Thread by @iMusing

ahaha NSW wave. Drink.

individuals, and by implication not governments, is the theology here.

operation covid shield, in which we are all warriors, see.

Morrison is very hyped up. Loving his slide show today. Very in charge.

because we are in a suppress and vaccinate phase, delta means lockdowns are necessary, says Morrison. Pretends these are “short and sharp”, a lie. Then recites income support outgoings.

his political framing of their pivot from wages subsidies to disaster payments, which he calls “supplementing existing centrelink payments” even tho people on centrelink were not eligible until last week.

contributing the theme of insulting people reliant on centrelink, he says we have had income support as an automatic stabiliser for many years in this country. In fact, centrelink under Morrison is designed to strike fear in the heart of unemployed people.

vaccination is free. Why does he say this so often? Anyway, there is no recital of state-by-state cost of vaccines - in contrast to income support.

CMO is up. Outbreaks in four of our eight jurisdiction in order of concern: Queensland, not a concern at the moment; in Victoria almost all cases are already in quarantine; in the ACT very few cases; and… c’mon mate. Who is the worst? The suspense.

finally, to NSW. We continue to see rising cases, hospitalisations, and continued spread, now into regional areas. The slide runs from 2020.

ah okay the buoyant Morrison demeanour was probably because he got them to agree on using 2020 visuals. Big win, PM.

bar graphs. Says the CMO, “the larger bars are relating to Victoria last year, the smaller bars are NSW this year… many more cases last year than this year”. Can you fucking believe this. As close to misinformation as a CMO could possibly put their name and face to, surely.

a UK comparison, and focus on older age groups. When the current crisis is mostly young people in NSW. My god.

the General. What #CovidComms will he deliver on behalf of the Morrison government? Almost one in four are fully vaccinated, he says. Guessing this would be counted from the moment the second dose is administered, not the period after which full effectiveness kicks in.

asked about the mood in national cabinet, Morrison uses that open and shut inflection that says he is lying straight to camera. Nobody lost their temper or started swearing at Berejiklian, is the gist.

very collegiate. On NSW, the CMO or Frewen (I’m listening on news radio) says vaccinating year 12s and apprentices are “things that will work and people have to have patience”.

Maiden asks if he sees a future where people can not leave their state without proof of vax. Morrison says states are closed off due to the aggressive delta strain (they were closed last year) and in his 70% future “there should be no borders”.

mumblin Phil asks if Berejiklian was told by her colleagues to stop with the 50% talk and asked to put a ring of steel around Sydney. Once again Morrison happily speaks for the NSW Premier. That’s not what she’s saying, he declares confidently.

follow the rules, stay home, and get vaccinated says Morrison. There is no alternative. That world where it can be done some other way does not exist. Contain and suppress, he says, his mantra.

I am once again noting that “contain and suppress” was not the approach articulated by [possibly former] NSW CHO Kerry Chant. She spoke always of zero community transmission. Always.

Laming has been caught in breach of mask wearing rules?
A: there are not two rules. He is not familiar “with that case you mention” - ie an MP on his own backbench.

Indigenous vax rates nationally are 28% first dose, says Frewen. He says they are working with the states and territories. Asked in what way? Frewen waves it away. Thats a matter for the states and territories.

Morrison steps in to say Indigenous communities are in some of the most remote parts of our country. He thanks church leaders for their efforts in those communities. He mentions hesitancy. He does not mention western Sydney, nor Dubbo, nor Walgett.

what will the ADF be doing in NSW? They will accompany police officers. Contact tracing. Commissioner Fuller is the “lawful commander” of those forces in NSW.

he would hope teachers want to get vaccinated. We are not running a mandatory vackshinashon program in Australia. The CMO says some stuff about children that I must have heard wrong.

in sum, as with Berejiklian this morning, no change to pandemic policy settings despite the mess they are making in NSW.