As I’ve written elsewhere, the Chinese Virus seems to have eaten away at whatever passed for brains in the Western political class. How else to explain such lunacy as the announcement allowing adults to sit on a park bench with one other, or COVID-infected people being rushed out of hotels quarantine with garbage bags over their heads?
Even a marginal political party calling itself the “Reason Party” seems unable to decide whether it’s Arthur or Martha.
First, the Arthur.
Key Victorian upper house crossbencher Fiona Patten says her opposition to the Andrews government’s plans to extend Victoria’s state of emergency for an additional nine months from March has been strengthened by the latest lockdown.
Ms Patten has not ruled out a three month extension, but says her strong preference is for pandemic-specific legislation, rather than ongoing broad-brush state of emergency powers[…]
“My mind hasn’t been changed, and if anything it’s actually been strengthened by this instant lockdown,” Ms Patten said[…]
“We as a community cannot live in a state of emergency for another nine months.”
So, wait: has she finally woken up to the lunacy of endless lockdowns and allowing unelected, plainly often-clueless bureaucrats to rule with absolute power?
Ms Patten said the state’s latest lockdown shows Victoria’s contact tracing and hotel quarantine systems aren’t working, or the Andrews government doesn’t have faith that they are.
But, just when it’s beginning to sound promising that at least one politician hasn’t completely abdicated their rational faculties, in comes gibbering-mad Martha.
“I’m not a doctor, so I am happy to accept that the medical advice was for this short and sharp lockdown,” Ms Patten said.
“I have to say though, I chaired the contact tracing inquiry, and what we heard is that Victoria had kind of jumped over the other states in our contact tracing capacity, in our ability to to contain infections, to connect people very quickly, and either that’s not working, or we don’t have faith in our own systems.”
Ms Patten said she had no doubt the lockdown would have a positive effect in slowing the spread of coronavirus.
“But we have a very good system here, and we should be using it[…]We’ve seen we’ve been able to control this…”
Um, what?
How on earth does she square those two statements?
More to the point, how does she square the claim that “we’ve been able to control this” with, not just the debacle of last year but the current, panicked plunge into lockdowns?
Has she paid even the least attention to the solid body of evidence that shows that lockdowns absolutely do not “have a positive effect in slowing the spread of coronavirus”? Even someone who continued to believe – against all evidence – that lockdowns work cannot possibly believe that a five-day lockdown will stop the spread of a virus with a fourteen day incubation period.
Welcome to the “new normal”, where even people whose political mission is supposedly “reason” are taking leave of their critical faculties.
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