Thread by @BiancaMinnie4

As well as the very ugly hallmarks of the Morrison govt, another one sticks out to me: complacency. 'She'll be right'. From the start of the COVID19 pandemic, there has been complacency, which thankfully, premiers & chief ministers haven't shared. 1/

2/ Complacency that COVID would be a faint memory in six months & life would be completely normal. Complacency, despite advice to the contrary, that expanding current fed quarantine facilities & building new ones, wouldn't be required.

3/ Complacency that once states & territories took on hotel quarantine (I imagine, in part because they didn't trust the fed govt to do what was necessary), they could sit back, relax, & accept accolades. #auspol

4/ 'She'll be right' (why she BTW??) has also been a feature of the vaccine rollout.
There never seems to be more than Plan A - the announcement from #ScottyTheAnnouncer.

5/ So when it comes time for Plan B -implementation, or Plan C-contingency planning, there are huge gaps (to be polite). And the big problem with the problem of COVID is that the virus just keeps doing what viruses do. #auspol

6/ To personify the virus, it would rub its hands with glee seeing the complacency of the Morrison govt.
Imagine if we'd had a #QuarantineBuilder program 12 months ago? No wonder several states are wanting to build quarantine facilities (a fed responsibility).

7/ Even if the govt had responded to Jane Halton's Nov 2020 recommendation to implement surge capacity in existing quarantine facilities, Australians stuck in India could be repatriated in an orderly way, with fit-for-purpose accommodation, for people returning from...

8/...countries with very high infection rates.
Instead, complacency was the order of the day in the Morrison govt. She'd be right...
Except she isn't.
Australians in India & their families here must feel so betrayed & uncared for. #auspol

9/ As an Australian not of Indian descent, I can only say how appalled I am that their govt has made such a decision. One hallmark of the Morrison govt is not accepting responsibility, so now the PM is walking back the decision.

10/ Not because the decision was fundamentally wrong but because the optics of it are bad. #ScottyFromDamageControl has sprung into action.
When it comes to image control, for #ScottyFromMarketing, complacency is not the order of the day.

11/ For all other matters of great consequence to the lives of Australians though (currently for Australians in India potentially life & death matters) the #ScottyFromMarketing approach seems that complacency is fine. #auspol

12/12 It's not fine. Planning ahead matters. Complacency on climate change, COVID, the vaccine rollout & many other matters of enormous significant issues is not acceptable.
Will Australians tell this loud & clear to the Morrison govt at the next election though? #auspol

@threadreaderapp unroll please. 🙏