To All Pubsters In This Time of Plague…

Puff, The Magic Dragon Uncategorized

To all Pubsters, their family and friends, and to all people in Australia in lockdown, or dealing with any effects of the Covid19 Pandemic, we send our best wishes for the best in these times.  

Please stick to the rules of your Lockdown, follow medical advice. Wear your masks, do your social distancing, your handwashing and sanitising.  

Stay home as directed. It is better to be bored than sick. Use your common sense: if in doubt stay home.  

I have some suggestions to help spark ideas to pass the time at home. Do you have other ideas to share? 

With the internet you can learn a new hobby, or a language, or listen to podcasts, music, jokes, explore art or sport or anything. You can go online to Berkeley College, USA, for example. Every lecture in every course is available to watch, for free. Play online (non gambling) games. Talk to others in your household. 

Live cams from all over the world let you see other places from home. My favourite is Africacam at the waterholes to see wild animals gather to drink. 

Get the kids to make their own board-games or invent new or rediscover old playroom games. 

You could start to gather your family history from your elders, by phone. 

Use the phone instead of a visit. 

Lockdown gives you time to do such home-based projects that you wanted to do, but could not fit into your schedules. Protecting mental health is very important. Phone friends! 

Think back to WW2, when restrictions were drastic in many countries. If they could do it, you can. 

Maybe keep a diary, and/or a family scrapbook, so future generations can read about your experiences of these times. 

If you have been ill, or know someone affected by Covid19, we wish for a rapid recovery. 

For all who have suffered grief from Covid19, we give you our sincere sympathy. 

We hope we can keep ourselves and each other safe. 

Remember, consult your doctor, follow medical advice on vaccinations (not internet rumours or human gossip) and other health issues, follow Lockdown restrictions (including mask-wearing and staying home), and err on the side of caution. 

Our leaders are limited in dealing with this pandemic by their abilities and beliefs. Some do well, others less so, as is clear from the data. 

We can only try to influence our leaders, but we have control over ourselves. 

So what are our areas of direct control? 

  • Our conduct. 
  • Our choices. 
  • Our decisions. 
  • Our understanding and patience with ourselves and others. 
  • Our words. 

It is up to each one of us to act for the good of all, because what is good for us all is good for each of us. 

Thank you to all you front line workers, volunteers, health staff, welfare staff and others keeping vital services running, often at risk to yourselves. 

For example, my friend received free delivered meals from a group of volunteers from the Indian community.  Thank you to that group. 

Thank you to everyone doing the right thing to keep us safe. 

Drop into The Pub, if you want! 

Learn to cook in a new style!

368 thoughts on “To All Pubsters In This Time of Plague…”

  1. Spot the problem –

    Scott Morrison:

    This means we have an additional 25 million doses of Moderna to add to the 125 million Pfizer doses and 53 million AstraZeneca doses we’ve already started rolling out.

    We will have 10 million of the Moderna doses arriving before the end of this year.

    The first one million doses is on track to arrive next month and will go to pharmacies. Then we will have three million in October.

    Three million in November. And three million in December.

    This is another important tool that we have in our battle against COVID. We’ll have it in our hands and we will have the jabs in our arms starting next month. This is our plan to ensure that we get Australia to where we need to get to this year. We have more more Pfizer. We have more AstraZeneca.

    Now, we have Moderna. .

    We have more doctors. We have more nurses. We have more pharmacists. We have more jabs in arms and now 10 million Moderna to add this year, with more than 1.3 million vaccines doses delivered in just one week, that is almost the population of the City of Adelaide

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/aug/09/australia-politics-business-vaccine-covid-morrison-gladys-berejiklian-sydney-brisbane-victoria-melbourne-health-moderna-pfizer-astrazeneca

    Scovid says “we have” all those millions of doses.

    We do not.

    We WILL – assuming he is not lying again – have a million doses of Moderna next month, then another three million the month after etc. That is in addition to the very slow trickle of Pfizer getting into the country.

    We do not “have” those doses yet and going by Scovid’s love of announcements and habit of lying every time he opens his mouth I’m not expecting many doses to arrive before next year.

  3. Hurrah, we are getting eleventy billion vaccines. Well 😆 200,000,000 would ya believe.
    .
    8m ago
    16:15
    Scott Morrison:

    This means we have an additional 25 million doses of Moderna to add to the 125 million Pfizer doses and 53 million AstraZeneca doses we’ve already started rolling out.

    We will have 10 million of the Moderna doses arriving before the end of this year.

    The first one million doses is on track to arrive next month and will go to pharmacies. Then we will have three million in October.

    Three million in November. And three million in December.

  4. Why so many doses? With a population of about 26 million, surely we only need about double that at most. If it will be shared with neighbours, good, but I can’t see any other reason unless there is an extremely high wastage rate. Surely Morrison and friends wouldn’t be just reciting big numbers to big note themselves.

  8. Cabinet minister Paul Fletcher says a spreadsheet showing the top 20 marginal seats and how much money they would get for car parks at train stations is a cabinet document so can’t be revealed for two decades because it may make it difficult for future governments to make “politically challenging” decisions.

    New details about the decisions around the commuter car park fund show Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s approval of $389 million for 27 projects was one of his final acts before calling the 2019 election.

