Australia/New Zealand New Thread

[Kokeshi123]

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/pandemic-australia-still-liberal-democracy/619940/

Intrastate travel within Australia is also severely restricted. And the government of South Australia, one of the country’s six states, developed and is now testing an app as Orwellian as any in the free world to enforce its quarantine rules. People in South Australia will be forced to download an app that combines facial recognition and geolocation. The state will text them at random times, and thereafter they will have 15 minutes to take a picture of their face in the location where they are supposed to be. Should they fail, the local police department will be sent to follow up in person. “We don’t tell them how often or when, on a random basis they have to reply within 15 minutes,” Premier Steven Marshall explained. “I think every South Australian should feel pretty proud that we are the national pilot for the home-based quarantine app.”

This is... really really disturbing, honestly.

I grew up admiring (and, let's be honest, envying) Australians because as a nation, they always came across as a down-to-earth, fearless lot who had a healthy skepticism of authority while also being basically very civic/community minded.

What's gone wrong?

Yes that’s true blue. An outbreak can actually be the best motivating factor of all.
Perhaps it’s actually the only one that truly works!

apple.news/AbqxRbBXOQ-Gi_LNNJjyyhg

Here we have the deputy premier of QLD absolutely trash talking the PM. I mean I get it, but can we at least show some level of respect between the hierarchy of government. 🥴

The premiers are definitely running the show and Morrison has to beg for open borders.

Morrison has forfeited the respect due the position.

Only 40% of NDIS recipients have been fully vaccinated:

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/27/unconscionable-to-lift-lockdowns-before-all-australians-with-disability-can-be-vaccinated-inquiry-says

That’s terrible, and I have to agree that lockdowns should not be eased too much until that is remedied. The Australian vaccine campaign hasn’t been well structured. For all my complaints about how the U.K. gov performed they were very good at focusing on the right groups in the right order to ensure the most vulnerable were prioritised. I didn’t enjoy waiting but it was clearly the right thing to do. My 40 year old BIL had his vaccine in Vic months ago, but my terminally ill housebound mother is still struggling to get one organised in regional NSW.

I agree Indigo, what is the point of getting to 80% if the majority of that number are young healthy people.

NDIS recipients are also a federal responsibility, along with indigenous communities, and they're doing a shit job in both, another reason why Morrison deserves all the criticism coming his way. It's a disgrace.

It looks like Jacinda Ardern's FB post trying to start an open and transparent discussion about vaccine side effects isn't getting the comments she would have wanted...

The irony is you need things to get much worse before people will shift themselves.

I feel no desire to get an Ebola vaccine (if one existed) because I feel at minimal risk from Ebola. If, however, there was a huge outbreak then I’d be sprinting to the nearest vaccination centre.

@IncredulousOne

It looks like Jacinda Ardern's FB post trying to start an open and transparent discussion about vaccine side effects isn't getting the comments she would have wanted...

Yes there are some proper tinfoil hats wearers commenting on that FB post.

I'm interested, although saddened, in the argument between Victoria and NSW about vaccines.

Friends and family in NSW have all been vaccinated some months ago, but all, regardless of age, had AZ. Enthusiastically. The younger ones had to OK it with their doctor.
Those in Victoria have only recently been vaccinated or are still waiting but only want Pfizer or Moderna and seemed quite affronted when I asked about the availability of AZ, which I understand is produced in Australia.

Obviously my sample size is too small to generalise, but I wondered what other people's experience is in both (indeed all) states. Is AZ readily available on request everywhere? Is there generally a reluctance to take it and a preference to wait for Pfizer/Moderna in some, or most places?

Almost immediately after AZ was available there were dramatic announcement s and government warnings that it was not safe for under 60s. These have been walked back but the damage was done. As Gladys walked NSW off the cliff she demanded other states give her their Pfizer allocations. Then she boasted about how well NSW was doing with vaccines.

