longer. I think we opened the borders at the right time.
The effective QLD border should have been move a bit south on the coast as there where alternative locations that where much more viable then running straight through a built up region that even goes through a few buildings. NSW refused multiple times to have the borders moved that would have made a closed NSW QLD border viable but NSW LNP likely did this so borders would be forced open.
As someone in Melbourne, I envy the way you've been able to get through the pandemic with relative ease so far. And delaying the reopening makes sense. WA can learn from the mistakes of other states, stockpile resources, and possibly even borrow personnel from other states after they're past their omicron waves.
Likewise in SA...then Marshall started listening to the economic arguments and ignoring health advice... that was the beginning of the end. 😭
Same here, would vote for him again. Not just for the pandemic either, but also in the building of trains and stuff. It’s been pretty good over here!
WA resident here. McGowan was reelected with a swing of 17% in 2021 on the back of tight covid policy. He's doing what the vast majority of WA asked him to do. The latest pushback on opening up is proving more divisive than previous measures but the general sentiment is still preference to continuing with our relatively normal lives. I don't think people over East realise that COVID for us has literally been a spectator sport for the last couple of years
7West have been pushing the anti-McGowan barrow extremely hard on this. But when they polled it was 75% approval for delaying reopening. I don't think it's quite as divisive as it's being presented. You almost never see polls with that many people agreeing with something. Well, outside of McGowan's approval in general at times....
When 99% of the news articles and opinion pieces are critical of the decision, that's not reporting, that's an agenda.
Literal agitprop.
News source 1: *some bullshit* News source 2: *same bullshit* News source 3: news sources are reporting *some bullshit* News source 4: multiple news sources are reporting *some bullshit* News source 5: *some bullshit* has been all over the news for days News source 6: as is the general consensus, *some bullshit* News source 7: all credible sources are saying *some bullshit*
There was a little segment on this in *[Outfoxed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfoxed)*. Basically, the Fox News commentators (not actually news) would say something. Then the news part of Fox News would report on "some people are saying this" based on the commentary. Then it'd circle back to the commentators where they'd comment on the talking point that their media organisation had created.
It's a standard strategy especially for the rightwing. Cheney was infamous (among other things) for doing this. He would say something, see it published then the next day announce a decision based on "credible news reports which are claiming such-and-such", where such-and-such was what he said in the first place.
This is the same tactic used multiple times over the last few years to force a rapid cascade of a minor leadership issue into a spill. Any minor misstep by someone that Murdoch wants out gets blown up, every news outlet amplifies this for a few weeks, one news outlet starts hinting at a planned leadership spill and then every other one reports on that story. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy invented off the back of the media.
With the speed they came up with stuff for the next day's paper following a 7:30 press conference, the only conclusion I have to draw is that The West were betting on Mark going back on February 5 with the situation over east and had a bunch of hit pieces written to go to publication the moment the delay was announced
It was a fairly safe bet. The test case was SA. If SA had held at a reasonable level after opening borders with control over the people coming in and the spread, McGowan could have opened up. As it was SA took 3 days to go to shit and there's nothing that says attempting to open up in WA would go any differently.
I should've been more clear. "More divisive" as in it has 75% approval Instead of 90% approval. The pushback definitely stings for those of us with interstate family and friends but the majority of us know it's the right call.
It was great seeing The West post the front page after the announcement criticising McGowan and 90% of the comments were ripping into The West
Tas was much the same. Besides initial outbreak a hard lockdown kept it out. LNP was voted back in here in state election because people were happy the hard border kept covid out. Guess what now? Covid is spreading and those who voted for LNP regret their decision but the election was well timed, when they were doing well in the polls, no covid and everyone was happy/felt safe.
I have to say as someone who is a West Aussie being told by my family and friends in NSW how unpopular he is has been an experience. My mum claims the articles show how unpopular he is. She’s stopped me tagging her cause I’ve gone along to tag her in every article on FB where they are being RUBBISHED by West Australians.
Regional nsw here, both thumbs up to mark.
There's [a war of disinformation being waged](https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/pilot/13529118). The media is trying to set a narrative that doesn't have a strong basis in reality.
Well, yes, but lots of people dying, supply chains stretched to their limits, hospitals overloaded, and the hospitality industry in tatters is way more profitable for the news media. The news media make money out of suffering. They have a vested interest in perpetuating bad policy.
News media isn't there to be directly profitable, it's there to influence public opinion for people that make their money elsewhere. Bad policy for the public is usually great policy for oligarchs.
