Current Events > Australia is shutting down non-essential businesses for upwards of 6 months

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/26/australia-is-scared-and-confused-about-coronavirus -is-scott-morrison-the-leader-we-need-for-this-grave-moment

This is a pretty intense opinion piece about Scott Morrison. I think it raises some very solid points - our leadership feels like a farce right now. Tonal shifts, mixed messages and an inappropriate adherence to the "everybloke" in one breath followed by weak, schoolmaster-level chiding of bad behavior rather than offering any support or actual leadership. We like to see our government as united to some degree and working well enough as a unit, but our premiers are going off like heads of the hydra.

A couple stories from the ever-present news.com.au live feed:

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-live-updates/live-coverage/12fcb32bc9592e593403f78a3f72ae30/amp

• They're turning the parking metres off in Brisbane, starting from tomorrow.
• Phase three, or at least tougher restrictions, are being estimated for "sooner rather than later".
• As early as three hours ago, child care places have been announced to stay open. Schools are still open.

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I fear for our trampoline venues

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Starmieketone posted...

I fear for our trampoline venues

They'll bounce back.

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howard was probably the last real leader we had

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ModLogic posted...

howard was probably the last real leader we had

Howard was getting shit by the end, though. WorkChoices was a monumental fuck up that lost him working class support, and Kevin Rudd was a fresh new face who was gunning for fresh, progressive policies. Howard did good things, and I think his actions in the wake of Port Arthur was a cultural turning point - but by 2007 he was out of good ideas.

I also think Rudd gets unfairly shafted at times. It was through his leadership that we survived the 2008 financial crash relatively unscathed - his stimulus was criticized for going to dole bludgers who would just go buy a flatscreen with it, but the actions taken in 2008 left us as one of the few countries who came out the other side in decent shape.

I also think that the NBN was a great idea that got buttfucked by the Liberals cutting corners over the course of a decade, before they put their stamp of quality on it like they hadn't just stripped an excellent idea down to a bunch of dogshit that was obsolete before it even launched. And the school laptops - as a way of preparing my generation for the upcoming technology boom and investing kids in the learning process, I think the laptops were an excellent idea to get kids used to working with technology.

With Gillard, I think the carbon tax was a good idea to curb Australia's emissions. All the wank about hurting Australian industries and "being afraid of coal" weakening the country - which was perpetuated by the biggest players in the LNP today, and is still a key aspect of their rhetoric - dogged her entire career. The speaking points against it by that onion-munching punching bag Tony Abbott really prophesied the LNP's hard-on for corporate boot-licking and subsidizing the mining industry, and I think it was the success of his rhetoric and his subsequent election to office that has set us down the path of ruin that defined the 2010's in Australian politics.

Things started to slip under Rudd. It was an ALP leadership spill that saw our ongoing trend of our prime minister's never sitting a full term in office, and the LNP has since turned it into an art borne of ego. But I still maintain that Kevin Rudd's leadership is severely underrated. We weathered the GFC, he was the first prime minister to issue an apology on behalf of the government to the indigenous community due to the Stolen Generation - an event that some shitstains, like Peter Dutton, walked out on in protest - and he actively tried to improve Australia's technological infrastructure in an era of growth in that field. It was his last year in office that saw everything really fall apart, at least to my recollection - he had his moments of controversy which added up to the leadership spill, but the policies I remember growing up honestly served to try and modernise Australia, to bring us up to par in a rapidly changing world. Ever since he got knocked off, and especially after the LNP took power, is when things really started to go to shit in my eyes.

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ModLogic posted...

howard was probably the last real leader we had

Howard's regime was the most convoluted Pleasantville tie-in ever.

Honestly, he is the reason we had so many issues getting marriage equality. It was his government who tightened up a "loophole" so that it explicitly mentioned genders.

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MrMallard posted...

It was through his leadership that we survived the 2008 financial crash relatively unscathed - his stimulus was criticized for going to dole bludgers who would just go buy a flatscreen with it, but the actions taken in 2008 left us as one of the few countries who came out the other side in decent shape.

Let's not forget he was only able to do this due to Howard and Costello's fiscal responsibility.

Howard, WorkChoices aside, is probably the second best PM this country has ever had after Hawke.

Anyway, Scomo announcement tonight. Full lockdown on the cards, apparently. VIC is going it alone regardless.

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Also - Turnbull to me felt like a Labor politician trying to steer the Liberal party. I always liked Turnbull, he led the country with a lot of grace. He's a fuckton better than Scomo.


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TreyFlowers posted...