    …

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/minister-claims-car-park-top-marginal-seat-list-must-stay-secret-until-2039-20210809-p58h05.html

  12. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    The SMH tells us that the state’s Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant will be questioned over the advice she provided to the NSW government about when Sydney needed to go into lockdown during the latest COVID-19 outbreak at a special parliamentary inquiry. This could be interesting.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/chant-hazzard-called-to-inquiry-to-detail-health-advice-on-lockdown-20210809-p58h84.html
    Katrina Curtis and Shane Wright report that Paul Fletcher says a spreadsheet showing the top 20 marginal seats and how much money they would get for car parks at train stations is a cabinet document so can’t be revealed for two decades because it may make it difficult for future governments to make “politically challenging” decisions. Pathetic!
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/minister-claims-car-park-top-marginal-seat-list-must-stay-secret-until-2039-20210809-p58h05.html
    Luke Henriques-Gomes revels that the federal government has sent more than 11,000 people Centrelink debt letters worth a total of $32m claiming they were overpaid due to jobkeeper, while resisting calls to claw back money from businesses who got the wage subsidy and then made a profit.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/centrelink-orders-jobkeeper-recipients-to-pay-back-32m-while-profitable-businesses-allowed-to-keep-funds
    Alan Kohler writes that in light of the AAT’s ruling on the national cabinet, the states now have power without the glory of money.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/08/09/national-cabinet-shut-down-states/
    The Morrison ship of state might be better scuttled, argues Jack Waterford.
    https://johnmenadue.com/the-morrison-ship-of-state-might-be-better-scuttled/
    Julie Leask and Jane Williams argue that making vaccinations compulsory should be a last resort.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-making-vaccinations-compulsory-should-be-a-last-resort-20210809-p58h4m.html
    But Iain Martin believes vaccination the only way for Australia to escape its ‘gilded cage’. He says that COVID-19 will become a globally endemic virus if it is not already, and just as is the case for the Spanish Flu, its genetic progeny will almost certainly be with us for the next 100 years or more.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/vaccination-the-only-way-for-australia-to-escape-its-gilded-cage-20210809-p58h8j.html
    David Crowe writes that Morrison has rebuffed fellow Liberals who fear it is too late to drive coronavirus case numbers back to zero, urging Australians to accept strong lockdowns to suppress the Delta strain before the country can open its economy.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/get-those-case-numbers-down-morrison-backs-lockdowns-and-vaccines-20210809-p58ha8.html
    Job vacancies plummeted by more than 10 per cent during the first full month of lockdown in Greater Sydney amid warnings those unable to find work need more financial support, reports Jennifer Duke.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/job-vacancies-fall-as-social-services-groups-say-more-support-needed-for-unemployed-20210809-p58h2o.html
    Getting 70 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated should not be difficult over the next few months. But preventing ongoing, crippling lockdowns will be a bigger challenge, posits Rachel Clun.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/what-will-70-per-cent-vaccination-coverage-mean-for-australia-20210806-p58gfg.html
    The SMH editorial says that there is a dent in our defences in the fight against COVID-19. In the race to get more people vaccinated, children are being left behind.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-greater-focus-on-protecting-children-against-covid-19-is-needed-20210809-p58h5z.html
    The Age says that as regional Victoria gets a reprieve, Melbourne’s lockdown won’t lift until the city has consecutive days with all COVID cases in isolation throughout their infectious period. Andrews has been clear on this for quite some time.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/melbourne-must-record-days-of-no-community-cases-before-lockdown-lifts-20210809-p58h11.html
    Making important decisions requires meticulous judgement – it is something Scott Morrison lacks, declares John Lord.
    https://theaimn.com/making-important-decisions-requires-meticulous-judgement-it-is-something-scott-morrison-lacks/
    Troy Bramston ends this assessment of the PM with, “If Morrison does not improve his government’s handling of the pandemic, and get the credit for it, then he is done for.”
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/morrison-almost-out-of-credit-as-voters-lose-respect-trust/news-story/99d000d08b74ea6090dbfef736bc8719
    Vaccine incentives work, and Mr Morrison knows it, declares Andrew Leigh.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7376157/vaccine-incentives-work-and-mr-morrison-knows-it/?cs=14258
    The deadline for all aged-care workers to be vaccinated looms next month, but barely half of the cohort have been able to access a jab. Ben Butler writes that this comes as a new report finds Australia is already facing a shortfall of aged-care workers, requiring at least 17,000 each year “just to meet basic standards of care”.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/10/aged-care-workers-vaccinated/
