Where to start?

 

Where do I start? Consider this as tipping my head out because it is one way to cope with increasing Covid infections and electioneering.

Two weeks of this election campaign to go and shall we survive? Yes, yes we shall. If you go to the source,  you generally get good information which is helpful and enlightening. If you  only pay attention to the campaign, then there is a lot to be concerned about. Smiling family photos somehow equal good government. Really? Have you looked at the facts and what has or has not been achieved? Too many  media people  are playing daft games and thinking they are stealing the limelight and the campaign narrative. The lack of thought and literacy in some of them is embarrassing and not worthy of us. Baffling why any public platform finds it acceptable . Candidate corflutes have been removed, damaged , defaced and remastered to the extend some independents have been recreated as Greens candidates. Is that because the people doing it think Greens are a liability.? I do wonder what goes on in some people's heads when they get up in the morning. And why would they actually print and distribute false signs? So much wrong with these false campaign corflutes and the vandalism. AEC is investigating it. Pity they have had to put up with some people thinking they are not. Whoever is behind this misrepresentation of candidates needs to be established and dealt with. It is awful. 

Our coronavirus infections are escalating and the deaths as well. We are not getting enough people vaccinated and boosted. We are not getting enough people tested. If you are sick with covid and vomiting or have an upset stomach, testing would be hard. Some are thinking , why bother and just carrying on. Masks are being abandoned and that is irrational because they stop the spread! Sanitising stops the spread. Social distancing stops the spread. It simply is not logical to think this is not a problem when our numbers are going up and up. We have no leadership in this matter other than some medical people who keep trying to put sensible messages out on social media.

Then we have our medical system. It is hard to get a doctor's appointment if you have suspected covid. Some doctors don't seem to want to know you or your child. So you ring the covid helpline and get told to go to emergency and emergency isn't the place. You need a proper consultation if you have a child with a fever, vomiting and not eating and drinking for more than a day. There are adults who can't get proper consultations. I accept clinics want to keep themselves safe. RATs can come up negative even though you have symptoms on the Covid  list. We need to know. This is not going away. We keep supplying hosts. Maybe we need a possibly covid clinic  so people with covid symptoms can get timely and effective help. No one wants to go to emergency but how can they get proper medical advice if there is no one to see? It is especially important for older people and young children. 

We have no leadership and we need it. Two more weeks of things being as they feel like being with these negative undercurrents means we shall grow weary. We need direction. 

The case of the hiding cabinet 2013

Image: Courier Mail

It's not going to work. It's 2013 and we are not buying into it.  In two weeks the Abbott government is already making itself superfluous to requirements because it is old, stuffy and glued in its treacle cabinet behind closed doors. Hiding out is hardly a practical approach to governing let alone a desired one. South Australians are well used to a government which doesn't talk to them or anyone else and just makes decisions which are irrelevant. One of our most progressive premiers, Mike Rann, who had the state booming, stopped talking to us and went into his own little world and no longer connected. The upshot was he became superfluous to us. We had no idea what he was thinking. The decisions he made were not meaningful to us and most of what happened just annoyed and angered us more and more because things were happening and we were not included. We are a democratic state. What we think and what we want is important to the process of  governing.  Australians are generally well educated and on the ball. It doesn't explain how we managed to vote in the Abbott government but I think if you look at the real numbers you will see most people did not vote for him or his party. The win came from the Coalition and the distribution of seats. Were the ALP to do the same thing, they could win, too. Then there is the matter of a corrupt and biased media which we are abandoning. NZ may well have noticed they have had more visits from Australia over the last 2 weeks. Other countries around the world will probably notice their news sites are getting more visits from Australians. A huge proportion of Australians are bilingual and multilingual so those who can read news elsewhere will. We currently do not have any news. We don't have a paper which can just bring us facts and correct information about events in Australia.There is even a media belief that "balanced" news is wrong!! Our papers pick a politician or key figure and shoot them down and try to ensure they never get up again. We have lost so much talent and expertise this way and we know it. The anger of the morning of September 8th has not gone away. No one wants to talk about  the election. If they do hear or see Tony Abbott then , generally, a barrage of swear words and invective comes out. Then an apology. It is unable to be contained and that is the problem.  So many people just cannot bear to look at Tony Abbott and so many people just cannot stand him. He makes them feel ill. That is something which will not change and so there is a credibility issue here for the government. There is a prime minister whom no one takes seriously, no  one is listening to and no  one wants. He exacerbates the situation by locking 18 men and a woman in a hide and seek game in cabinet. Other unpopular prime ministers have had a side or quality which can be highlighted. Tony Abbott's is that he is fit. Fit for what?