Also - Turnbull to me felt like a Labor politician trying to steer the Liberal party. I always liked Turnbull, he led the country with a lot of grace. He's a fuckton better than Scomo.

I felt like that for a while too. I liked him for the fact that he kept his head down, and he actually seemed like a capable leader. I think it's a travesty that some scumbag like Peter Dutton fucked his career like they did, since Turnbull seemed like a competent, middle of the road career politician instead of these extreme LNP cowboys.

I've been listening to the Betoota Advocate podcast recently though - dunno if you know it, but the Betoota Advocate is a satirical news paper in the same vein as the Onion or the Chaser. Their stories take the piss out of everything, and they're usually based on actual happenings around the country. The podcast started just before the Scomo leadership spill, so I caught a few glimpses of Turnbull at work in between the silly news articles - and while I can respect him for not being a batshit insane human being, I still think he was a prominent cog in the LNP machine - just a more moderate one.

For as moderate and agreeable as he was as a politician, he signed in tax cuts for corporations in line with the LNP's modus operandi. I think he got a lot of crap for being kind of distant and aloof at the time, though even on his worst day I think he was a better leader than Abbott or Morrison. I don't have a lot of criticism for him, but he did grant corporate tax cuts in 2018 and I'm very much against that.

Otherwise, Turnbull was a port in a storm. He wasn't perfect - I don't think that the LNP could put out a PM for the people in their current state, the Liberals need to split from the Nationals and cull the extremist rhetoric exemplified by Tony Abbott and his fanatical supporters. But between "Stop The Boats", "Financial Crisis" Tony Abbott and "AFP Raid", "Holidaying during a national disaster" Scott Morrison, Turnbull was a respectable man with the decorum and respect for office that Australia has been sorely lacking. That's why I mostly focused on Abbott and Morrison in my prior post - Turnbull was unremarkable in many ways, but his unremarkability was because he shut his mouth, did his job and offered urgently needed commentary in times of crisis - in short, he acted like a leader, not a soundbite-spewing, quipping "everybloke" jackass who wanted to endear himself to the people in every interview while he fucked the "everyblokes" and their families in the next breath.

While I don't agree with the LNP policy he pushed through, I can agree that Turnbull was a good man, and a far finer leader than the PMs he's sandwiched between. Even with the rockier parts of his tenure, I fully stand by my comment of Malcolm Turnbull being "a port in a storm".

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Yep. Turnbull was a leader, not a politician, so to speak. And you have to play the game to survive in politics unfortunately.

I agree that he was a genuinely good man. He just tried to get on with his job. Man, if we had Turnbull leading us through this, at least we would get clear communication.

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I didn't re-read last night's comment before typing my most recent comment, it turns out I didn't mention Scott Morrison at all. It was more of a retrospective. mb

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Scomo announcement in 15min

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I'm tuned in to ABC, they've got a little window in the bottom right waiting for the PM.

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I'm at work so just have it streaming in another tab with my headphones in

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By-elections are still going ahead. How are they going to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 transmissions? To begin with, there'll be no more than 100 people in any one polling booth at any time, but they're also asking people to - get this - bring their own pencils.

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He sounds like such a robotic, condescending prick.

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It's gonna be a shit sandwich

"So proud"
"LOCKDOWN YOU CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE"
"We will get through this together"

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just tell us what we're doing for fucks sake

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Here we go

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The arrival declaration is an alright idea.

Quarantining sounds like a good idea. A bit late, though - letting Aussies walk off of planes over the course of a week will hopefully chase him for years to come.

ADF being called in to help with quarantine. They're working with state and territory governments to enforce mandatory quarantine.

Businesses to "hibernate" over the course of the next six months.

Phase 3 mentioned multiple times near the end.

Onto Dr. Murphy:

"Over 3000 cases" of coronavirus. That's over 200 more than the current aggregate.

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More "practice social distancing", cough etiquette etc. Talk of community transmission, high testing rates with low positive readings.

Back to this smug prick who we call PM, he's answering questions. Didn't catch the first one, it was a little rambly. Scomo's response sounds kinda boilerplate.

Question: can you explain the scope of these quarantine measures?

Started with arrival statistics - 7000 arrivals, compared to 42,000 arrivals last year. I missed the rest of the question.

Question: how much is the quarantine going to cost, and can you say something about schools?

The states are going to handle the cost and arrangement of the quarantine. Education: states will decide. We've entered a "transition phase" with schools, where schools are still needed but are preparing to shut down. Talking about an "essential job" where a parent might not be able to take care of their kids, so some schools might stay open.

Question on hibernation: who's going to be taking a hit, where businesses close for 6 months and open without any debt?