    Ronald Mizen tells us that share market disclosure laws will be permanently eased following a backflip by One Nation and a failed crossbench bid to close a loophole that allows some private companies to keep their financial affairs secret.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/frydenberg-passes-sharemarket-disclosure-changes-20210809-p58hc7
    LGBTQ people who work at religious schools can be sacked for who they are, and they fear the federal religious discrimination bill could make things worse, explain Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/steph-lentz-was-sacked-this-year-for-being-gay-it-was-perfectly-legal-20210809-p58gzv.html
    Amanda Meade reports that Sky News Australia has quietly deleted at least 31 videos that question the public health response to Covid-19 or promote unproven treatments as the broadcaster prepares for its chief executive, Paul Whittaker, to appear at a Senate inquiry on Friday, Guardian Australia can reveal.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/aug/10/sky-news-australia-deletes-dozens-of-videos-promoting-unproven-covid-treatments
    Australia’s top media authority has been criticised for failing to investigate complaints made against Sky News over COVID-19 misinformation, writes Anthony Klan.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exclusive-media-cop-hides-sky-news-complaints-data,15386
    The launch of Sky News Regional this month further solidifies Rupert Murdoch’s already tight grip on Australia’s right-wing media landscape, explains George Grundy.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-fox-news-effect-sky-news-rolled-out-to-regional-voters,15384
    Even under the most ambitious emission reduction scenarios, the world is likely to be heated to 1.5 degrees or more above pre-industrial levels by 2040, exposing it to the sort of extreme weather ravaging Europe and North America, the most comprehensive analysis yet undertaken of climate change shows.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/still-in-the-control-cabin-time-running-out-to-limit-warming-ipcc-says-20210809-p58h9j.html
    Mike Foley looks at the government’s response and those of others to the IPCC report.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-playing-its-part-federal-government-urges-global-climate-action-20210809-p58had.html
    Richie Merzian says that the government is playing a dangerous game with our climate.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/08/09/climate-targets-australian-government/
    This country does have a carbon price, which business is using. And it’s the key to success after the Glasgow climate summit, explains Craig Emerson. Well worth reading.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/australia-s-clean-little-carbon-secret-20210808-p58gwv
    Peter Hartcher says that our Pacific neighbours need us to lead on climate as they fight multiple crises.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/pacific-neighbours-need-us-to-lead-on-climate-as-they-fight-multiple-crises-20210809-p58h2j.html
    Ben Butler reports that Josh Frydenberg’s office intervened in the drafting of a consultation paper to make sure it linked proxy advisers to the issue of compulsory superannuation, a key battleground in the political war over retirement savings. He gleaned this from an FoI application.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/josh-frydenbergs-office-intervened-in-superannuation-consultation-paper-foi-documents-reveal
    CBA group governance executive general manager Kara Nicholls is suing the bank for allegedly seeking to fire her last week in response to “whistleblower” complaints she made to senior officers and chairman Catherine Livingstone about the bank’s failure to respond to repeated warnings on understaffing and workers’ safety.
    https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/cba-head-of-governance-turns-whistleblower-sues-bank-20210809-p58h4w
    Telstra, Optus and TPG have been taken to court by the Australian competition watchdog, accused of charging customers for download speeds their national broadband network connections could not provide. A TPG spokesperson blamed anomalies in its legacy systems as a result of mergers and NBN Co failing to provide timely and accurate speed information to TPG.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/09/telstra-optus-and-tpg-accused-of-charging-for-download-speeds-nbn-could-not-provide
    The thorny issue of who is and who isn’t a real Christian has arisen again following the publication last week of a new book by Greg Sheridan, writes Alan Austin.
    https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/murdoch-press-lies-and-deceptions-conflict-with-true-christian-values,15383
    America is flying blind when it comes to the Delta variant, declares Dr Eric Topol.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/09/america-is-flying-blind-when-it-comes-to-the-delta-variant
    Donald Trump tried mightily to kill the $US1 trillion ($1.36 trillion) infrastructure bill, hurling the kind of insult-laden statements and threats of primary challenges that for years sent a chill down Republican spines. But the reaction inside the Senate, where many members of his party once cowered from Trump’s angry tweets and calculated their votes to avoid his wrath, was mostly yawns.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/republicans-prepared-to-defy-donald-trump-on-us1-trillion-infrastructure-bill-20210809-p58gzd.html
    This idiot who apparently has spread Delta far and wide deserves nomination for “Arsehole of the Week”. This is a classic example of the damage being done by the promulgation of misleading information.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/08/10/byron-bay-nsw-vic-qld-covid-lockdown/?breaking_live_scroll=1