I know many young Victorians who got AZ instead of waiting for Pfizer. Vic have used proportionally more AZ than any other state - around 51% of all vaccines given in Vic have been AZ. NSW is close at just under 50%. The other states are much lower though.

This is a well written piece on the situation facing NZ at the moment from the healthcare worker perspective. The system is so fundamentally underfunded, out of date and running close to capacity even before covid.
Before moving to Oz I worked at an architecture firm that had a large number of dhb contracts and the state of the working facilities was pretty dire. It's so much bigger than just adding beds in the last 18months.

www.newsroom.co.nz/covid-19/covid-is-not-a-choice-for-sick-children-sir-john?fbclid=IwAR2FjcxpYik7aYRppPmW1hHfIKq5YXUaJx05mx0McD_gN2wWc8i4fkXbiyI

Totally agree @spottygymbag and it’s been successive Government failures - not just the current one - but we don’t make it easy for ourselves. Doctors and nurses living overseas can’t get home because of MIQ, visa holders can’t get in, current resident visa holders (including desperately needed medical staff) are leaving because Immigrationnosnsuchba clusterfuck their visas aren’t being processed.

Absolutely @Gennz18 clusterfuck is a good summation. So many pre-existing issues now compounded by covid

On top of not being able to import medical personnel It's also about the training of the NZ drs and nurses being restricted. It's really common for nz drs to do a placement overseas to level up in their field as the intermediate position/required hours aren't available or achievable but this can't happen either!
And it's quite concerning seeing the reporting around nurses being up skilled to cover icu. This isn't full training, it's mostly a basic rundown of how things work. Far from comprehensive training to enable them to work safely at that level. That's coming from two high level drs involved in this process.

A clusterfuck like my spelling of “immigration is a” 😂

Uugghh it’s all so depressing.

I am feeling a bit hopeful of border restrictions lessening for double vaxxed people though- the pressure seems to be coming on as MIQ is so shit.

@Gennz18

A clusterfuck like my spelling of “immigration is a” 😂

Uugghh it’s all so depressing.

I am feeling a bit hopeful of border restrictions lessening for double vaxxed people though- the pressure seems to be coming on as MIQ is so shit.

as MIQ is so shit

Yes, desperately so. The rhetoric towards Kiwis who simply want to return home to see their own families and spend some time at home after 2 or 3+ years away has been disgusting, and MIQ and the discussions around it (and those of us abroad) have neatly encapsulated this. No kindness at all.

@TheHoneyFactory

you are all right of course but the hesitancy is bloody infuriating. And at the expense of kids, teens, young adults and working families. i was all for Aus response initially, but now i feel like im living amongst deluded fools that think covid can be kept at bay forever. (and full disclosure im not even in a lockedown state!)

I think you're directing the blame at the wrong people...

My friend got to the front of the queue after loads of tries and went to book a slot in October, then the system crashed and he lost his place entirely. These are people who need to see their families after now years apart, a new grandchild to take home to people who would very much like to be loving grandparents. The comments on his social media from his NZ friends and relatives suggest a lot of pent-up anger. Surely double jabbed could go in other hotels so they can open up more slots, it's been over 18 months now.

My friend got to the front of the queue after loads of tries and went to book a slot in October, then the system crashed and he lost his place entirely

That's awful, he must have been absoutely gutted!

That’s so sad @MRex

There are so many alternatives available- reduced MIQ for double vaxxed (which would double existing capacity) and /or coming from low risk countries, home quarantine etc. It is insane that we are using MIQ as the same blunt tool that we did back mid 2020 when there were no vaccines.

Yeah, he sounds angry but he's just upset. The daft thing is that for them it doesn't matter much the cost, the time or dates; so it should be easy.

i was all for Aus response initially, but now i feel like im living amongst deluded fools that think covid can be kept at bay forever.
(and full disclosure im not even in a lockedown state!)

Your answer's right there. Unless you're faced with Covid cases and watching them rise in your area, you do think Covid can be kept at bay.