Answer: landlords will suffer, real estate might be under strain, states will have to deal with it. Everyone will have to pitch in, per his words.

Question: centres want the PM to guarantee a slice of the 9 billion dollars in one of the stimulus to keep cebtres afloat and to allow parents who have lost their jobs to get their money back.

Question: the Chinese President put out a statement last night. I think she asked about our statement in comparison to China's statement, or how we're going to handle it - someone started a lawnmower behind me.

Answer: testing, contact testing to be focused on. That's why the ADF has been called in. Keeping supply lines open is important. Australia fares "very, very wall". "Not the time" to discuss where the virus came from, which I do agree with. We've got a strong economy, but other countries don't, so we're going to need to brace ourselves for hardship across the globe.

Question: will we be repatriating 20,000 Aussies stranded overseas, and has he spoken with Berejiklian over the Ruby Princess situation?

Quips about chatting with Berejiklian a lot lately. Australians who've left during a "no travel" recommendation not being considered a priority.

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I'm missing some of these, sorry.

PM cautioning people on how they discuss "lockdown". Condemning alarmist rhetoric that assumes supermarkets and other services will close. Cautions the media against using the word "lockdown", as the implications of that term might not match what the government is doing.

Jokes about "Barre" pronunciation. "I've seen the memes, I know how to pronounce it now". I heard audible groans, but that might be my own bias. I thought it was fucking stupid - get to the facts, you fucking buffoon.

Question: NSW and VIC suggesting stricter measures. Is this good, is it bad? I might be misinterpreting the question.

I've fallen behind. Lots of talk on restrictions.

Question: Hibernation question about landlords and banks taking a hit. Are people going to take a hit through their supers, or how are the workers going to be affected?

Everyone is going to suffer, but we're trying to keep everyone afloat right now. Audio cuts out. We've all got to agree on everything and take care of each other. Discussing "what the economy really means".

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Q: is there any appetite to nationalise residential tendencies?

Apparently it's a high priority.

Q: PPE apparently being exported out of the country, does the PM know about it? A question went to Dr Murphy, but I didn't catch it.

PM passes off to Dr Murphy. Talk of regulations on the healthcare industry.

Q: there's talk of Australia reaching ICU capacity. Comments?

Murphy disagrees with that assertation. We're preparing a heat map along with NZ to track how many beds are available.

Q: are you willing to release the modelling that the government believes will happen under each phase of lockdown?

PM talking about taking every job into account, and ends on his commitment to protect lives and protect livelihoods.

Sorry for missing details. I might have also misinterpreted some of the questions, I had to write the questions and replies on the fly. Both questions and replies suffered for this.

The "hibernation" plan will be discussed at a later date.

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I think Morrison dodged the PPE export question. Dr. Murphy did mention it, but I missed most of what he said.

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MrMallard posted...

I think Morrison dodged the PPE export question. Dr. Murphy did mention it, but I missed most of what he said.

I reckon they didn't want to be caught out on directly blaming China. It's a political-bitch move.

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How do you think we're going to weather this hibernation plan? We've only heard the start of this plan, and we're getting more info - but freezing a store's debt for months at a time? That's got to be risky.

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But it's totally just the flu, guys. /s

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Rika_Furude posted...

Why the fuck is the moron allowing schools to stay open

This kind of incomprehensible bullshit just seems to keep happening over and over again the world over. :/

MrMallard posted...

I don't know. To my knowledge it's all been very touch and go.

In other news, Yang Hengjin - an Australian citizen, scholar and pro-democracy blogger who's been detained in China for 14 months - is set to be prosecuted in the next six weeks.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/chinese-government-prepares-to-charge-australian-academic-20200325-p54dq3.html

Funny how the timing works out. We shut everything down and basically grind to a halt to protect our citizens, and China starts processing their political prisoners who they've had under wraps for months or years. There are claims that he's been shackled to a chair and interrogated daily. And the worst part is because of the virus, Hengjin's legal team might not be able to meet him in person to help him make his case.

This is truly despicable.

This is the chinese government.
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It's funny. When I made this topic, I was convinced that Australia was taking the most extreme measures in the world - shutting almost everything down to prevent the spread of the virus. I was sure it was going to end our way of life.

It turns out that our coronavirus measures are actually some of the most lax in the western world. Like, I don't think we're as bad as America, and things will almost certainly progress to UK and NZ levels of lockdown, but whereas the UK flipped a switch and went dark instantly, it's taking us a week or more to fully lock down.

