I note one reason for 'circuit breaker' lockdown in SA - framed as legitimate and worthwhile policy as compared to Victoria's which was framed as outrageous - is that SA Health want to give contact tracers time and space to get on top of outbreak. Imagine if Andrews had said that
I'm going to keep calling out the hypocrisy of the way the media is treating the SA quarantine breach outbreak, versus how they reported the Victorian outbreak. I hope some of the worst offenders on here (they know who they are), who roasted Andrews for MONTHS, reflect a little.
I also wanted to note that there is no point having 25km radius restriction in Adelaide, as we're a much smaller city - people don't routinely go more than 10kms from home, let along 25kms. And yes, SA's lockdown is much stricter and we accept that because elimination is worth it
The fact that @Birmo had to lie on national radio yesterday - saying Victoria's quarantine breach was due to security guards sleeping with guests, total lie - shows that the Liberals have no justification for why they went after Dan Andrews, but are protecting Steven Marshall.
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I’m sure there are some in NSW watching SA lockdown and wondering why we’re doing it with such low case numbers. I said back in July @GladysB could have had short sharp lockdown to eliminate covid, which has continued to circulate for months. Morrison wanted to live with virus 🤷🏼♀️
I actually wonder if NSW would have taken different approach if they weren’t so desperate to use Victoria’s second wave and lockdown against Andrews. It was really when the federation splintered - when Vic locked down and NSW said ‘no way we’re doing that. We’re gold standard’.
The whole time this has been going on, Victoria’s success at eliminating virus has never been applauded by Morrison or NSW govt because that wouldn’t fit the narrative that Victoria can’t handle covid and NSW can. The whole thing has been so politicised, no one can see straight.
It is so eerie watching SA covid outbreak unfold exactly like it did in Victoria. All the contributing factors that were never focused on in Victoria (because Dan bashing) are all at play here. Casual cleaners. Insufficient testing. Big families. Multiple vulnerable workplaces.
All the focus in Victoria by the biased media pack - not just Murdoch - all the outlets - was on Andrews and contact tracing. This narrative was perpetuated as a political narrative, starting with Morrison himself. Look what you missed! A thread 👇
Because media missed all these contributing factors by focusing on Andrews (and Sutton!), the community didn't understand these risks either. South Australians have basically been told for months that what happened in Victoria was all Andrews' fault so couldn't happen here.
Update on SA covid situation. Everyone I have spoken to is upset and anxious. We are cancelling plans and events, working from home. Great to see huge queues for testing - well done all! There are now 20 cases. Fingers crossed aged care facility doesn't have any positive cases.
Lots of people have talked about the 'complacency' in SA over the past few months. It is true we have been living a carefree existence - practicing social distancing, handwashing etc. but apart from that really back to normal. Why is that? Because we had eliminated the virus.
My point is, everyone is better off - economy, people's sense of comfort and confidence - when there is no virus. Elimination and closed borders is not bad for economy, it is only thing that gets the economy back to full health. SA seem to be aiming for elimination again. Good!
I asked Victorians to tell me what’s it’s been like to live through daily barrage of biased media reporting while also dealing with covid threat. I was inundated with over a thousand replies and DMs. I wanted to summarise what everyone told me. A thread👇🏻
Here is my tweet asking for responses. You can scroll the 100s of responses. There are many common themes which show how terribly the media - national and Victorian - have failed the Victorian public during the pandemic crisis.
Many people said they felt anxious enough about covid - scared of catching it, friends and family getting it, jobs and businesses lost, lockdown isolation, missing family - and that when they turned to the media for information, they were left feeling more anxious and upset.
As Victorians breathe a well deserved sigh of relief this weekend, having smashed 2nd wave in world beating fashion, I wanted to talk about the way simplified media narratives have misled public about how dangerous ‘living alongside covid’ is. News is meant to inform. A thread👇🏻
Once media set a narrative to explain something - like Victorian second wave - they jump on it as a pack. Pack journalism reinforces and simplifies the dominant narrative so that only info that fits the narrative is included, and everything else is ignored. Journos are blinkered.
We all know what the simplified Vic covid narrative was - let’s call it ‘get Andrews’. There were two things used to explain covid spread - hotel quarantine infection and bad contact tracing. That’s it. Nothing else could permeate this simplistic narrative. It became entrenched.
I am doing some research on the impact of biased media attacks throughout Victorian second wave on the emotional state of locked down Victorians. If Victorians could respond to this tweet with short summary of their experiences of how bias impacts them, I would appreciate it 🙏🏻
If you don’t want to share publicly, DMs are open and you will remain anonymous.
The responses to this tweet are making me want to cry. I am so angry that the Victorian community has had the trauma of the covid crisis worsened by a biased media who follow the lead of the PM who threw Victorians under a bus. Journos treat it like a game. It hurts people.