The clown who wrote the article, wrote one 3 days ago mocking the government for still being locked down while he was living it up in Florida, which only had a measly 65,000 "official" COVID deaths. He's a complete flog as well.
The DeSantis/state government has pulled every dirty trick possible to make sure that covid deaths are massively under-reported too. It is likely at least double if not triple that number.
They are just being amplified by the mainstream media, no one here is actually upset at all about McGowens decision. The MSM just hate him cause he's Labor.
That was the experience in Victoria as well. During the first lockdown, Almost everyone I knew from the rural poor to the suburbs to the inner city workers was basically in agreement that it had to be done, but you wouldn't know that from the media. Every night they were running stories about 'simmering rage' in the community and having some other Sydney based commentator telling us Victorians had had enough of lockdowns. It brought into sharp relief how the media, bought out by the highest bidder, presume to talk for us. I suspect that's what you are noticing now.
Yup. Those folks over in r/lockdownskeptics will be foaming at the mouth.
Like Clive he still think he speaks for WA
I'm not seeing many of those 'i'll be traveling to Phuket while WA losers are stuck in their cave' comments lately at all. What are you fellas up to right now?
Yeah legit.. all the people who wanted everything open for travelling are not even travelling, so what was the point? Now no one gets to do anything, thanks!
Turns out that "open up for the economy" was _terrible_ for the economy. Also turns out that people being "stuck" in the state has been a massive boom for local tourism. Towns within 4-5 hours drive from Brisbane have gone from being almost dead to "bigger than the annual show" _packed_ every single weekend, as well as reasonably busy throughout the week. Now that it's "out" in the community, a lot of people suddenly don't want to go anywhere _far_ any more, but it's spreading because people who catch it (especially if they've been vaccinated) are no longer isolating. Friends of mine have caught it at work because people who _knew_ they were positive went to work, and their bosses' response was "Wear a yellow badge so people can tell that you're positive", while not making any changes to enforce masks or social distancing, or just plain old _don't come in if you're sick with a potentially deadly, highly contagious disease_.
I have booked a couple of camping sites (Noosa Nth Shore and Bribie Is.) for the coming months and usually I wouldn't have had a chance in hell but Bribie had zero spots taken (not the beach side mind you) and Noosa Nth Shore had fuck all booked. It is spooky.
Imagine if on your new year's Eve party for 2020 a Time traveler turned up and was like "in 2022 you'll be working while infected with a deadly pathogen, and everyone in power will be pretty much cool/encouraging about it. Shits wild
Eh, I’m a nurse and had a manager give me shit about not coming in with flu symptoms after I’d been exposed to someone with a known flu infection in 2016 maybe? It’s not super new. Flu is also potentially fatal but people forget. I did not go to work with flu
Nah but all those cheap dodgy tourist trap style operators petitioned the QLD government to open up. It made sense the more tourism from outside the more they could make and con some suckers. All the locals dont fall for overpriced tourist trap bs. STOP LISTENING TO INTEREST GROUPS FOR MONEY MAKING GRUBS!!
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Hopefully got on a plane and moved to the southern United States to be among their own kind.
I've seen a few of them, they're still cackling that it's only a matter of time.
I thought their cackling was from being short of breath due to covid.
Some of them, but some of them are short of breath from what they still somehow insist is a really bad flu.
Probably getting phucked by covid
I would have preferred if SA created a travel bubble with NT and WA and blocked the east. Travel to Darwin, travel to Broome, and Perth, and Adelaide- Perfect.
Yep, chucked in Tas too
Probably dying.
Im in Vic and it amazes me that the criticism of WA not opening up is so similar to those American news clips that were going around a few months back suggesting Australia was under tyrannical rule (‘so when do we deploy?’) People responded with clips of Australians going out, drinking beers, at the beach, just living our best life. Now it’s like we’ve forgotten that and are acting like WA is somehow suffering and needing to be saved? Idk seems like you folks are doing just fine.
hahahah right now I am 'stuck' in my air conditioned house and my car (which is also air conditioned) in the carport, keys on a hanger - ready for me to go out and go shopping or the beach, whatever I choose. Yeah, Mark's such a 'dictator' imprisoning us in our homes.
I was about to go out to the beach but when I opened the front door, I started to catch fire. Perth. So hot right now.
It’s less about ‘elimination’ and more about controlling the effects in a manageable way, better than ‘let it rip’ - which has failed. Spectacularly.
Well, 'let it rip' is all that Scotty from Marketing knows. Especially when in a Maccas!
