Last Friday Scott Morrison pushed state and territory leaders to urgently ease border restrictions. He had mixed success.

This was Australian Prime Minster & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison on his feet in the House of Representatives on Thursday, 3 September 2020:

“Australia was not meant to be closed. Australia was meant to be open. Australians want to see Australia become open, as the founding members of this place ensured it was from the outset, and Australia must become whole again. This is the way—that's what success looks like…...We need to ensure that we are clear with Australians that we will seek to make Australia whole again by Christmas this year” [Hansard, 3 September 2020, p.6]

The very next day he pushed state and territory leaders to urgently ease border restrictions. 

He had mixed success. West Australia refused to march to Morrison's drum, Tasmania said it would go its own way and the other states and territories agreed to consider coming to an agreement at some time in the coming months. None would consider opening their borders quickly. Nor have they yet agreed with Morrison's national definition of a COVID-19 "hot spot".

When it came to easing restrictions on cross-border travel for agricultural workers, Queensland, West Australia & Tasmania refused to participate in the model Morrison put forward, but agreed to observe how matters play out in the three other states to date which will have committed to participating in that scheme.

In response to the refusal to open borders quickly and refusal to agree to containment of affected populations within a state/territory based on area lockdowns instead of state/territory borders, Morrison informed the premiers and chief ministers that the National Cabinet would no longer be a consensus forum.

This is reportedly being interpreted by the states that he intends to change how the national cabinet operates. A case of 'I'm changing the rules so I don't get rolled' and giving himself permission to publicly attack those states or territories which disagree with him during national cabinet meetings.

Revising recent history, Morrison then told the world that there have been times during this pandemic he feared Australia would "break apart". Perhaps intending to raise fear levels in order to drive the national electorate towards agreement with whatever he has planned in the next few months.

Easing border restrictions is important to 'Scotty From Marketing' because he needs to brag about future increases in trade and consumption ahead of the October budget announcement in order to buttress his claim he has found a way out of the first recession in 29 years.

Because as it now stands the national figures below indicate October budget projections will likely be dismal.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Jun 2020, Contribution to GDP growth, seasonally adjusted:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has suffered its worst fall on record, household consumption, private capital formation exports are down, along with a terms of trade increase best described as slight.

While general government consumption is not looking that healthy either and appears an inadequate response in the current situation and, workers share of the national income is at a 61 year low.

The June Quarter 2020 GDP breakdown is:

Graph: ABC News, Stephen Letts

Interestingly, from March 2020 to June 2020 the states and territories showing the smallest falls in seasonally adjusted state final demand (combined consumption expenditure, public & private gross fixed capital formation) were those with the strongest border restrictions.

In other words, community confidence appears relatively higher in those populations behind strong borders.

For some reason Morrison appears to believe that if he bullies state premiers and territory chief ministers into opening borders before community transmission is contained, that any ensuing drawn-out increase in the national number of COVID-19 infections and deaths won't hold the Australian economy back.

He can't make it any clearer that he is willing to sacrifice lives in the mistaken belief that this will improve his own government's 2020 budget projections.

Even though government economic experts in Treasury and the Reserve Bank have on more than one occasion pointed out that stronger economic recovery is possible if faster progress in controlling the virus is achieved in the near term. 

It is only after faster progress is made in suppressing or eliminating the virus that a faster unwinding of activity restrictions and greater confidence will potentially lead to a faster recovery in consumption, investment and employment. 

A proposition that Morrison seems to find politically unpalatable - he prefers to  trample over the bodies of the coronavirus dead in his pursuit of another term as prime minister.

UPDATE

The verbal attack on Labor states begins on 5 & 6 September 2020 with the Initial Commonwealth response to Victorian Roadmap media release

Australia 2020: a federation doggerel

"Not everyone has to get on the bus for the bus to leave the 

station. But it is important the bus leaves the station",

There were 8 on the bus when Scotty said

Stay with me, but Westralia said no, feck you & they fell 

out,

There were 7 on the bus when Territorians decided they 

didn’t want to travel,

There were 6 on the bus & Anastasia said, Roll over? Never!

so Queensland tumbled through the door,

There were 5 on the bus but it got too hot in spots &

the Wheatfielders & Victorians decided to jump,

There were 2 on the bus when its wheels fell off …. 

Meet COAG mark 2.

With acknowledgement to Costin Heaps who started this turn at doggerel history

Old Harwood Bridge opening for vessels now formalised to provide certainty for road travellers

New Harwood Bridge across the Clarence River with older Harwood Bridge directly behind IMAGE: www.pacifichighway.nsw.gov.au

Clarence Valley Independent, 2 September 2020:

The new Pacific Highway crossing of the Clarence River at Harwood has prompted the regulation of opening times for the original Harwood Bridge.

Transport for NSW Director Region North Anna Zycki said this will allow the community to plan trips around the times the old bridge is open, allowing vessels to pass through and reduce delays experienced by road users.

“The original Harwood Bridge is a two-lane steel truss bridge which carried the Pacific Highway over the Clarence River from 1966 until late last year, when the new four-lane bridge opened,” Ms Zycki said.

