I RECENTLY read a useful poster for employees of Australia’s Workplace Mental Health Institute which describes 15 signs that you may be in an abusive relationship.
It states, in part: “You may be in an abusive relationship if they:-
- Stop you seeing friends and family.
- Won’t let you go out without permission.
- Tell you what to wear.
- Punish you for breaking the rules, but the rules keep changing.
- Tell you it’s for your own good and that they know better…”
- The vaccination policy suggestion from Premier Berejiklian is deeply troubling.
- Our representative MPs must stop telling us how to live and, instead, start listening.
- NSW should immediately abandon the ‘no jab, no service’ policy.
They are worth reading and all sounded oddly familiar. Perhaps they do for you, too?
It occurred to me that during the Coronavirus pandemic, the government has literally broken every one of these points with their behaviour towards us.
So, could the citizens of Australia be in an abusive relationship with our governments?
Of course, extraordinary times may call for extraordinary measures, but some proportionality to the response is necessary.
The latest policy suggestion from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is deeply troubling.
Suggesting that private businesses enforce a mandate on customers of “no jab, no service” and the need for customers to show proof of vaccination is ill-considered.
This idea has already been enthusiastically championed by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, who has suggested that no-one be allowed to fly without having first been vaccinated.
Imagine if our local bus companies took the same approach.
Is this necessary or proportionate? According to the CDC, adults up to the age of 40 have a 99.98 per cent chance of surviving Coronavirus; and people aged between 40 to 50 years have a 99.96 chance of survival.
THREAT
In fact, only for those among us aged 70 years plus does Coronavirus become an every-day risk.
Should governments stop the vast majority of the population walking around, shopping, socialising and working when the threat is so low.
Should we accept governments making these arbitrary limitations on our freedoms without asking us?
Premier Berejiklian has said she is simply “considering” such a proposal and I would urge her not to implement it.
Governments in Western democracies are all about supporting individual liberty and freedoms.
Not for us the authoritarian hand of East Germany, the USSR or Mao’s China.
The demand for “papers, please!” was only heard in authoritarian dictatorships, not Piccadilly Circus in London, Fifth Avenue in New York nor Pitt Street, Sydney.
We were never afraid of our governments. They had a social compact with the people which was voters vote you in and, in return, you respect us and earn our trust.
Should we now have to show the police our “papers” to be able to move around freely?
If we do not have an injection, are we now banned from participating in society? How do consistent lockdowns sound? We might accept them for now, but for how long? Forever?
Should we have to wear masks everywhere, all the time and for the rest of our lives?
When people are frightened or alarmed, it is the job of governments to give them hope and encouragement rather than locking them up and stripping them of their rights.
Even in extreme times, it is far more important that people’s voices be heard. Too many politicians forget that – they lose sight of what should be guiding them.
BIDDING
They should be focussed on how we maintain our rights and live the lives we choose. We must demand our representatives stop telling us how to live and, instead, start listening to how we want to live.
Voters are adults and should be treated as such. People can make their own decisions and should be allowed to. Government doesn’t live our lives for us, it does our bidding.
But what started out as a sacred proposition has become a hackneyed cliché too often ignored.
It isn’t democracy if you simply get to vote every four years for the next government to step on your throat.
It isn’t just about the response to the Coronavirus today. It’s about how we move forward with all government policy.
Premier Berejiklian previously resisted calls for mandatory mask wearing and has called for open borders. She was correct in doing so.
ABUSIVE
She should not head down the wrong path and encourage discrimination of any kind. She should abandon the “no jab, no service” policy immediately and get back to the job of letting people get on with their lives as they see fit.
Helpfully, the Workplace Mental Health Institute poster ends in this way: “Abusive relationships can arise anywhere – with partners, friends, families, workplaces and governments.
“If you recognise these signs and are concerned … don’t panic. Take action!”
Wise words. We must take action and demand better from our Premier and our Liberal Coalition Government.PC
—All good Hamish and we do not have a pandemic in Australia. Only in mismanaged Dan-Dan Dictator-Land did the virus ever look like gaining a run on.
— Berejiklian has, until this last suggestion, warranted pretty good marks for her Covid handling. She has kept the borders open and not locked us down excessively. However, the mask imbroglio was/is a mess as of course the decision about wearing them should have always been left to the individual.
— Berejiklian could be classified as a ‘carer’ Premier, Andrews and Palaszczuk as ‘dictator’ Premiers with the rest falling in between, although now Western Australia looks as though they are going under the thumb!
— (Now I must side-track to insert here, – Berejiklian does fail dismally for her retention of that ludicrously green, left swerving, economy busting Minister – Matt Keen and Berejiklian must also wear the blame for the passing of the ghastly abortion law which condones the murder of the foetus -(baby) – right up to 40 weeks gestation.)
—But back to the subject: we must always be treated by any Government as the thinking adults we are; any vaccination MUST be by choice.
—Only if we are venturing overseas where the virus will be lingering for at least the next few years, will it be necessary to have a mandated jab. Much as we had to do with the smallpox inoculation in days past.