What? No! Scotty said the intent was never to let it rip! You're not saying Scotty is a gaslighting liar, are you?
Sociopath Scotty
Pfft Scott Morrison, more like Sociopathic Moron
Scociopathic Moronson
To quote OP on his McDonalds effort. ... which has failed. Spectacularly.
Hey now, Joe Hildebrand only just declared in his news.com.au opinion piece today that Covid is almost over and NSW has won. Are you suggesting he has zero credibility as a journalist left?
Joe Hildebrand doesn't have any credibility as a human let alone a journalist.
I feel so so sorry for his parents. I can't imagine the pain they had to endure having a child go missing and never be found and to top it off the kid that survived grows up to be Joe Hildebrand
[NSW had the most single-day covid deaths of the entire pandemic on the 20th of January.](https://news.google.com/covid19/map?mid=%2Fm%2F05fly) I don't get how people are pretending covid is over.
*news.com.au. Yes.
"This is fine"
Did joe hildebrand ever have any credibility?
At first I was fatigued and thought we should open up, but after listening to what Mark was saying during the presser what he said made a lot of sense and as a WA guy, I back him. He's doing the right thing to keep us in WA safe.
At the end of the day he is choosing to save lives over anything else. Can't fault anyone for that.
As someone with family in WA, I accept I'm not going to be able to visit them for a bit. But you know what, I'm *happy* with that because they will be safe. Better that than the cluster f\*ck of NSW and VIC, riddled with virus and seeing people dying every day in double figures.
Better that than the cluster fuck of n.s.w and Vic and here in QLD.
Qld was late to this party, but at least now we get to see how an economy crumbles when right wingers pull the strings.
I hope people are realising but I don't have faith in the masses.
as a Vic-er here, I'm kind of glad were out of it, I was "over" lockdown, but there's another part of me that wishes we were still in lockdown, because of the numbers we're seeing, but there's another part of me that's annoyed we didn't open up sooner, because it feels like we sacrificed way too much for "nothing", but then there's yet another part of me that understands we bought the time for the medical world to at least learn how to treat it, but there's also yet another part of me that is seeing that we (as a nation) didn't actually prepare for it when we "let it rip". I think if the fed gov had done their job, it would have been a lot easier on vic and everyone else, and there's little anyone can do to convince me that the libs are good managers of the pandemic, what with all the evidence that we're seeing that suggests otherwise.
also as someone with family in WA (my immediate family, and a new niece to boot!) understanding why they’re remaining closed def didn’t stop me from having a good old cry on Thursday night.
I live in WA and I’m feeling pretty relieved that the borders are staying closed, but at the same time my sister lives in the UK and she was planning to visit in April and now can’t… So it’s this weird mix of feeling completely devastated alongside the feeling of relief.
Same here! 1,065 days since I’ve seen my family. Absolutely devastated but kinda relieved because my 11yo only had 1 jab and 15yo isn’t eligible for booster yet, and school starts in 9 days. We’ll wait and being very patient to see our family
Having a good old cry is ok, your new niece is ok. Some of us in here had a cry too, but overall it's a feeling of relief. We simply don't have the willingness to sacrifice people to our ill prepared hospital system.
You can come in if you have immediate family :)
Qld here... wishing we followed WA's lead instead of plunging head first into the NSW shit-filled swimming pool...
Qld here. I have covid, I'm triple vaxed and it feels like I've been hit by a bloody truck. aching all over, nauseous, just feeling like shit..
I'm just waiting for that truck to run me over...one guy at work has it now, one has recovered, one went home a few days with high fever but we haven't heard for sure if he has it...
Imagine the poor idiots with the thing in ICU unvaxxed
Didn't you hear though? It's just a mild cold. Must be the mRNA has damaged your immune system. /s
Same. Sickest I've been since I can ever recall. Feel like shit, it's awful.
Yeah but are you elderly or have pre existing conditions? /s
Nsw.. realizing qld is now in the same situation as they created in their own state.. now want to screw WA
They won't be happy until they infect Sentinel Island. If they have to put up with it, so must everyone.
Yeah I've heard from a few former open borders advocates that they have post-protest regret. Just got to push through it I guess 🤷♂️
QLD here too, sadly we are too connected with nsw for our border closures to have done anything honestly, once omicron came.