“The original bridge has been kept to maintain access to the local road network including Harwood and Chatsworth Islands.

“Formalising the opening times is the next step in providing residents with more certainty about using the old bridge.”

Bridge openings for vessels will not be scheduled between 7am and 10am and between 2pm and 5pm Monday to Friday. This will not apply in times of flooding.

Special consideration will be given to commercial operators to open the bridge and will be managed on a case by case basis for these vessels.

While the bridge is opened for vessels there is no access for vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists.

Skippers are required to contact Harwood Bridge caretaker on 0412 604 748 between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday to book an opening time 24 hours in advance.

For further information and advice, please visit www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/using-waterways/bridge-opening-times.html.

For the latest traffic updates download the Live Traffic NSW App, visit livetraffic.com or call 132 701.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese invites Australian voters to "Tell Morrison to fix aged care"

A 31 August 2020 email Opposition Leader and Labor MP for  Anthony Albanese is sending out:

Tell the Morrison Government to fix aged care

Neglect. That’s the legacy of the Morrison Government when it comes to aged care.

People with open sores left unattended. A woman with ants crawling from her open wounds. Aged care residents left hungry, alone in their rooms.

Our most vulnerable Australians are dying without their family by their sides.

Tell the Morrison Government to fix aged care.

You’d think the Government’s response would be to take responsibility?

You’d think the Minister would stick around to answer questions?

But no.

All we see from the Morrison Government is running away, passing the buck, and refusing interviews.

The Morrison Government has no plan to fix the aged care system.

But we do. We want the Government to take these eight steps.

1. Minimum staffing levels in residential aged care
2. Reduce the home care package waiting list so more people can stay in their homes for longer
3. Ensure transparency and accountability of funding to support high quality care
4. Independent measurement and public reporting as recommended by the Royal Commission this week
5. Ensure every residential aged care facility has adequate personal protective equipment
6. Better training for staff, including on infection control
7. A better surge workforce strategy
8. Provide additional resources so the Aged Care Royal Commission can inquire specifically into COVID-19 across the sector while not impacting or delaying the handing down of the final report

Willyou help us call on the Government to fix aged care?

The problems in aged care were around long before the coronavirus. The pandemic has been like an x-ray. It’s shown us what was broken.

Older Australians built this country ­– and they deserve so much better than this.

Thanks and stay safe,

Anthony Albanese

Australian Labor Party 
Authorised by P. Erickson, ALP, Canberra.

Cartoons of the Week

Matt Golding

Kaamran Hafeez

Quotes of the Week

"And, at the ragged and unmasked end of it, he was an old and burned-out magician who’d long ago hocked his cabinet and now was eating his own rabbits for food. By the time he hit the middle-school history textbook peroration of Thursday night’s extended violation of both pandemic safety protocols and federal law, El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago could barely stand up for falling down.” [Jounalist Charles P. Pierce, wring in Esquire about U.S. President Donald J. Trump, 28 August 2020]

“An economy in historic recession. An aged care minister censured. A national cabinet at an obstinate impasse over borders. A distracting branch-stacking scandal. A COVID death toll of aged-care residents to hit 500. It has not exactly been a banner week for the federal government.” [The New Daily Political Editor Josh Butler writing on 4 September 2020]

NSW Nationals continue to betray the Northern Rivers region when it comes to Berejiklian Government push for coal seam gas mining expansion

Echo Net Daily, September 2020:

An area of the Pilliga Forest where a CSG wastewater
spill occurred in 2011. Nothing has grown back.
Photo David Saunders.

Many of the NSW Chief Scientist’s recommendations on regulating the CSG industry will not be adopted, according to the government response.

Instead, the NSW Liberal and Nationals government claim the ‘state’s regulatory framework for resource projects and the reforms to date ensure NSW is well positioned to develop a safe and sustainable domestic gas industry’.

Of the 17 recommendations by the NSW Chief Scientist, only two are supported.

They are improving transparency of information, and reviewing all new findings in relation to health impacts, which would be included in any new CSG assessment.

The other recommendations are ‘noted’ or ‘supported in principle’ by the government.

In the reply, the government outlined what regulatory improvements had been made since the issue attracted ‘community concern’ in 2011.

The response concludes by saying that existing gas projects are winding down, and the only one ‘in the pipeline’ is the Santos Narrabri gasfield project, which is awaiting determination by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC).

No new areas for CSG exploration have been released, says the government report, ‘And if [that did happen] in the future, it would take considerable time for any potential production projects to emerge’.

As such, the report argues that the Chief Scientist’s recommendations have been achieved.

Yet there was no mention of the gas expansion expected to occur under an agreement struck between the federal and NSW government. SMH (Nine) and other media reported in January that ‘Nearly $3 billion will be pumped into NSW to increase gas supplies’.

Local Nats MLC supports his govt

When asked whether he supported his govenrment’s response, local Nationals MLC, Ben Franklin repeated his government’s justifications for not implementing all the recommendations, while accusing the committee oversight body of ignoring ‘robust CSG-related regulatory controls delivered by the NSW government’…...