Two Murdoch 'journalists' told me I was in 'bad humour' and to 'delete my account' because I said Northern Beaches locals prefer to remain there (which is fact and not a put down). Is this a good time to remind you how everyone treated Victorians during second wave? A thread👇
Helpfully, the Herald Sun (Murdoch's Herald Sun!!!) collated some of the memes that were spreading around social media when Victoria's second wave hit. I'm sure the people sharing them thought it was all in good humour, but Victorians didn't enjoy it.
heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/…
I saw this one shared a lot. I know many Victorians felt hurt that they were being singled out as to blame for their covid outbreak, because they told me.
This one is on the same theme. All jokes, but all also contributing to the Morrison-Murdoch inspired 'this is all Andrews' fault' political narrative, which had the effect of making Victorians feel even worse about being locked down for months.
There were a few variants of this one. Implying Victoria wasn't 'doing their best' was a key thread of the accusation that somehow the covid outbreak showed the people of Victoria were inferior to the rest of the country, particularly 'gold standard NSW'. So unfair.
This one was shared by another Murdoch newspaper - the Mercury.
There were many more Simpsons memes which all basically said the same thing.
Some of the Melbourne lockdown memes were also celebrated on Radio National by Patricia Karvelas:
abc.net.au/radionational/…
Then there were the memes accusing Dan Andrews of being a dictator. Remember, he was being criticised for not doing enough to stop the spread of covid, while at the same time being slammed for doing too much. No one said media bias was rational. Much of it was unhinged.
This one was shared by Murdoch's Rita Panahi.
So, it was clearly open season to mock Victoria from the very first day of their outbreak and lockdowns. Morrison is still pushing his 'NSW is gold standard' which was always an attack on Victoria and Dan Andrews. Victorians deserved better from PM. End.

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More from @Vic_Rollison

17 Dec
Contact tracing is important to dealing with covid, but isn’t a silver bullet. If you don’t believe me, check out what’s happening in South Korea. Their contact tracing really is gold standard, using electronic methods (our app doesn’t work). Yet they now have 1000 cases a day.
I always said it was dangerously simplistic for Morrison and much of media in turn to blame Victorian outbreak on 'bad contact tracing' while calling NSW gold standard. Covid spread is too complex to explain by one attack line. Complexity is explained here
The focus only on contact tracing was and still is a political narrative, when what the public needed was proper analysis of all the factors which contribute to spread of covid, and the reality of undetected cases. It did nothing to inform the public of risk of covid outbreaks.
Read 13 tweets
17 Dec
Jeez, this is in SA territory the day we locked down. Surely NSW have to at least consider a short sharp lockdown to knock this on its head? I know it would be devastating at Christmas, but that’s not a reason not to do it.
Or maybe just lockdown the northern beaches? I worked for two years in that part of Sydney and have memories of the locals calling it the ‘insular peninsula’. Maybe it’s time to be really insular just for a short time?
Next minute... insular peninsula it is. Sorry everyone who has to lockdown - horrible time of year to be staying in 🙁
Read 4 tweets
16 Dec
This couple is going to be pilloried obviously. Some of you might be surprised to hear this but I do have some sympathy for them. They at least got tested - they must have thought there was zero percent chance they had covid since there have been no community cases for weeks.
The biggest issue with covid spread - as we saw at start of Victorian second wave - is people who have covid and don’t get tested. This is where covid goes undetected and can rapidly spread unbeknownst to contact tracers. I stand by my opinion this is how Vic second wave blew up.
I also reiterate that the focus only on contact tracing in Victoria - politicised narrative kicked off by Morrison, spread by Murdoch hacks - ignored fact undetected spread has nothing to do with contact tracing and reality is if people don’t get tested, risk of major outbreaks.
Read 4 tweets
15 Dec
There’s been lots of talk about the corrosive way that media bias undermines democracy since calls for #MurdochRoyalCommission. I wanted to talk about exactly why and how media bias leads to inequality and political corruption and incompetence, which hurts the country. A thread👇🏻
There are two ways media ideally plays a role in democracy - as a watchdog on power and as a facilitator of a free and equitable marketplace of ideas. Media bias towards right wing ideology undermines the media’s function for both these roles which in turn damages the country.
Let’s look at watchdog on power first. When powerful outlets such as Murdoch and Nine’s Fairfax refuse to hold the powerful Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Party to account for incompetence and corruption, incompetence and corruption flourish without consequence. Major problem.
Read 18 tweets
19 Nov
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.
Read 6 tweets
18 Nov
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
Read 4 tweets

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