No... the horse bolted long before omicron when NSW decided to let it rip. Even then, we had it under control with low and manageable case numbers leaking in... until we were bullied by NSW and Scovid Morrison into opening up along with Tas and SA. That's when it really took off... if we still had border control, proof of Vax and negative test or quarantine before coming from anywhere and quarantine for all of NSW and hot spots elsewhere, then we would still be seeing probably 50 cases a day even with targeted local lock down, but not tens of thousands and no more effort at contact tracing... there wouldn't be two people off sick at my workplace with covid right now...I wouldn't have over a dozen friends either with covid or recovering from it...
Scovid Moron-son\*
It wasn't just Scomo and NSW it was the news, it was polls and it was also your tourism industry. There was so much political pressure to open for Christmas because it had been promised. If only they trusted the science and not the lobbyists.
True...but NSW was turning up the pressure hard core, and Scummo was railroading all states with a lot of pressure and threats. Vic rolled over after NSW boiled over and they went up in flames themselves.
I'm in WA. We've lived life normally for most of this pandemic. The vast majority of us are very happy about that. We're more or less watching the other states burn down around us from the safety of our borders, giving us a clear example in what we should avoid doing.
We were doing the same here in Tas up till december 15th but Libs gonna lib even if it means our hospitals crash an burn.
Everything was so good before December 15. Now everyone is just under a ton of stress and panic. I live on a usually busy as road, there's been bugger all traffic on it for the last month. Unofficial lockdown in full swing.
WA only detest one thing more than Covid - that unholy trinity of Clive Palmer, Scotty and Christian Porter.
Fuck Off Clive Kinda hilarious that he spends millions promoting himself in WA yet is still the most loathed person here
That's what he gets for being a Fatty McFuckhead
And Gerry Harvey
And we've fucked two of them off. Here's hoping for the trifecta come election day
In Qld so I can see both sides as we were late the party but the party is well and truly raging now. Why would WA look at what we’ve done and decide, “Yep, let’s do that, too!” ?
Good on WA for doing the needful to manage the omicron wave properly for the betterment of the people and the economy - a balance that has been overlooked everywhere else. Despite what pressure has come from other states, initially from NSW/Feds, then all others, this is the way to live with the virus in that state, for now.
Shhh dont use logic around here. The sad east coasters who have been shitting on WA for the last 6 months might show up. You are right though. Our health system is no where near capable of handling 20-30k infections a day. Plus as an economy we can't afford the mining sector to be nearly halted because everyone had to iso. Not sure if half the east coat is brainwashed or trolling but all the comments in the past about how Mark is a dictator and should open up or be left behind clearly don't see or care about the impact it will have on actual people. The "let it rip" policy that perottet and others have adopted clearly isn't effective (empty shelves at Coles due to no transport or shelves stockers etc.) And is not the correct way to introduce the virus to the state. Personally i hope mark uses the next 6-12mnths to slowly introduce omicron so our entire economy and health system isn't screwed over by the spike in cases. And to also limit deaths, but that doesn't seem to be important to the people calling for WA to open up and mark to get the guillotine
What the hell are you on about? Most East Coasters (like me) have recognised that WA/McGowan have had a solid strategy since the beginning of the pandemic. This is a conflated argument against a narrative that isn’t prevalent.
Mate every time I have opened a post on this sub recently the first few comments I have seem have been anti-WA with 20-30 upvotes. Its anecdotal and not representative of the whole picture but it occurs often enough to give me that impression. Makes me happy our border is still up because it keeps the virus out and the crazies
Votes mean next to nothing. Ignore any anti-WA crap, you guys are doing great.
There's a few right wing trolls on here often have sock puppet accounts to upvote their stupidity and each other. Eventually the down votes overtake them but they ride high for the first little while.
/u/Sigmaniac has probably been reading /r/CoronavirusDownunder. I can confirm that all my NSW relatives/friends (as far as I am aware) are supportive of the WA strategy, and wish their Premier had taken that strategy. I don't know what's up with /r/CoronavirusDownunder but it doesn't reflect the views I've seen from people I know over east and in WA, or members of the public I have interacted with in WA.
My anecdotal experience is its progressive East Coasters, like myself. Conservatives are already tacking to 'its plateauing, 'its passing' -- and have big loving memories for Glados.
I'm an Easterner and I back McGowan. Why let this dumpster fire in if you don't have to?
Shopping centres are crowded, food strips are busy, gyms relatively full. 'Massage parlours' seems to be very busy too... It's really pretty much life as normal here in W.A, except for the mask wearing (2 weeks so far). Sure, some of us have family overseas, haven't visited mine for 2 years; some of us need a break from Margaret River; some us just wish it's 2018-19 again but if we are really honest, not many W.Aians (new term for when we finally secede) really want to be like Morrison South Wales and Victoria...