    Cartoon Corner

    Cathy Wilcox

    David Pope

    Andrew Dyson

    John Shakespeare


    David Rowe

    Matt Golding







    Glen Le Lievre



    Mark Knight

    Leak

    From the US






  13. David Crowe writes that Morrison has rebuffed fellow Liberals who fear it is too late to drive coronavirus case numbers back to zero, urging Australians to accept strong lockdowns to suppress the Delta strain before the country can open its economy.

    fear it is too late my arse. There has been a bunch of ‘let ‘er rip’ , ‘live with the virus’ etc types from day one. They don’t ‘fear’ they are celebrating, as are the ‘business community’ pricks that own them.

    • The head of the “let ‘er rip” brigade has been Scovid, from Day 1. He never wanted to suppress the virus. His loopy cult beliefs tell him it is a sign of his god’s imminent return.

  14. Moderna is planning clinical trials for children as young as six months, and is considering Australia as a trial site

    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/09/tga-approves-moderna-australia/

    Great! Australian kids may be used as guineapigs.

    Would this be because Scovid didn’t bother ordering any Moderna vaccine until May, despite the US starting to use it last December?

    Was he allowed to place an order only on condition he allowed trials on children to be carried out here?

  15. I expect we’ll see Australian conspiracy theorists active come the next round of bushfires, like this Canadian. We will have more wild rumour mongering than ever before. Every wingnut will try something like this, try to push themselves into the limelight. They’ve got a taste for it now, some fancy they are building some sort of anti government movement.

  16. NSW reports 356 new cases and 4 more deaths

    Worst day of the pandemic.

    GladBag still won’t order the entire state into lockdown.

  18. The media are not treating the latest (alleged) Covid19 traveller the same as the limo driver, whose house was besieged by reporters and who was identified PDQ by the media.

    This guy is not undergoing this. Maybe the MSM learned a lesson?
    (rolls eyes)

    Anyway for what it’s worth, about this mysterious (alleged) covid infectious traveller being treated so decently, SBS reports:

    “Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon told SBS News the man left his COVID-positive wife at a Sydney hospital before travelling with his teenage children to the Byron area.

    Mr Lyon said the man was in the community looking for property for four days while potentially infectious.”

    Apropos of nothing, I just looked up the median house prices for real estate in the Byron Bay area. It is just over $2,700,000.

    I will hazard a guess he probably is not a limo driver.

    • Definitely not a limo driver if he can afford to take his kids to Byron Bay for a few days to look at real estate.

      Here’s the thing –

      Gladys has not banned Sydney people from travelling around the state to look at properties. Why would she allow that? Because property developers and by association real estate agents are her best friends. She would never do anything that would mean they might lose money.

      So we have Covidiots spreading The Plague around NSW, especially in alleged “desirable” places like Byron Bay, while they inspect properties for sale.

      The whole state needs to be locked down weeks ago, but Gladys will not consider that. So we have a mishmash of LGAs locked down while people are free to traipse all over NSW as they wish.

      So far my area has no cases, but I expect that won’t last long. We have The Plague in Newcastle to the south, Tamworth to the west and the Northern Rivers LGAs up north, all within a few hours drive. All it will take is one infected person driving into town.

  22. Re Moderna
    There is a 3 & 5 year old in our family living in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs which has has a case or two in child care.

    Statistically I would permit them to be part of a trial if it has TGA and ATAGI approval
    Trials these days are more refined than in the 1950s with the first polio vaccines

    Re the Sydney woman who wants to come to Melbourne to look after her daughter aged 35 undergoing chemotherapy for stage 2 Breast cancer. My cousin’s wife’s sister. Channel 7 have asked about her case on Sun, Mon & Tues. Martin Foley, Vic Health Minister, said today that he had been petitioned by the NSW Health Minister. The Dept of Health still say no. This woman’s actions highlight the difference between Vic and NSW

    Vic we are all in this together, we have to work together to defeat the virus, everyone lives under same rules

    NSW have different rules for ethnics. My friend in Rose Bay blamed people dying at home because if they got tested the household wouldn’t be able to go to work while in quarantine. She didn’t want to hear that in Victoria people who lose work while waiting a test result can get $450. People who lose work while isolating for 14 days get $1500

    Then there is the ridiculous case of the Sydney man who visited Byron Bay district when his wife hospitalised with covid, who wouldn’t mask, use QR codes, wouldn’t cooperate with contact tracers. Then he calls for ambulance when has breathing difficulties. Privilege on steroids

  28. After surviving record heat in February 2017 which kicked off the drought of 2017-2019 followed by fires that burned for six months followed by floods and record rainfalls, topped off by a pandemic I’d agree that my part of regional Australia has been bearing the effects of climate change for years.

  31. Ah the Rorter Rorter tribe.AFR link but opens in Incognito.

    The trade union for professional board members, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, which gobbled $5.2 million of JobKeeper and achieved only a 15 per cent revenue decline by voluntarily deferring the due date of its membership fees. Then they hosted the Australian Governance Summit!

    It is an AFR article but they do a bit of kicking, especialy of Josh Boy.

    was damned either way but couldn’t even see it. Because he is lighter than helium.

    Who, in his position, would be out there drawing more attention to the fact he has misspent more public money than any elected official in the history of the Commonwealth?

    https://t.co/dkEfTa360k

  34. leonetwo

    I’d agree that my part of regional Australia has been bearing the effects of climate change for years.

    Back in the Rudd years I was sent off to 3 Carbon Conferences to listen to the great and the good. One thing at the time that really surprised me was hearing farming groups reps saying they were on board. They told us the people ‘on the land’ were already seeing the effects of climate change. Even effing Chainsaw McFarlane at one made sympathetic noises. I was amazed and impressed. Although not as impressed as I was listening to Vote 1. Combet at one 😆
    After the scum Minchin+Robb coordinated the ‘assassination’ of Truffles soon after he agreed to come aboard a bipartisan agreement with Labor the ‘rural’ reps were all aboard with the knuckle draggers, as were their voters. So I say screw the bustards. When climate change stuffs their farms and they put their hands out for money I say ‘stuff ’em.

    • I have the misfortune to live in a staunchly Nats electorate. The locals seem unconcerned about climate change.

      It’s odd for an area that relies on tourism for much of its income. That tourism revolves around this region’s wonderful beaches and the delights of the hinterland, all threatened by climate change.

  36. I really loathe bullies, especially ones suffering from obvious dementia combined with serious delusions of grandeur.

