The credibility of former Courier-Mail humorist Mike O'Connor's April 6 article on Covid 19 can be judged by the fact that anti-vaxxer Senator Gerard Rennick has added it to his facebook page.
Rennick, who has advocated the use of horse de-wormer Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid 19, includes the entire O'Connor article headlined: "Never forget our surrender to Palaszczuk’s Covid tyranny."
As if Queensland was the only Australian government closing its borders in a bid to stop the transmission of Covid 19 and that it was a Labor plot rather than health advice.
O'Connor is apoplectic that three years ago "Queenslanders meekly submitted to armed police", and we suffered "the most draconian limitations ever imposed", "secret police", "workers in "armour", "imprisoning people" and "apocalyptic predictions based on secret health advice".
But O'Connor ignores the fact Queensland was not alone and was not the first to close its borders.
Peter Gutwein, the Tasmania Liberal Premier, announced in a media release dated March 19, 2020: "...we are introducing the toughest border restrictions in Australia."
Three days later it was announced: "Premier Steven Marshall will isolate SA as coronavirus surges...The Premier will cut the state off from the rest of the nation from Tuesday as cases of coronavirus surge around the country."
It was a bipartisan announcement with a report that: "Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas, who called for the move earlier in the day, said he would offer bipartisan support to Mr Marshall to take the decisive action."
And, as with all these decisions the decision was driven by the state's chief public health officer
It was two days later that in a media release that Premier Palaszczuk announced that on the advice of the Chief Health Officer Dr Young: "... Queensland will restrict access at its border."
On March 24 Prime Minister Morrison announced a ban on Australians travelling overseas.
But O'Connor's focus is purely on Queensland, asking: "Have we forgotten the nightly theatre of the absurd played out on TV screens as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her surgically attached chief health officer, Jeannette Young, attempted to terrify us into submission with grim-faced, apocalyptic predictions based on secret health advice that remains so to this day."
But as with most other jurisdictions, the restrictions were on public health advice not political considerations.
O'Connor also attacks the ABC which, he alleges "joined the pile-on, endlessly promoting the views of its pet health expert Dr Norman Swan, a man who hasn't practised medicine in 30 years but who confidently announced that the country's ICU units were about to be swamped by 80,000 infections a day and that doctors would be faced with some very difficult decisions."
But, of course, it wasn't just Swan who was warning about such pressure.
For example, the AFR reported on March 27 2020: "Health authorities revealed they have advanced plans to triple Australia's intensive care capacity after a warning the growth in COVID-19 cases could cause hospitals to run out of specialised care beds in less than 10 days."
And Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, warned on February 28 2020: "If 50% of Australians – 13 million people – became infected that is up to 400,000 people dying, almost 2 million people needing a hospital bed and 650,000 people needing an ICU bed."
So did the nation's border closures save lives?
In the USA where many precautions were actively opposed the Covid 19 death rate per million is 3,459 and in Australia it's 769.
And being parochial, there were 2,875 Covid 19 Queensland deaths by April 17 in a population of 5,418, 337.
I apologise if my schoolboy maths are wrong but I make that a death rate per million of 531.
Yes, we should remember the border closures.
The biggest O'Connor joke is his warning that we should not forget what the Palaszczuk Government did.
Voters did remember what the Government had done when they voted six months after the border closure to return the government for four more years with an additional four seats.
Perhaps we should remember the advice given by The Courier-Mail on October 29 2012: "Read Mike O'Connor's last column and give him a send-off."
Rennick, who has advocated the use of horse de-wormer Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid 19, includes the entire O'Connor article headlined: "Never forget our surrender to Palaszczuk’s Covid tyranny."
As if Queensland was the only Australian government closing its borders in a bid to stop the transmission of Covid 19 and that it was a Labor plot rather than health advice.
O'Connor is apoplectic that three years ago "Queenslanders meekly submitted to armed police", and we suffered "the most draconian limitations ever imposed", "secret police", "workers in "armour", "imprisoning people" and "apocalyptic predictions based on secret health advice".
But O'Connor ignores the fact Queensland was not alone and was not the first to close its borders.
Peter Gutwein, the Tasmania Liberal Premier, announced in a media release dated March 19, 2020: "...we are introducing the toughest border restrictions in Australia."
Three days later it was announced: "Premier Steven Marshall will isolate SA as coronavirus surges...The Premier will cut the state off from the rest of the nation from Tuesday as cases of coronavirus surge around the country."
It was a bipartisan announcement with a report that: "Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas, who called for the move earlier in the day, said he would offer bipartisan support to Mr Marshall to take the decisive action."
And, as with all these decisions the decision was driven by the state's chief public health officer
It was two days later that in a media release that Premier Palaszczuk announced that on the advice of the Chief Health Officer Dr Young: "... Queensland will restrict access at its border."
On March 24 Prime Minister Morrison announced a ban on Australians travelling overseas.
But O'Connor's focus is purely on Queensland, asking: "Have we forgotten the nightly theatre of the absurd played out on TV screens as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her surgically attached chief health officer, Jeannette Young, attempted to terrify us into submission with grim-faced, apocalyptic predictions based on secret health advice that remains so to this day."
But as with most other jurisdictions, the restrictions were on public health advice not political considerations.
O'Connor also attacks the ABC which, he alleges "joined the pile-on, endlessly promoting the views of its pet health expert Dr Norman Swan, a man who hasn't practised medicine in 30 years but who confidently announced that the country's ICU units were about to be swamped by 80,000 infections a day and that doctors would be faced with some very difficult decisions."
But, of course, it wasn't just Swan who was warning about such pressure.
For example, the AFR reported on March 27 2020: "Health authorities revealed they have advanced plans to triple Australia's intensive care capacity after a warning the growth in COVID-19 cases could cause hospitals to run out of specialised care beds in less than 10 days."
And Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, warned on February 28 2020: "If 50% of Australians – 13 million people – became infected that is up to 400,000 people dying, almost 2 million people needing a hospital bed and 650,000 people needing an ICU bed."
So did the nation's border closures save lives?
In the USA where many precautions were actively opposed the Covid 19 death rate per million is 3,459 and in Australia it's 769.
And being parochial, there were 2,875 Covid 19 Queensland deaths by April 17 in a population of 5,418, 337.
I apologise if my schoolboy maths are wrong but I make that a death rate per million of 531.
Yes, we should remember the border closures.
The biggest O'Connor joke is his warning that we should not forget what the Palaszczuk Government did.
Voters did remember what the Government had done when they voted six months after the border closure to return the government for four more years with an additional four seats.
Perhaps we should remember the advice given by The Courier-Mail on October 29 2012: "Read Mike O'Connor's last column and give him a send-off."
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