THE strain and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit everyone.
The stage 3 restrictions, imposed twice, have led to ongoing and in many circumstances devastating repercussions on businesses, employment – and in essence our day-to-day lives.
The stress, anxiety and anger has become palpable.
It is during these difficult times we need to do everything we can to be mindful of the impacts our words and actions can have on others.
It was disappointing to read reports this week of online threats being made towards people in public life.
Being a public figure can be difficult and there have been times when I’ve been on the end of online abuse, although thankfully I’ve never been explicitly threatened with harm.
Online bullying is a huge and growing problem in our society with people easily able to hide behind a computer or phone screen and think they have a right to abuse or harass others.
We won’t all agree on everything, and that’s fine. Healthy debate and opposing ideas are an important part of the world we live in.
But abuse is not debate. Threats are not acceptable. We must all do our best to both call out that sort of behaviour if we see it online and ensure we respect each other’s point of view, even if we don’t agree with it.
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IN SOME positive news, it was heartening the SA and NSW governments finally loosen some of the restrictions that have been a particular burden for border communities.
From yesterday, a 40km border zone was re-established each side of the SA border and the NSW border will return to a 50km bubble, with a further 100km zone for agriculture, in the coming days.
Lobbying both governments for sensible and proportionate rules on our borders, which do not unfairly impinge on people from border towns, has been a tireless effort over many weeks and it’s encouraging that our concerns have finally been heard.
The pressure needs to be kept on governments to ensure they do not overstep the mark with border closures to ensure our economy and social fabric are not compromised.
Ali Cupper is the Member for Mildura
