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?

I’d love to say sod it but the $5000 fine is a huge deterrent.
Honestly, he is not the first politician to have a rule for me and a rule for thee. There has been many disgraceful situations that show the hypocrisy that is when money and power trump any covid restriction.

With my cynical hat on, is there a possibility he is trying to pull a Cummings inspired stunt?
Ie do something pretty outrageous and breaking the rules that atttracts everyone’s attention and encourages people to think “sod it!”

Morrison being the person of rat cunning and low integrity he is, every chance it was more fuel for the desperate attempt to stop,people talking about his woeful "vaccine strollout", and how he secretly gave a higher proportion of vaccines to NSW at the expense of other states - and then spent much of last week kicking some of those states for lagging in their vaccination rates.

www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9963957/amp/October-14-Sydneys-Freedom-Day-NSWs-roadmap-lockdown-finally-revealed.html

This does not sit well with me at all. It feels very segregated and divisive.
Freedom day but only for the vaccinated and affluent suburbs in Sydney.

Being Australian I’m obviously naive to how this all works with vaccine passports and what not.
Is this what’s happening in the UK currently? Do you need to be vaccinated to go to the pub?
The premier is even saying only home gatherings of vaccinated people, how do they police that? Can they check everyone’s passport in a private premise?

No I've not needed my vaccination evidence for eating out/ theme parks/theatre.

This seems ever so unfair when not everyone has had the chance to be vaccinated yet!!!

(I also note how Australia ridiculed UKs "freedom day" and will now be doing the same thing...)

That “freedom day” hasn’t been announced anywhere apart from the daily Mail though. On one hand I think it’s horribly divisive and shouldn’t be done like that and on the other hand I’m in one of the suburbs with low cases and high vaccination rates and so quite fancy being able to start to get back to normality.

@Ineedsomebody

www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9963957/amp/October-14-Sydneys-Freedom-Day-NSWs-roadmap-lockdown-finally-revealed.html

This does not sit well with me at all. It feels very segregated and divisive.
Freedom day but only for the vaccinated and affluent suburbs in Sydney.

Being Australian I’m obviously naive to how this all works with vaccine passports and what not.
Is this what’s happening in the UK currently? Do you need to be vaccinated to go to the pub?
The premier is even saying only home gatherings of vaccinated people, how do they police that? Can they check everyone’s passport in a private premise?

There are some vaccine passports coming in at end of September for nightclubs etc. But how it can be policed I'm not sure. It's not being brought in before vast majority have had opportunity to be double jagged though.

Whilst i can understand what NSW is doing it doesn't sit easy with me if not everyone has actually been able to be vaccinated.

"Freedom Day" in the UK was a media invention here too. It was never called that by the GoV.
Most of our "freedoms" returned in May and kids went back to school in March. The main "freedom" on the 19th July, in England at least, was the dropping of mandatory masks except on public transport where it became a condition of carriage and the dropping of social distancing requirements.

I wonder if we'll see international media calling Australia a "threat to the world" and a "petri dish" as arguably these things will be more true than for the UK.
A columnist in New Zealand claimed the Uk Government should be sued for endangering the world - so they can rehash this column and replace "UK" with "Australia"

Here is the UK we have to show our vaccine pass (a QR code from the NHS app) to prove our vaccination status OR a recent LFT negative test OR proof of anti bodies in the form of a recent PCR test result.
For things like the theatre and large gatherings, not the pub for example. I went to see Mamma Mia last week and they barely glanced at it so it's all theatre imo (literally in the case of Mamma Mia). Cinema don't seem to ask for anything
There's talk of needing a vaccine pass for nightclubs at end of September but I still think this is a false threat to incentivize young people - might be wrong.

I wasnt asked for it at all at Southampton theatre. Is that a london thing?

@PileOfBooks

I wasnt asked for it at all at Southampton theatre. Is that a london thing?

Maybe. It was a London theatre. It could be up to venues themselves I guess.

Ive literally never told anyone my vaccination status. Before medical appts we get the usual questions to check we dont have covid.

Completely agree about all the petri dish comments. And the "looking on in horror" comments raised their head again too didn't they?

The covid pass was widely used in Denmark from April to access anything other than supermarkets and pharmacies. But specifically so everything could open to everyone. It’s kept the rates low and was removed in June for nearly everything. it was so everything could open. Don’t understand the benefit if things stay in lockdown anyway.