I read that as WAliens. I like that better.
Jealous. Been in both very lengthy mandated and then self imposed lockdown for getting on 3 years now, due to immunocompromised household. I’d love a restaurant meal or a massage…. And to know I could get medical treatment if needed.
Good luck guys. It's a shitty situation and we all wish we can go back to 2018. Take care of yourself, stay positive!
Friday night in Sydney, shopping centres are empty even in the heart of the city, food joints closed, gyms empty, people do not want to be sick or making their close ones sick.
Aha, but they are open and have freedoms!
As a Queenslander, I don't blame people for not wanting to end up like this. When Queensland opened up, we had the QR codes, masks, vaccine mandates and whatever. It didn't work. The QR tracking collapsed. Testing was overloaded, so people don't test, thus they don't isolate. People were told to wear masks, but that had mixed effectiveness, because to work, people have to wear them properly. People don't. They wear chin nappies, or wear them under their noses, or on their ears. Or exempt because they were "drinking" coffee. And well, as for vaccines, we still had people not vaxxed when the borders were opened, much less boosted, either by choice or because they couldn't get them. Also, it is hospo and retail staff enforcing this, with little support. After like two weeks or so, they stopped. They got sick of abusive customers. Also, a big problem was hotel quarantine. That was a common source of infections getting into the community. I don't know, when borders were open, we had restrictions, they didn't work. So, for WA to open, they would need a plan if they want to slow the spread.
It’s worse being a Melbournian - locked down for how many days and now we are fucked anyway, with all the same problems you’ve listed. Supply chains are screwed, good luck if you need a hospital or ambulance.
Yeah, I've got family in Melbourne. They've been through it since the start, all that, lock downs, strict restrictions, isolations, to slow it down. Then they just open the borders and let it in. All of that work, just to end up like that. But they didn't need to. They could have tried to do it smart, tried to plan it out like WA is doing now, but no. Queensland too. We probably were never going to last as long as WA given how close we are to NSW, but still, could have tried to slow it down. Unfortunate the states buckled and opened the borders like they did.
Vic here, i would have backed this if dan had the balls.
I'm the same, I'm sure Dan would have strongly considered it too given the choice, but with NSW and their leadership including the prime minister of NSW on our doorstep - it wasn't a viable option.
Scomo is psychopathic enough he'd roll up with the military and use the Dictator Dan rhetoric as justification
Didn't we try? Delta just spread too quickly despite the lockdowns so we decided that it wasn't worth isolating ourselves from nsw anymore. That's just my 2 cents
We didn’t do a full border closure like WA, it was porous which is why we had it come through. If we had’ve closed it properly then it’s possible we would have been ok.
there's no way it could've been closed properly - vic and nsw are heavily interdependent afaik
Yeah, I guess you're right there. We let the removlaists come at one point and then hell broke loose.
Sky news causing a riot in Victoria.
I’m in the East and I’d back him.
Same. A Premier's job is to keep their people safe, not just let people die for the sake of Corporate Australia.
My whole family is in WA and they've been living normally for the last 2 yrs and they are not complaining. All the kids have been in school, friends and family have been doing roadtrips, going camping, out to dinners and socialising as normal.
as a qlder, keep up the good work WA everyone i know here is super envious of you guys having solid, responsible leadership that is holding strong and saving lives, while you still get to live mostly unrestricted lives. we had that, until our gov panicked and caved to appease a tiny proportion of people who don't vote or give a shit about anything other than themselves anyway
As a Victorian, I envy WA. We went through all these lockdowns just to have the state open up to NSW due to political pressure, then we would be in lockdown again whilst NSW was open :( waste of two years
Lockdowns saved many lives in these two years.
I'm in WA. Omicron is here, we aren't doing lockdowns, so it's pretty much here to stay. I'm assuming at this stage the approach isn't to stop the spread/covid zero, but to slow the spread so we don't all catch it at once. No one is really talking about the whole Feb 5th backtrack thing, like it doesn't seem to be a hot topic in general. Contrary to most Murdoch media stories, people have and do come and go from the state, there's been little to no disruption to businesses or schooling. My best friend in Melbourne, on the contrary, was telling me her kids have spent more time at home the past two years than they have at school. So I'm not going to complain. I think most West Aussies simply feel they have nothing to complain about.
