Posted on 09/26/2021 3:38:11 PM PDT by george76
During his lengthy Sunday appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked about a host of issues. He was briefly asked by host Margaret Brennan about his country's strict lockdowns in the face of the Wuhan coronavirus, which he defended.
As Brennan reminded the prime minister, "Australia is one of the few Western democracies that has really put in place some very, very strict COVID protocols. You shut down your borders 18 months ago," before going on to ask him "when will they reopen? Are you going to have vaccine passports? When will Australians be able to leave?"
Prime Minister Morrison offered that "we will see our international borders, particularly for Australians to leave and return, and Australians who are overseas who have been vaccinated to return and that will occur before the end of the year, and it could happen well before that."
Other than that date, the prime minister didn't provide many specifics. He touted his country's vaccination rates, but it was more so a matter of "and we'll be able to open up those borders" and that "it is getting us to a place where we'll be able to open again."
What Morrison did stick to was about saving lives of Australians.
...
Even when Brennan broached the topic as a matter of asking "do you think less liberty is medically necessary? We have a huge argument over that in this country. Why did you think it was worth it in Australia," Morrison's response was merely that "30,000 lives is the simple answer."
Morrison did also acknowledge that there was more strict lockdowns, due to the Delta variant:
MARGARET BRENNAN: In Melbourne this week, you did have some protests--
PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: We did.
MARGARET BRENNAN: --against mandates. So, is there just sort of an exhaustion level here politically that makes it difficult for you to try to control the virus?
PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: The Delta variant is the game changer when that started hitting around the world from about mid this year. Of course, it's had a devastating effect here in the United States. We have had a lot of success with COVID in managing the virus pre delta where we didn't have to go into lockdowns. We could manage it through the testing and tracing, isolation, borders, quarantine. All of that was very effective. But when Delta hit, it was- it changed everything. And so regrettably, we've had lockdowns in our two biggest cities in Sydney- Sydney and Melbourne now for- for many months, and we're looking forward to the end of that. And those restrictions are already starting to ease. And the vaccination programme, which has been running successfully, our rates of vaccination on a daily basis per capita have even exceeded those that were achieved in the United States, in the United Kingdom at their peak. And so that is getting us to a place where we'll be able to open again.
Despite having been fully vaccinated for months, Prime Minister Morrison confirmed to Brennan he will quarantine upon returning to Australia.
The Guardian staff put together a comprehensive and chilly explanation of what's allowed and what's not. Residents can only leave their home for a very limited amount of reasons, and can only travel up to 15km away, or about 9 miles. If up five people want to meet for "personal training" reasons outside, they must all be vaccinated. Masks must be worn indoors and outdoors, except when it comes to people being in their own homes.
Complete lockdowns have occurred in Australia over a matter of a single case.
As Matt wrote about last month, Australia has gone on to build camps for COVID patients, or as they put it, there's going to be a "dedicated regional quarantine facility."
And, earlier this month, I delved into an Australian method of compliance for quarantine measures, which involves facial recognition technology. As Byron Kaye reported for Reuters since then, it is in fact in the trial stage for Australian states.
When Brennan brought up that "people in this country won't wear masks," meaning here at home, Morrison's brief response was that "that's a matter for the United States."
Another difference between Australia and the United States, is that Australia doesn't have a Second Amendment. The people surrendered their guns to be willingly confiscated in 1996 and 1997.
So Morrison has no power, no budget, no army, etc. If he is that powerless, why bother being PM?
I believe PM Morrison said a few weeks ago that he will follow what the NWO tells him on how to handle the China virus lockdowns etc.
Andrews/Victoria = Left; Berejiklian/New South Wales = Conservative:
27 Sept: news.com.au: Australia Covid news live: Gladys Berejiklian reveals new NSW freedoms
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has delivered a blow to unvaccinated residents while revealing key details about how and when NSW restrictions will ease.
by Ally Foster
Ms Berejiklian confirmed the state is set to hit its 70 per cent vaccination goal on October 11, with the 80 per cent goal due to be reached about two weeks after that.
The following changes will kick in for fully vaccinated residents from the Monday after the 80 per cent milestone is reached...
Ms Berejiklian said a third stage of reopening would occur on December 1, which is when unvaccinated residents will be allowed to join in on the extra freedoms...
“We envisage we will have at least 90 per cent of our adult population vaccinated by then,” Ms Berejiklian said...
Indefinite lockdown for unvaxxed looms
Unvaccinated NSW residents could be living with lockdown restrictions for some time, as ministers eye off a 90 per cent vaccination target before they are granted extra freedoms...
With NSW’s first dose vaccination rate for people over 16 sitting at 84.5 per cent, it is not yet guaranteed that the state will reach the 90 per cent fully vaccinated mark, meaning unvaccinated residents could be locked down indefinitely...
Speaking to 2GB, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said there would be a “stark difference” between what vaccinated and unvaccinated people can do under the plan.
“I think you’ll be surprised at what will be announced. If you want the freedoms we are talking about right across the board you’re going to have to be vaccinated,” he said...
