DROP the bombshell and then put out the fires later.
That seems to be the modus operandi for many of our political leaders during their ad hoc handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
This week it was the NSW Government’s turn to create panic and chaos with its sudden tightening of border restrictions.
The decision was made with no consultation, resulting in a lack of understanding for how border communities work. It was rolled out with vague communication, leaving residents all along the Murray River in states of confusion and anxiety.
Farmers who were in harvest suddenly didn’t know whether they would have a workforce the next morning, NSW businesses didn’t know if they could cross the bridge to pick up supplies, people didn’t know if they could go to their dentist on the other side of the river, to their hairdresser, to junior sport training. Even Sunraysia Daily wasn’t sure whether it could deliver its newspapers to NSW.
Other workers couldn’t get permits because their addresses weren’t in the new “border zone”, drawn up by someone in the city with no understanding that 2km in the country isn’t that far.
In the days since, following petitions launched by angry residents, after distressed farmers raised the alarm that their fruit would be left to rot, the NSW Government has adjusted some of the restrictions. They redrew their new “border zones” to where they should have been in the first place, had they bothered to ask.
It again smacks of policy-on-the-run governance, of leaders in panic mode, when we need them to at least look in control.
It really didn’t need to be this messy.
Instead of forging ahead blindly with draconian border restrictions on COVID-free regions like Sunraysia, they could have first consulted with those communities. They could have gauged a better understanding of the complexities around border towns, where the colour of your numberplates doesn’t matter.
The Murray River unites border communities, so to have it used as a political divide is distressing for those that live in them.
While no one is doubting how difficult a politician’s job would be right now, it’s the mixed messaging that is increasingly frustrating people.
Our PM tells us one thing, but state premiers blur the lines across the borders and tell us something else. People are confused as to who they should be listening to.
And they are angry that leaders keep changing the rules and then telling them off for not following them.
Take NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian as a case in point this week.
On Wednesday, she said she didn’t believe tough border rules for seasonal workers need to change, suggesting to growers they employ out-of-work locals instead.
“We’ve said for seasonal workers, if you’re coming into NSW, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, you have to go through 14 days of isolation,” she said.
“That’s been our standard practice and that won’t change and nor should it change, frankly.”
Her comments are out of touch with the reality on the ground, so the decision she says “won’t change” will have to change.
It will be another case of fixing a mess that was hastily created, after causing such unnecessary stress on people’s lives.
Throughout this crisis, what has always been required is calm, clear and consistent messaging.
But Federal Parliament is closed down and the Victorian Parliament does not even meet, so debate and cohesion is missing, leaving politicians across the country leading to the beat of their own drums.
Wonder what they have in store for us next week?
