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ANALYSIS: Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews’ anguish over the weekend over the multiple New Zealanders who came to Victoria via the Australian travel bubble from New Zealand to New South Wales is, more than anything, an indication of the pressure under which is the prime minister.
Andrews says her state chose not to be part of the bubble at this stage and did not know these people would come to Victoria. Now, he says, 55 have “turned up” from New Zealand.
The federal government responds that Victoria was at the federal-state health officials committee meeting where the problems of New Zealanders traveling were discussed.
Andrews says that when Victoria asked the federal government for details of the arrivals, they were slow to pass it on. The feds deny a delay but say the states need to address internal border issues anyway.
READ MORE:
* ‘Out of our control’: WA Premier calls for support when 25 New Zealand travelers arrive in Perth
* 55 New Zealand passengers traveled to Melbourne, says Victorian Premier
* Covid-19: the Prime Minister of Victoria threatens the closure of the Australian border due to the arrivals of kiwis
* Kiwi’s trip to Melbourne ‘relaxed’ amid confusion of bubble rules
The point is, this is a minor dispute. New Zealand has no community transmission – visitors are at the lower end of risk.
Andrews might be upset that these New Zealanders, and thus the Morrison government, have found a way to circumvent their refusal to adhere to the Covid-19 definition of a ‘hotspot’ and become part of the trans-Tasmanian bubble ( unidirectional).
But Victoria has an open border for people coming in (it’s a different matter for those leaving, for whom other states set the rules). So as long as they are told to abide by current state restrictions, the presence of New Zealanders is neither here nor there.
Daniel Pockett / Getty Images
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Western Australia also complains about arrivals from New Zealand, it is in quite a different position because it has a tough state border.
The general conclusion is that those traveling from New Zealand in the ‘bubble’, which also involves the Northern Territory, might need more information on restrictions in particular states and internal borders before leaving New Zealand.
The small conclusion is that Andrews is looking for an unnecessary fight. The verbal Victorian-Federal tennis match over New Zealanders is another indication of the tensions between the two governments.
Federal ministers tried to twist Andrews’s arm ahead of Sunday’s announcements about the next opening stages in Victoria.
Andrews announced that a series of restrictions would be relaxed starting at midnight. People can travel 25 kilometers from home to shop and exercise (expanded from five). Groups of up to ten from two households will be able to meet outdoors for exercise or a picnic.
Hair salons may open, but people cannot be visited to watch next weekend’s AFL final (which is played in Queensland).
Retail is not scheduled to reopen until November 2, when restaurants will be open to diners (with limits) and people will be able to leave home for any reason.
With new cases in single figures over the past five days, Andrews indicated that the schedule could move faster than described.
The politically beleaguered prime minister is determined to minimize risks to lift the state out of the blockade. The Australian federal government and companies continue to act. Andrews can judge that he has been attacked by those sectors and the greatest immediate danger to him is the possibility of a further increase in the number of viruses.
The eventual consequences, in lost business, in the judgment of Andrews’ public, will be months, possibly years, in the coming months.
In the meantime, it will be hotly debated whether his extreme caution is excessive or well-judged.
He maintains that it all depends on health advice.
When asked why his council disagreed with the federal government’s position and epidemiologists who disagreed with it, his nervousness was obvious.
“I will tell Minister Hunt and anyone else who has an opinion on these things, I do not accept that anyone has a more complete picture of what this virus is doing in Victoria than Victoria’s health director, Victoria’s deputy director. Health Minister, Victorian Health Minister and Victorian Prime Minister. ”And so it went.
Sam Mooy / Getty Images
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has made it clear that her government will not prevent passengers from traveling from Sydney to Victoria.
Some Victorians will welcome the calendar as tangible hope in a bottle. More than a few small business owners will see the barber shop opening across the street and ask, why not us?
The Australian Industry Group described the announcement as “painstaking steps in the right direction”, while posing a nightmare scenario, saying that companies “are not yet certain that [they] it will not be forced to close again after they have been allowed to reopen ”.
The federal government’s impatience with Victoria was on display again in a Sunday statement from Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt, which highlighted the economic and mental health costs.
“Victoria’s three-day moving average is now below two cases per day. Maintaining this result will cause the retail and hotel sectors to reopen before the next review date in November, ”they said.
“The continued impact on health, mental health and finances of these restrictions will be profound for many Victorians. That is why we encourage Victoria to move safely and quickly towards the New South Wales model of robust contact tracing and a CovidSafe but predominantly open economy. “
As Morrison and the ministers say, “the national picture is positive” in terms of the number of cases and their handling. Politically, however, Australia’s national handling of Covid-19 continues to fail.
The conflicts around the mistakes and shortcomings that led to the second Victorian wave, the impending Queensland election in which Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk draws substantially on her Covid-19 track record, with its tough border politics, and semi-secessionist mentality from Western Australia. everyone is putting pressure on the federation.
The national cabinet initially handled dissent between the various governments. But currently disunity is flooding the unit. As much as possible, it is important that Morrison hold together what has become an unwieldy beast.
While Covid-19 in Australia may be substantially under control when we say a grateful goodbye to 2020, 2021 will be a challenging year that will only be hampered by excessive rebellion within the federation. 
Michelle Grattan, is a professor at the University of Canberra.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