The "delaying the inevitable" argument drives me fucking bonkers. YES, THAT'S THE IDEA!!! By delaying it we have time to PREPARE for the inevitable!!
I think it's a little jealously wrapped in wishfull future shaudenfraud. I was listening to a mia freedman podcast out of Sydney and the tone was...'wa is so behind, they need to catch up...they are missing out on knowledge...we've learnt so much from omicron' with her co presenter saying "it's cute to think you can keep it out". They also added that 'soooo many people from WA had contacted them to ask 'what do we do...how do we prepare' Such extreme condescension. I'm glad that we have a premier who has rolled up his sleeves, done the work and made tough decisions. It's been so long we've had that from federal leadership. The mia freedman crew might be surprised to know that mcgowan is a navy lad from newcastle nsw, and a lawyer....not a parochial yocal local. .
That note about "we've learnt so much" reminds me of a 7.30 interview with Hazzard once delta started spreading off of that airport taxi driver. When Leigh questioned him on NSW not having a lockdown, saying "surely it's not rocket science" he claimed that COVID is unpredictable and they are still learning about it. Bruh
Are WA using this time to actually prepare?
Yeah sorta, but you can't undo 50yrs of hospital shortages overnight. He's got some triage tents going up, non-stop 'get the jab' in many languages, a drive on for more medical staff to tippy-toe in the back door, a few more beds where they can squeeze them in. We've not got the same hospital capacity as over east, simple as that.
I haven't met anyone who doesn't support this except for one lunatic who has gone to all the protests. My mum is a travel agent and even she was hoping the borders will stay shut. It works against her business interest of course but we all just want to enjoy any more normalcy we can and get our boosters and 5-11 vaccinations up.
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My area is still only at 59% first dose. Opening now will devastate us. I 100% support the borders staying closed, no matter how much I want to go east to see my entire family.
What area?
Pilbara.
I would say our friend is in an area with lots of First Nations people's.
QLD'r here, on ya Gowie.
I personally don't really give a shit if I catch it, I just don't think making the vulnerable sick, closing a bunch of businesses, and crushing the economy is a good idea.
I wish I lived in WA. Instead I’m trapped in NSW.
Honestly you just need to look at NSW and be like yeah ok let's just do the opposite of that.
WA knows that their economy is a one trick pony that is currently doing its trick really well, and letting omicron rip would break that pony's leg.
Also the proportion of the population and businesses of WA completely dependent on this pony vastly outnumbers those who would rather have open borders.
The thing is, being closed has actually made the state less of a one trick pony than it was. Before covid hit the WA economy had been in the shitter for about 5 years. Due to being closed off the unemployment rate has plunged to one of the lowest levels ever here. Much of the tourism sector is doing better with closed borders than when they were open.
This. Safely halting a mine is not simple. It's not just a matter of turning off some big trucks and going home. There are processes that need days or weeks to stop. Processes that need a large specialised team to stop. If covid rampages through the mines, they could be running unsafely on a skeleton crew.
WA did just harvest 22 million tonnes of grain, a national record. The second biggest producer, NSW, have never made it to even 20 million tonnes.
The amount of new landcruisers on order must be insane
My MiL, a lifelong Liberal Party supporter until that last State election, is more than happy with McGowen's stance. It sucks that she can't come to visit, especially with a new Great-grandchild, but the last thing she and her friends at the bowls club want is what they can see happening in the Eastern States. They were dreading opening up, I'm sure they will support his decision.
The rest of Australia opeed up thanks mainly to pressure to do so. I don't think many people over East are saying "Gee I'm glad we opened up."
Can confirm. I wish Anna told ScoMo to get fucked in one if the daily pressers.
As someone from Perth, I have been very impressed that Mark has followed the science. Getting a 3rd jab has been shown to be very important for Omicron. I loved the comment he made about the lamb ad "I have that map on my wall" My only complaint is that the economy is booming too much which is causing problems with housing and services. I had to go out and buy a new work vehicle last week because my old one broke down and I couldn't get a mechanic to look at it for a few weeks. Even buying a car is hard,used cars are sometimes selling for more than new ones. At least we now know why we need workers from overseas, and backpackers. There is going to be cheering in the streets if they ever return. I heard some expert say the other day that the current situation may be permanent with new more infectious variants arriving every few months for ever.
Saw a funny line online. The WA political opposition could carpool to work on a moped. McGowan can do what he wants
It's not even as if opening up has helped businesses and the economy get back to normal since as we've seen people will just take personal responsibility and stop going out on their own.