    • I’m sure the WA Liberal Party will be very grateful for Clive’s input for their next federal election campaign, considering how well it worked out for them for the last state election.

  37. The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned following an investigation by the state attorney general that found he sexually harassed multiple women, most of whom worked for him, and also retaliated after some made complaints.

    The governor made a public announcement on Tuesday morning that he was stepping aside and said his resignation will be effective in 14 days.

    He began defiantly by criticizing Attorney General Letitia James’s report and warning New Yorkers about the dangers of “a bias or a lack of fairness in the justice system”, then said he thought his behavior was acceptable but acknowledged that the 11 women James said he harassed were probably “truly offended” and said “for that I deeply, deeply apologize”.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/10/andrew-cuomo-resigns-sexual-harassment-intimidation

  38. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    The SMH describes NSW as being in limbo, with rising case numbers, no new measures and too soon to relax restrictions.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-in-limbo-rising-case-numbers-no-new-measures-and-too-soon-to-relax-restrictions-20210810-p58hkx.html
    The two biggest states are living in lockdown because a handful of people atop the Morrison and Berejiklian governments have made a series of bad calls, writes Shaun Carney who examines the extent of human and financial cost inflicted by the pandemic.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/lost-months-exact-high-human-and-financial-cost-20210810-p58hgo.html
    In this contribution, a Western Sydney doctor fears that NSW is almost certainly on the precipice of a massive deterioration. This is a shocking assessment.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw-is-almost-certainly-on-the-precipice-of-a-massive-deterioration-20210809-p58h9w.html
    Alexandra Smith declares that the NSW will not get away with stonewalling performances like that of Brad Hazzard in front of a parliamentary inquiry yesterday.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/no-minister-the-government-does-not-get-to-avoid-lockdown-scrutiny-20210810-p58hkb.html
    Michael McGowan tells us how the New South Wales chief health officer repeatedly ducked questions on whether she urged the government to introduce a lockdown during a 10-day window between the first community case of Delta in Sydney and stay-at-home orders being issued on 25 June.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/10/nsw-chief-health-officer-sidesteps-question-of-whether-she-told-government-to-lock-down-earlier
    Byron Bay, famous for its laid-back, good-vibes-only attitude, was vibrating on a different wavelength to usual. People are furious. At least it will shake up the enclave of anti-vaxxers there.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-ll-rip-through-like-wildfire-byron-bay-seethes-after-sydney-man-sparks-lockdown-20210810-p58hiw.html
    And Michael Read writes that a “vocal minority” spreading disinformation about the coronavirus is being blamed for low levels of COVID-19 vaccination in Byron Bay, as the tourist mecca confronts a potential outbreak that threatens to push the region’s hospital system beyond its limits.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/conspiracies-reign-supreme-in-locked-down-byron-bay-20210810-p58hey
    Meanwhile, another NSW region is eyeing the possibility of lockdown after a confirmed case of the coronavirus emerged at Dubbo West Public School in the state’s central west.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2021/08/11/coronavirus-nsw-and-victoria/
    Phil Coorey tells us that the PM has warned that the NSW government will jeopardise the planned national recovery from COVID-19 if it gives up the fight to suppress the coronavirus outbreak in Greater Sydney, as Gladys Berejiklian has indicated.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/any-nsw-lockdown-surrender-will-imperil-national-recovery-pm-20210810-p58hdx
    GPs are refusing to give Covid shots to people aged under 60 because the no fault indemnity scheme that would protect them if a person developed a blood clot has not been delivered by the federal government.
    https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/coronavirus/newspoll-most-australians-keen-to-get-vaccinated/news-story/0fbd1ef3414f30680c29db4da8e22a61
    Schools, shopping centres and restaurants are at the centre of Victoria’s Delta clusters. Now a WHO adviser says carbon dioxide monitors should join QR codes and masks as standard measures to stop outbreaks, reports The Age.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/covid-cases-could-have-been-prevented-by-better-ventilation-says-leading-aerosol-scientist-20210810-p58hg5.html
    And Melbourne’s lockdown is set to be extended beyond Thursday, with just five of Tuesday’s 20 new coronavirus cases having been in quarantine during their infectious periods.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/heading-in-right-direction-but-lockdown-extension-likely-20210810-p58hlz.html
    The time for talking about supermarket catch-ups is over. We must pay those who disregard public health orders to do the right thing and get vaccinated, urges Pru Goward.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/bribery-our-only-way-out-20210809-p58hau
    Nationals MP George Christensen will move from politician to publisher, launching a “pro-freedom” news website as he prepares to retire from federal Parliament. The website, modelled on American outlet The Drudge Report, has so far been filled with links to fringe blogs and stories that are critical of COVID mask mandates and vaccinations, reports Josh Butler.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/11/george-christensen-website/
    And Cait Kelly names the Coalition members still denying a need for action on climate change.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/10/coalition-climate-change-deniers/
    Liam Mannix pronounces the hope of herd immunity to covid as dead.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/is-the-herd-immunity-dream-dead-20210809-p58h50.html
    According to Tom Rabe, NSW government departments are being forced to sell land and property to meet a multibillion-dollar target to fund future infrastructure.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/multibillion-dollar-land-sales-target-imposed-on-nsw-departments-20210810-p58hje.html
    “It is not in the ordinary business community — among those with whom the coalition normally measures its stocks — that a strong sense of urgency about getting rid of the Morrison government runs strong. Many of these have done well under the Morrison government– and the Turnbull and Abbott governments which preceded it. Even the pandemic has led to an explosion of public cash going into it — and without much in the nature of red tape or accountability”, writes Jack Waterford in another interesting essay.
    https://johnmenadue.com/morrison-worries-real-conservatives-even-as-he-pleases-business/
    “As a firefighter, I’m used to hearing an alarm and responding. The Morrison government has to do the same”, urges former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner, Greg Mullins.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/as-a-firefighter-i-m-used-to-hearing-an-alarm-and-responding-the-morrison-government-has-to-do-the-same-20210810-p58hgh.html
    The SMH editorial trumpets that Morrison must heed the IPCC climate warning or pay at the next election.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-must-heed-climate-warning-or-pay-at-the-next-election-20210810-p58hl4.html
    Michael Pascoe describes Morrison’s response to the IPCC report as “another big carbon lie, another big deflection”.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/08/11/scott-morrison-ipcc-climate/