This thread was born from that "holy shit, life as we know it is over" feeling. But life is still so normal, pub closures and social distancing aside. Someone's mowing their nature strip as I type this. Someone's getting their family into the car next door. I can go and get a kebab for lunch right now. It won't last - but if you asked me how things were gonna look a week ago when I made this thread, my outlook would have been much, much bleaker.

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Fuck I can't wait to go the pub and watch the footy when we can

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TreyFlowers posted...

Fuck I can't wait to go the pub and watch the footy when we can

My neighbors are being forced to stay home and get drunk, by 10am.

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Cases in Australia exceed 3000, with a median age of 48

I got shit-faced with trusted friends last night. We played Rock Band 4 and I fucking slaughtered I Wanna Dance With Somebody on vocals. After this fucking week we've had, I needed that

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if they're scoping 6 months then ya... we're not going out this summer

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Now can't go outside in groups of larger than 2. Told (but not enforced) to stay home unless going to work, groceries or doctor.

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Well, this weekend happened at the perfect time then.

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I'm fuming that they can make laws which essentially make landlords the providers of social housing.

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One week later: we're only just now starting to see the start of what was promised last Sunday night. All non essential businesses closed, mandatory quarantine.

Said week was punctuated by cruise ship passengers and travellers by air waltzing back into the country without so much as a peep. Thousands of people who could act as vectors of transmission, walking free into the greater community. The quarantine action only went into effect on Friday.

How's everybody's week been? I got let go from my position, had a kebab and threw down some beers with the boys just before mandatory quarantine went into effect.

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First day of working from home today. It's been fantastic. Went for a walk with the wife before work, did a home workout on my lunch break, I haven't had a shower or brushed my teeth and it's 3:30pm, sitting in my shorts and tshirt with the AC on. Amazing.

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Ok so far... been kinda bored working from home. My industry has switched to remote work, which makes hiring take longer.

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So about this new rule of only socializing with one other person (max of 2 people)...
Does this only apply for outside and public spaces. Or does it mean we can't invite other people to our house and personal space?

I get it but I find it absolutely fucked that the government can enfore this.

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Ser_Jaker posted...

So about this new rule of only socializing with one other person (max of 2 people)...
Does this only apply for outside and public spaces. Or does it mean we can't invite other people to our house and personal space?

I get it but I find it absolutely fucked that the government can enfore this.

The only place I like to go and socialise is my friend's house. He still lives with his family.

If I'm there to spend time with him and not his family, but his family can still come into contact with me, I'm assuming I would be breaking that law. So now I can't hang out with one of my best friends, at least at his place. We play video games and watch movies in his room, which we can't do anywhere else.

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Ser_Jaker posted...

So about this new rule of only socializing with one other person (max of 2 people)...
Does this only apply for outside and public spaces. Or does it mean we can't invite other people to our house and personal space?

I get it but I find it absolutely fucked that the government can enfore this.

https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1244408327351578624?s=20

You shouldn't be inviting other people over, no

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There's a change org petition to have the government suspend all mortgage, rent, bills in Australia and issue a salary substitute. One of my friends is from the UK and he's essentially going to be stuck here with no money and no place to live.

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They're going to have to. The last thing I imagine they would want is a mass of people getting evicted and being on the street because they can't afford rent and can't find work.
From what I've heard there's a new law that prevents people from getting evicted for the next 6 months.
I'm currently waiting for centrelink because I was ex-hospitality and lost work. Don't know how long until I get my first payment.

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If they suspended mortgage payments that'd be dangerous, my wife and I would go batshit crazy with the extra funds lol.

Man, I am not looking forward to FY 21-22. We are gonna get taxed so fucking hard to pay for all of this.

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Nah, it's time for the banks to finally give back to us. We shouldn't have to pay this back because a global pandemic cost people jobs.

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Fat fucking chance

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Ser_Jaker posted...

They're going to have to. The last thing I imagine they would want is a mass of people getting evicted and being on the street because they can't afford rent and can't find work.
From what I've heard there's a new law that prevents people from getting evicted for the next 6 months.
I'm currently waiting for centrelink because I was ex-hospitality and lost work. Don't know how long until I get my first payment.

The thing which irks me is the number of people taking advantage of it. Having tenants outright say they aren't going to pay rent for six months because the law stops you from evicting them, yet still being able to pay for everything from private school fees to other "essentials" is a joke for landlords with mortgages/strata bills/land tax/etc. It's not like they automatically stop either, and removing the ability for landlords to enforce their rights or at least enforce the contract is pathetic. Maybe this was all just a ploy to help bring down the housing market prices.

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If companies don't pass that down to their employees, it might be time to break out the guillotine. Preferably the pointed one from... I think the Philippines?

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