Former Federal treasurer Peter Costello has been Nine Entertainment chairman since early 2016. Photo: AAP.
To those of us clinging to the quaint old fashioned notion that The Age (and the Sydney Morning Herald, for that matter) remained oases of independence, somehow firewalled from the meddling of higher-ups at Nine Publishing, Thursday’s Age editorial on Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown policy was a rude awakening.
“Independent. Always”, both newspapers proudly proclaim. Yeah, pull the other one.
At a superficial level, Thursday’s editorial seemed quite reasonable and well-argued. “Wednesday’s jump in new cases signalled that the chance of Victoria returning to COVID-zero in the community has gone,” it read.
“The Age is not arguing that we should throw out restrictions, but instead that we need to work out those that could be lifted at minimal risk to health but with maximum benefit to Victorians. ‘Minimal risk’ is not ‘no risk’, but we must shift towards a more balanced position.”
Coupled with more strident exhortations from the usual News Corp suspects – the Herald Sun and Sky News, among them – The Age has joined what seems like a coordinated chorus to “open up Victoria” … without a lot of specifics as to how we go about that. High vaccination rates are mentioned as an obvious solution, but that could be months away.
Is The Age suggesting we emulate that COVID-19 catastrophe known as NSW, where 1288 new cases were reported yesterday (in contrast to 176 in Victoria)? Let’s take a deep breath and think about that for a moment.
The exponential growth of cases in NSW is mainly due to the number of COVID-19 victims who were moving in the community during all or part of their infectious phase. This was largely the result of a failure to lock down and restrict movement, initially in the early phase of the Delta outbreak, but also following the piecemeal ‘Mockdown’ approach that state’s government adopted afterwards, and the blase attitude of Sydneysiders stemming from Premier Berejiklian’s mixed messaging on the subject.
Wednesday marked the first time Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, could be accused of mixed messaging when he abandoned the state’s COVID-zero strategy and entertained a soft lockdown. Already emboldened to flout the rules by News Corp commentators, Andrews’ comments threatened to open a Pandora’s Box of non-compliance.
Sure enough, while walking my dog at the local park in bayside Melbourne on a sunny Thursday afternoon, I counted three people wearing masks (myself among them) out of around 50 – a massive difference to just a few days ago. Words have repercussions, Mr Andrews.
Careful what you wish for: COVID-weary Victorians anxious for ‘freedom’ should be mindful of the price Sydneysiders paid. Photos: SBS, The Australian.
In fairness to the Premier, he only backed away from COVID-zero when the science – in the form of daily case numbers – told him it wasn’t doable with the Delta strain, and he did speak only of “modestly” and “cautiously” easing lockdown restrictions if infections could be kept under a low case threshold.
This wasn’t enough for certain media, who were pushing Victoria to ditch COVID-zero well before the science came out. “Premier, your state needs hope”, The Age editorial thundered.
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
“(We want) no more measures that have limited if any evidence to back them just in case they might assist around the edges.”
With those last three words, is The Age suggesting proactive measures aimed at protecting the health of Victorians are somehow ‘peripheral’?
If public health is the priority, the only tinkering “around the edges” should be what Andrews proposed: “modestly” and “cautiously” easing lockdown restrictions contingent on a low case threshold. Does The Age have other priorities?
It appears so. Running an editorial so soon after Andrews’ COVID-zero climbdown – one that in large part echoes the narrative pushed by News Corp outlets, especially over the last 36 hours – carries the hint of an orchestrated campaign to “free Victoria”, label Andrews a failure and get the wheels of commerce turning again, no matter the impact on public health.
These same media outlets seem to think the NSW model of exponentially-rising daily cases is preferable by comparison. If that’s their idea of success, pardon me if I prefer Victoria’s “failure” any day of the week.
Nine Entertainment’s Independent Non-Executive Chairman, Peter Costello (centre) poking fun at Labor’s frontbench in an earlier role. Photo: Getty Images.
As a youngster in bayside Melbourne, my right-of-centre parents drilled into me the significance of your newspaper of choice. If you bought The Herald (forerunner of today’s Herald Sun) you stood on your own two feet and took personal responsibility for your actions.
If, on the other hand, you preferred The Age, you were a condescending, bleeding-heart elitist who wanted that communist Gough Whitlam to have another crack at wrecking Australia. I never quite got that ‘elitist’ part, since most of the aristocrats I know vote LNP.
As I grew up and shifted left-of-centre, the Age-Herald Sun dichotomy was further reinforced by Jeff Kennett’s labelling the former as the ‘Labor Star’, a compliment as far as I was concerned.
Notwithstanding their rivalry in the 1990s, Kennett must have been thrilled when Peter Costello took over as chairman of The Age’s parent company, Nine Publishing.
Costello himself might as well have penned the abovementioned editorial. That’s him above, the architect of the GST surrounded by fellow free-marketers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Peter “waterfront dispute” Reith. A perfect fit for The Age, surely; “we’ve got ‘em now”, Kennett might well have said.
Until recently, I too clung to the myth that The Age was a bulwark against monopoly from the right, and that Australia is a pluralistic democracy with a fair and equitable ‘marketplace of ideas’. Such fiction persists because the alternative is almost unthinkable … but here we are.
To paraphrase Nebuchadnezzar (or Morpheus from The Matrix, I forget who): “I once had a dream, and now that dream is gone from me.”
Cancel my Age subscription. If I want wrap-around ads from Harvey Norman or Clive Palmer, I’ll grab a Herald Sun.
I cancelled my Age subscription long ago after their cost cutting campaign, but may I suggest The Guardian and The Conversation as good alternatives’, along with ‘Aunty’ of course.
Great opinion piece. Fellow Footyologists may have noticed an opnion article by Chip le Grand in the Age, which more or less aped the editorial in question. le Grand’s article went further accusing the Andrews Government of getting lockdown 6 wrong. I notice with interest that le Grand was previously plying his trade with the Australian… hhhmmm.