    With the release of a terrifying IPCC report, Australia must face its wilful political blindness on climate, proclaims Mark Kenny.
    https://theconversation.com/with-the-release-of-a-terrifying-ipcc-report-australia-must-face-its-wilful-political-blindness-on-climate-165868
    David Crowe tells us that Barnaby Joyce has thrown a new obstacle for Scott Morrison to act on climate change, saying a dire UN climate change report doesn’t have a plan to cost.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/we-ve-been-sucked-into-this-before-barnaby-joyce-won-t-back-climate-action-before-seeing-the-cost-20210810-p58hm3.html
    Coalition’s misleading tactics will no longer cut it – the IPCC report shows our future depends on urgent climate action, says Adam Morton.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/10/coalitions-misleading-tactics-will-no-longer-cut-it-the-ipcc-report-shows-our-future-depends-on-urgent-climate-action
    The rising climate change threat and Covid-induced demands for greater domestic security are going to change the world – these forces are irresistible and will pose extreme challenges for Australia in its dealings with Europe, the US and China, writes Paul Kelly.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/climate-and-covid-drive-new-age-of-conflict/news-story/664043c5a0a26bd6806f38ad14d63fef
    The weight of money moving towards environmentally friendly investments has arguably been more impactful than any government policy on cutting emissions, writes Elizabeth Knight.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/money-talks-investors-lead-the-push-to-decarbonisation-20210810-p58hkr.html
    “For the past 18 months, we’ve been lectured ad nauseam by our political leaders to follow the scientific advice when it comes to dealing with COVID-19”, writes Peter Hannam who says Berejikilan’s climate action is falling short.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/grow-a-spine-berejikilan-s-climate-action-is-falling-short-20210810-p58hhn.html
    Paul Bongiorno looks at what is driving Morrison’s drop in popularity.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/08/10/newspoll-government-critical-challenges/
    It is now known that one person in the Prime Minister’s office drew up the spreadsheets for both the sports and car park rorts. While this is unsurprising, given the nature and standard operating practice of the Morrison Government, it raises questions about the way the role of advisors has developed, writes Noel Turnbull.
    https://johnmenadue.com/the-mystery-political-staffer-running-government-rorting/
    The Australian reports that Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office conducted taxpayer-funded polling into the government’s Covid-19 strategy across a regional, Labor-held marginal seat targeted by the opposition ahead of last year’s state election.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/marginal-seat-focus-of-queensland-premier-annastacia-palaszczuks-office-polling/news-story/496e6bf977962af96d7f4c43e836252e
    Ross Gittins dissects the insidious business model of AfterPay and its ilk.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/if-afterpay-s-interest-free-loans-sound-too-good-to-be-true-20210810-p58hg6.html
    Sue Mitchell reports that Wage underpayments are “rife” in the grocery sector, where another two supermarket chains are facing class action claims from staff who had been underpaid for several years.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/wage-underpayments-rife-in-grocery-sector-20210810-p58hge
    Peter Martin accuses Casino operator Crown of playing an old business trick: using workers as human shields.
    https://theconversation.com/casino-operator-crown-plays-an-old-business-trick-using-workers-as-human-shields-165815
    It has been 26 years, 26 years of Australia’s old wealth billionaires subverting Parliament, their donors buying, their lobbyists cajoling Liberal and National MPs to keep their precious loophole intact. Luke Stacey and Michael West report on the failure of Rex Patricks’ “grandathering” amendment.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/pauline-hanson-buckles-billionaires-beat-parliament-again/
    Ben Butler tells us that the Pentecostal church run by controversial former tennis champion Margaret Court, Victory Life Centre, received more than $280,000 in jobkeeper in the three months to the end of June last year, even though its revenue ultimately barely decreased.
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/10/more-than-500k-in-jobkeeper-given-to-margaret-courts-pentecostal-church
    The federal government clawed back more than $1m in wrongful claims made by privatised employment services providers last year, freedom of information documents reveal.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/11/private-employment-services-forced-to-pay-back-1m-in-wrongfully-claimed-bonuses-in-2020
    The appointment of Christian Porter as the Acting Leader of the Lower House is another illustration of the Government’s ability to act with impunity, writes Victor Kline.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/christian-porter-case-being-investigated-as-government-promotes-him,15385
    Unlike cases that go to trial, Christian Porter has lost the right to the presumption of innocence while Scott Morrison keeps protecting him, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/christian-porter-has-forfeited-presumption-of-innocence,15387
    “Which country really won the Tokyo Olympics – and at what cost?”, ponders Greg Jericho.
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/aug/10/which-country-really-won-the-tokyo-olympics-and-at-what-cost
    The biggest threat to crypto assets, their appeal and their value is a loss of anonymity. The push to regulate and tax crypto assets by governments could achieve just that, explains Stephen Bartholomeusz.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/the-nets-are-starting-to-close-on-the-2-6-trillion-crypto-industry-20210810-p58hgy.html
    Lisa Visentin writes that some of Sky News Australia’s biggest stars have refused to weigh into the network’s decision to remove more than 30 videos from its platform featuring them criticising public health advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19. It should be an interesting appearance from the network at Friday’s Senate committee session.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sky-news-hosts-silent-as-the-channel-deletes-unproven-covid-19-treatment-videos-20210810-p58hgz.html
    Mtthew Elmas reports that union leaders have accused the Morrison government of ignoring advice from the aged-care royal commission after a damning new report found 110,000 direct aged-care workers are needed by 2030 to meet basic care needs.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/08/10/aged-care-workforce/
    The mainstream media has made progress difficult for Labor in its biased favouritism towards Liberal Party policies, writes Dr Victoria Fielding.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/media-inequality-labor-is-on-an-uneven-playing-field,15388
    LGBTQ+ groups are pressuring the Victorian government to honour an election promise to remove discrimination against some students and staff at religious schools.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/andrews-government-fails-to-curb-legal-right-to-fire-gay-staff-20210810-p58hi5.html
    With a robust vote after weeks of fits and starts, the US Senate has approved a $US1 trillion (A$1.36 trillion) bipartisan infrastructure plan, a rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans joining to overcome sceptics and deliver a cornerstone of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/us-senate-passes-1-trillion-infrastructure-bill-in-win-for-biden-20210811-p58hnv.html
    And it’s goodbye to office from New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/new-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-resigns-over-sexual-harassment-20210811-p58hnw.html

