South Australia’s coronavirus lockdown: open letter to the Premier

South Australia has been in lockdown since 18 November, apparently because someone, somewhere lied to the contract tracers. I won’t go into how casualisation of the workforce or unwieldy visa conditions may or may not have contributed to the person lying, but suffice it to say that hearing the Premier, Steven Marshall roast the person on national TV was probably not the wisest of moves. Our six day lockdown ended on the third day. Thank God. I wanted to pen a letter to the Premier of South Australia, outlining why the lockdown was unnecessary because hotel quarantine is unnecessary. And unlawful. This first appeared on Twitter.

Dear Premier,

I bet you’re feeling the pressure right about now. I bet you’re super stressed. I bet you wish you’d never heard of #COVID19 and #PizzagateSA. I bet you wish you could just pull the doona over your head and stay in bed for a week, avoiding everything. I bet you’re trying to figure out how it all went so wrong, so quickly.

This is exactly why the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison handed management of the #shamdemic to you, and the other states and territories. He knew this would all blow up in someone’s face and he didn’t want it to be his. I (and others) have been warning you about the hazards of ignoring the Biosecurity Act 2015, but because I’m not an “expert”, my voice is easily dismissed.

You have played right into the hands of the Prime Minister and you, sir, have been played. Unfortunately, you haven’t been in the game long enough to politic your way out of trouble like Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian or Queensland Premier Annastacia Pałaszczuk and other Australian politicians. So here’s what you do to out play him:

1. Go back to the Biosecurity Act 2015 — it’s all about how to properly manage a pandemic.
2. Follow those processes and procedures exactly.
3. Tell Scott Morrison to shove his “National Cabinet” up his derriere (it’s an illusion of power and what got you into trouble in the first place).

You’ll find that you don’t need pesky hotel quarantine. Or flight caps. Or #LockdownSA. And you’ll be acting lawfully, thereby avoiding the class action vis-à-vis Robodebt that is definitely heading your way.

Look, I know it’s scary going against the tide and not doing what other states and territoriesdo. But what’s scarier is the fact that you’ve been made an Australian government scapegoat. You have the chance to circuit break this by doing something completely different, because the science and data are very clear: the Stupid Fucking Virus™️ is only deadly because politicians and the media say it is.

I know I’ve been a detractor of late (who hasn’t?) but you have my number (you actually do) so call me any time if you want to talk things through.

Love, me.

Photo credit: Rundle Street, Adelaide via NBC News