In a recent radio interview, Premier Perrottet said two things, both, in their own way, astonishing.

First, he admitted that COVID vaccines do not stop transmission of the virus. I believe he is the first leader in Australia to do this.

BOOSTER

His candour comes at a time when Australia has just recently announced the campaign for us all to get a fifth – yes, a fifth – booster.

Several responses spring to mind. One, you have only just realised this? Another, when did you find this out? How long have you known? Did you know, for example, when your Government stopped the unvaccinated from going to Kmart and Big W, and the all other places? When your Government sacked tens of thousands of your own staff, at a time of drastic labour shortages?

Yet another question, do you not also know that the vaccines do not stop hospitalisation, nor even death?

This was the hang-out position of much of the political class in Australia and elsewhere, when it realised that its initial position – “safe and effective” – had been demonstrated to be palpably false. And dangerous.

For it is now widely known that the vaccines cause lethal harm. There is hardly an unvaccinated soul in the Premier State now in hospital for COVID.

Virtually all those who are/were hospitalised had been vaccinated. The Perrottet Government’s response to this emerging reality was to suspend data on hospitalisations by vaccine status. Well, that’s one way to staunch the embarrassment.

Now, the Premier’s defenders will say, well, he did end the vaccine mandates for shoppers. And he got the National Cabinet to bin the self-quarantine rules.

His critics – and the number on the Right must surely be growing – will retort, far too little, far too late. And you are ignoring unfinished COVID business.

His second gob-smacker in the radio interview was the virtual admission that he did not have the power, as Premier of NSW, to end vaccine mandates for his own public sector employees. Say what? Please explain!

This is what he said: “Emergency Services personnel, including nurses and paramedics, lost their jobs during the pandemic if they failed to get vaccinated.

“Many are now fighting to regain their positions – as the government offers sign-on bonuses to lure retired staff back.”

MANDATES

Dominic Perrottet told Ben Fordham, he’s repeatedly told the public service to end vaccine mandates.

True enough. He told them this ages ago. It is just that they didn’t take any notice of him. Or, at least, many didn’t.

The Premier stated: “In the areas of the public service that I can make that direction, I have and it has been enacted.

“I’ve also worked very closely with the private sector who have followed my position.”

Yes, but again far too late, and with no sign that any employers (public or private) will entertain the idea of compensation for sacked workers or automatic reinstatement to their old positions.

Their initial decisions to punish the unvaccinated were always unconscionable and without foundation.

The Premier’s take on this was feeble, putting it at its kindest. After all, his Government had the power to enforce the mandates. And the masks. And the lockdowns. And the curfews. And the use of the army.

Oh, and the power to, in effect, prorogue the Parliament. Power to enforce didn’t seem to be a problem back then.

This is what one listener had to say:

John a paramedic, told the Premier that both he and his wife, an emergency nurse, lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandates. Both are still unemployed.

“We are down in Sydney at the industrial relations committee trying to get her job back,” John said.

DISINGENUOUS

“Police are still mandated out of jobs, SES volunteers. Doesn’t it seem disingenuous you are offering $10,000 sign-on bonuses to nurses to get them back into the industry, and me and my wife can’t work, my job still hasn’t been replaced as a paramedic. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

The Premier was “frustrated”. Oh dear. He seems simply to have confirmed what James Burnham saw coming in the 1940s when he penned his classic The Managerial Revolution, and what many since have seen as the rise of technocracy. Rule by the experts.

In which elected politicians of whatever hue are rendered mere bystanders, simply standing at the back of the stage and letting unelected officials take the microphone. And make the calls that matter, as they did during COVID.

It is inconceivable that Daniel Andrews in Victoria could have uttered the defeatist words of his mate north of the Murray – I told them what I wanted, and they ignored me. VicPol? Danny says “jump”. They reply, “how high, Mr Premier?”