    Cartoon Corner

    David Pope

    David Rowe

    John Shakespeare

    Matt Golding




    Cathy Wilcox

    Alan Moir

    Fiona Katauskas

    Peter Broleman

    Glen Le Lievre

    Mark Knight

    Leak

    From the US









  40. Gergl reckons that Victoria is in a precarious position because impossible to manage more than 10 to 20 daily cases a day. Remember Cictoria know locks down Personal Close Contacts, and their contacts and their contacts

  41. “In this contribution, a Western Sydney doctor fears that NSW is almost certainly on the precipice of a massive deterioration. This is a shocking assessment”

    This article gives this reason for the failure of the NSW government to make any progress in western and south-western Sydney –

    So why is the lockdown of western and south-western Sydney failing?

    The reasons are complex, but in my experience, some are evident on a daily basis at any outpatient clinic in our region. Between one-third and half of consultations have to be conducted with an interpreter. This could be in-person, over the telephone, or using a family member. Sometimes, doctors must use a common language such as Arabic, even though the patient may be Assyrian. Other patients, often refugees, are not literate in their first language. Federal and state government public health advertising has arguably not even been communicated well in English. To expect multicultural communities to quickly comprehend ever-changing public health directives is almost impossible

    I agree. What’s more I see this as blatant racism and blatant discrimination against immigrant/refugee populations in those areas. I’m beginning to think the NSW government hopes these people just die.

    NSW Labor has the answer, I’m surprised not one person in the NSW government has thought of this, despite the Premier herself knowing all about language difficulties – she did not begin to learn English until age five.

    Marcus Paul explains –
    https://rss.com/podcasts/mpinthemorning/253327/?fbclid=IwAR26qbHoYC7ONXvxlJFyAlLUdyuUhBvzVMnLfmK8HV-3bFlAJQa47NSPt6Q

    • Failure to provide fast financial support to all people at a sustainable level causes the following scenario . . .

      “some patients attending emergency departments are staunchly refusing to get tested because of the implications for their family. The necessity to quarantine close contacts would prevent hard-up family members from working. Some households are very sick, but their members do not seek help as they are trying to avoid restrictions.”

    • Yes!

      If you cannot work then you cannot feed the family or pay the rent, so you avoid testing, ignore restrictions, if you actually know about them, and keep on working because you have no alternative.

      I would not expect Scovid to know this nor to understand, he has proved time and time again that he is an empathy-free zone. He grew up privileged then wormed his way into a series of well-paid (over-paid) jobs. He has never known what it means to struggle to pay the bills and keep the family fed and housed.

  46. Police charge Sydney man who sparked COVID-19 lockdown in Byron Bay

    Police have charged a Sydney man who travelled to Byron Bay, and subsequently sparked a COVID-19 lockdown in the area.

    Zoran Radovanovic, from Rose Bay, travelled to the popular holiday destination with his two children last month.

    Police allege Mr Radovanovic, 52, made the journey without a reasonable excuse.