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/australia-covid-news-live-confusing-detail-in-new-nsw-outdoor-pool-freedom/news-story/cf9025e2ccfb935e10c7f54ded7d0a44
27 Sept: news.com.au: NSW threatens ‘jail time’ for unvaccinated people entering businesses without passport
Unvaccinated NSW residents who attempt to enter businesses without a vaccine passport have been warned they could face “jail time”.
by Mitchell Van Homrigh
NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello has warned fraudsters who try and enter venues with fake vaccine passports could face jail time.
Mr Dominello, who is overseeing the rollout of the state’s digital vaccination certificate via the Service NSW app, has in recent days addressed concerns that frontline staff forced to turn away unvaccinated customers will be put in danger...
“If people want to do the wrong thing, if they get found out, as I said, it could be jail time there,” he told the ABC...
Speaking to (Channel) Nine’s Today on Monday morning, Mr Dominello reiterated that those who refuse to show their vaccine status when entering shops, restaurants and other venues should be reported to the police...
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/nsw-threatens-jail-time-for-unvaccinated-people-entering-businesses-without-passport/news-story/a4268bb8da7854bcac84e70330ede412
He isn’t opposing them in this interview. Which is the real Scott Morrison?
He’s shut down the parliament...
Didn’t you know that?
You’re seeing a small amount of the man.
I’m seeing a lot of him.
I’ve given you links in the past to articles showing his consistent opposition to lockdowns over time.
He has been consistently opposed - but he is a political realist. Sometimes you have to give in a little to get the result you want.
Especially when others are the powerful ones.
That was August 2020 and they came back in to session in late September 2020.
If they did it again I can’t find any mention of it.
No, he hasn’t shut down the Parliament.
FEDERAL Parliament (which Scott Morrison’s government has control over) has been sitting normally.
STATE Parliament in Victoria (controlled by Premier Daniel Andrews) has been shut down.
They are not the same thing.
Unfortunately, because a lot of Americans don’t have any understanding of the difference between state governments and the Commonwealth government in Australia, Scott Morrison is constantly being blamed for things he has absolutely no control over as Prime Minister.
It’s not surprising Americans don’t understand all the details of Australia’s governmental system, but some people do seem to be deliberately trying to exploit this to mislead people.
Any enlightenment you can supply I will endeavor to absorb.
I posted a long post trying to explain some of this the other day.
So what is going on in Australia? View from an Australian Freeper
But, in brief, to try and answer your questions.
The Prime Minister does have real power but only in areas the Commonwealth government (Australia's Federal level government) has specifically and explicitly been given power over in Section 51 of Australia's Constitution. Section 51 is actually basically a simple list of all the areas controlled by the Commonwealth government. The Commonwealth government has absolutely no power over any area not mentioned in Section 51.
The states (they were called colonies then) wrote the Constitution and deliberately kept hold of a lot of areas for themselves.
And one of those is 'public health'. The Prime Minister, and the Commonwealth government cannot overrule a state government on any matter relating to public health. That has left the state governments in control of the pandemic response, and the Commonwealth government has had to accept that.
The Prime Minister and his government does have power over the Federal budget, but it's dispersal to the states is managed by agreements negotiated over time. The Prime Minister cannot alter those agreements unilaterally so he can't just deny money to states to try and exert control.
Likewise, while defence is a Commonwealth power, the Constitution explicitly does not allow the government to use the military to try and overrule state laws, even if a government wanted to be that tyrannical.
Foreign affairs, international trade, defence... there's plenty of areas the Commonwealth government does have power over.
But in their domains, the individual state governments are more powerful than the Commonwealth government by deliberate design.
So what is going on in Australia? View from an Australian Freeper
I am happy to try and answer any additional questions.
That’s not what I asked you, though.
What I find with politicians is that 99 percent of the time they will say the things they believe got them elected, that they never delivered on, and there’s that one percent where they reveal their true character. Consider that.
I agree that’s true of a lot of politicians and Morrison is far from perfect.
But I do believe he’s sincere in being opposed to lockdowns. He’s been put through political hell by the predominantly left wing media in Australia for daring to go against their view that people like Daniel Andrews and Mark McGowan have kept everybody safe.
It has cost him massively politically to go against that narrative.
Being conciliatory more recently does seem to be working as well - Andrews is becoming very slightly more reasonable than he was since he can no longer as easily score points against the Prime Minister.
If Morrison had actually been in charge, this country would have had far, far fewer lockdowns unless COVID had got out of control. I’ve not sure what he would have done in reponse to hundreds of thousands of cases and thousands of deaths. But if the numbers had stayed low, I really do believe that if he was calling the shots, we’d be pretty close to normal at this point - we might be wearing masks and not be able to gather in crowds of thousands but that would be about it. We might have had two of the six lockdowns we’ve had in my state and they would have lasted weeks not months. And much more effort would have been made to keep as many businesses as possible functioning, rather than shutting nearly everything down.
Thanks for alerting me to your post.
I read most of the thread and feel a bit more enlightened.
A good many Freepers seem reluctant to be enlightened by someone with boots on the ground in Aussieland.
It is hard to change your opinions. Some will take time and multiple articles to revise their views.
Bad news is most often easier to believe than good news.
Aren’t you glad you Freepmailed me?
Aren’t you glad I insisted your wonderful work, become its own thread?
:^)
Indeed!
Sure he can as long as he doesn't ask for permission.
Australia is having itself an undeclared civil war.
And the wrong side is winning.
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