It’s kind of funny to see how Australia ridiculed other countries approach. I’m in a country that was widely critizised by Australia but now we have zero restrictions and life is back to as it was before. Same with our neighbouring countries. Except that we can’t travel to Australia to see our friends and family.

@Ineedsomebody

www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9963957/amp/October-14-Sydneys-Freedom-Day-NSWs-roadmap-lockdown-finally-revealed.html

This does not sit well with me at all. It feels very segregated and divisive.
Freedom day but only for the vaccinated and affluent suburbs in Sydney.

Being Australian I’m obviously naive to how this all works with vaccine passports and what not.
Is this what’s happening in the UK currently? Do you need to be vaccinated to go to the pub?
The premier is even saying only home gatherings of vaccinated people, how do they police that? Can they check everyone’s passport in a private premise?

I haven’t had to show mine anywhere - cinema, restaurants, indoor parties fine

I do think some have tried to have a go at U.K. - an article recently saying haphazard freedom day. Which wasn’t the case in the end. We had very slow opening since May, still within capacity and not sudden loss of all caution by a far few.

Oh and yes schools back in March so before that even. It’s been really slow in reality

This news report this morning showing how messed up the Australian psyche is over Covid.

When a pizza store became a COVID hotspot, its owner and his young family had to go into hiding
www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-08/woodville-pizza-bar-owner-reflects-on-sa-covid-19-lockdown/100425432

The whole blame, name and shame of people catching it has to stop, this poor family.

I don’t understand the reopening criteria in Australia or New Zealand? In the U.K. we now have 89% of our eligible population (over 16) single jabbed, and 80% double jabbed, but we are still having a very large number of cases. Hospitalisations and deaths are a lot lower than previous waves, but still significant and increasing. How will the delta wave play out in countries that have previously had very few infections/hospitalisations/deathbed?

What do you mean @memberofthewedding? What boat people? I hope one misunderstood you

• I hope I have misunderstood you?

@RoseWineTime

I don’t understand the reopening criteria in Australia or New Zealand? In the U.K. we now have 89% of our eligible population (over 16) single jabbed, and 80% double jabbed, but we are still having a very large number of cases. Hospitalisations and deaths are a lot lower than previous waves, but still significant and increasing. How will the delta wave play out in countries that have previously had very few infections/hospitalisations/deathbed?

I think the plan is to move to suppression, not all out freedom. So continued mask wearing, some restrictions on large gatherings, strict home quarantine for arrivals from overseas and problem states, and occasional local targeted lockdowns. This combined with 80%+ vaccination rates should keep the numbers manageable.

So the Singapore rather than U.K. approach to “living with Covid”.

Oz is vaccinating at a really fast pace now, brilliant to see.

One virologist I'm following on Twitter has been discussing the fact that flu is making a comeback in the northern hemisphere now, and said that he is "relieved" that this is happening, because whereas having a one-winter break from the flu is one thing, having the flu absent for two whole winters could result in a really nasty situation when the flu does finally return.

If the Ozzies and Kiwis are not going to "let" flu back in for the moment, I really hope that their respective governments will push the FLU VACCINE very very hard, as well as the COVID vax. Everyone should be getting a flu jab too, once they are done with their COVID jabs. Even though it's spring over there. Flu has been so weird since 2020 that many virologists are worried that some areas could see strange out-of-season outbreaks.

It’s kind of funny to see how Australia ridiculed other countries approach

Never happened.

@beingsunny

This news report this morning showing how messed up the Australian psyche is over Covid.

When a pizza store became a COVID hotspot, its owner and his young family had to go into hiding
www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-08/woodville-pizza-bar-owner-reflects-on-sa-covid-19-lockdown/100425432

The whole blame, name and shame of people catching it has to stop, this poor family.

It is not the "Australian psyche" whatever that is. It's a story.

Really good article on the casual othering of saying people died with an underlying health condition. The majority of us are in that category. amp.smh.com.au/national/underlying-health-conditions-that-s-almost-all-of-us-20210904-p58otg.html?__twitter_impression=true

@echt

It’s kind of funny to see how Australia ridiculed other countries approach

Never happened.

Yes, this comment had me