    The shires of Byron, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina were on Monday put into a seven-day lockdown and numerous exposure sites were listed.

    They’re all within the Queensland-NSW border zone where locals have been allowed to travel across state lines for “permitted purposes”, including grocery shopping.

    The future court attendance notice will be served on Mr Radovanovic, who remains at Lismore Base Hospital with strict bail conditions after testing positive for COVID-19.

    His two children have also tested positive for COVID-19

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-11/police-to-charge-sydney-man-who-sparked-byron-bay-covid-lockdown/100368176

    The Daily Telegraph has revealed this Covidiot’s past history – it’s not pretty.
    Because it is paywalled –

    Byron Bay’s patient zero is a Sydney businessman with convictions for drugs, burglary and forgery who immigration authorities once claimed had arrived in Australia on a false passport.

    Zoran Radovanovic, 52, successfully fought a government bid to cancel his visa and send him home to Yugoslavia with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal finding he had a capacity to make a contribution to Australia.
    ……………………………………………………..
    His criminal history was revealed in the AAT in 2000 when he was given the benefit of the doubt and the “finely balanced exercise of discretion” to remain in Australia with his wife Tiana MacDowell, against whom he has recently been accused of breaching a restraining order taken out by police to protect her.
    ……………………………………………………………………………………….
    He has made regular appearances before the courts in relation to a series of domestic violence charges.

    In 2018 he pleaded guilty to two separate counts of common assault and two separate counts of contravening a restraining order and was placed on a good behaviour bond for 12 months, ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and fined $500.

    Most recently he was charged with destroying or damaging property and breaching a restraining order taken out by police to protect Ms MacDowell. He will face a hearing over the destroying or damaging property charged in Downing Centre Local Court on October 28.

    The family recently moved from their home in Woodside Grove, Frenchs Forest on the Northern Beaches which they sold for $2.25 million and moved to Rose Bay

    In February 1992, he was convicted in Melbourne’s Prahran Magistrates’ Court of two counts of burglary, theft and theft of a car. He was sentenced to six months’ jail on each charge to be served concurrently. The sentences were suspended for 12 months.

    He told the AAT that he was not guilty but took the advice of his then-lawyer that “it would be quicker and cheaper to plead guilty”.

    Immigration documents show he left Australia on March 1, 1992 with Tiana MacDowell, who had changed her name from Tijana Simic. They cleared customs at the same barrier and were cleared by the same custom’s officer but Radovanovic denied having left the country and returning on a false passport as alleged by immigration authorities.

    “Movement records do not show that the applicant re-entered Australia after March 1 1992 by the name Zoran Radovanovic,” the AAT said in a judgment handed down in Melbourne in 2000.

    In April 1998, immigration officers and police, acting on information he was in Australia unlawfully, raided the St Kilda flat where he lived with Tiana and as they searched for his passport, they found about 40 young marijuana plants.

    He was convicted at Prahran Magistrates Court of possessing cannabis, growing cannabis, using cannabis and forging a birth certificate.

    Radovanovic claimed he had last seen his passport two years earlier and he was not sure whether it was lost or stolen, the AAT said.

    He was refused a bridging visa in May 1998 but was later granted a visa on various conditions including that he leave in June 1998.

    He married Tiana in July 1998 and he applied for a permanent residency on spouse grounds. Again this was refused which is when he appealed to the AAT.

    In his time in Australia, Radovanovic has lived in Lightning Ridge under the name Zoran Cuk, according to the AAT decision.

    In overturning the decision to cancel his visa, the then-AAT deputy president B M Forrest said he believed witnesses who said Radovanovic lived in Lightening Ridge during the period immigration authorities said he had left the country

    https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/coronavirus/covid-nsw-zoran-radovanovic-charged-after-travelling-to-byron-bay/news-story/f4b221f0d10567d65245f202c56b082a

    What an arsehole!

  47. Sometimes you have dumbarse pollies

    Texas seeks out-of-state medical help amid COVID-19 crisis

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for help but stopped short of reversing his ban on mask mandates.

    https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-08-10/texas-seeks-out-of-state-medical-help-amid-covid-crisis
    And sometimes you have dumbarse voters.

    Why are vaccination rates so low? We found the worst county in each state and asked the politicians

    For more than a year, Steve Allender, the Republican mayor of Rapid City, S.D., took a public stand in favor of COVID-19 safety measures, urging people to wear masks, avoid large gatherings and — following his example — get vaccinated.

    Constituents responded by heckling him at City Council meetings and staking out his house in a campaign to intimidate him and portray vaccination as an assault on their personal freedom.

    By early summer, Allender had quit trying. The highly infectious Delta variant was surging, but with so many people refusing to get shots, he concluded there was nothing that he or other local officials could do to stop it.

    “Our role is just to sit back and let it happen,” he said in an interview. “I feel like a bit of a coward.”

    His experience with the toxic politics of vaccination is far from unique.

    https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-08-09/la-na-least-vaccinated-covid-coronavirus

  48. How effective is wearing a mask ? Very.( use incognito. handy hint, as soon as it opens start bashing the ‘esc. ‘ button. )
    .
    We Studied One Million Students. This Is What We Learned About Masking.

Comments are closed.