Ask Bucko

Most Victorians are thrilled by the results obtained by lockdown, which was imposed by Daniel Andrews. You might call our original assent grudging, but it gradually morphed into gratitude, as long as the Trump-lite knuckle draggers in the Federal Government allowed us to deal with the second wave, our own way – a hard lockdown. Victoria is alone in suffering through a second wave, so our experience and our success are worth celebrating.

Victorians defeat 2nd wave

Comparisons with the United Kingdom are of interest here. On July 30 Victoria had 723 new cases of Covid-19, the U.K. had 763. Today (October 19) we have 1 new case, the U.K. has 16,982.

Since then the second wave has been crushed in Victoria, with new cases in single digits almost every day, and a decreasing death rate. Take a good hard look at Boris Johnson’s pathetic leadership, and the deadly cost of having a neoliberal idiot in charge.

We were on similar case numbers on July 30, and because of the lockdown we are almost 17,000 cases better off today. At a 1% death rate from overall infections, that looks like 170 deaths from one day’s cases.

So this is where you have to wonder whether these liberals and the other right wing folk have been perhaps giving the Scotch bottle a bit of a nudge between meals. Because they seem not to understand the situation, or perhaps they really believe money is more important than human life.

Not everyone has been helpful

Jeff (I feel so useless, and foolish) Kennett is whinging about Grand Final celebrations. Two points: your team is not even in the big dance, and secondly, my team (the Tigers) is, and I am happy enough to miss out on a party in the short term, as long as my family and I are safe from the pandemic in the long term.

That is called playing the odds, and planning for the future. The opposite of your government, which sold half the state’s schools to real estate developers back in the ’90s. Of course we had to re-build them later, but Jeff had already moved on.

What about Josh (the boy-treasurer) Frydenburg? I believe that he has found his people, the hard-right fat-cat warriors, who unashamedly put the nation’s economy before public health, but they are too dishonest to say so. He is either particularly insensitive, or just stupid, to rabbit on about mental health in such dangerous times.

His sanctimonious words will come back to haunt him, as the Jobseeker cliff looms. That little gift to the Australian people will cause a giant spike in mental health cases, when over 6 million people are thrown into poverty, again. Poverty, with hunger and homelessness thrown in.

Morrison was always keen to not be seen putting economic concerns before the public health dilemma. That kept him relatively quiet for a few months, but his tiny neoliberal soul would not let him rest. When you are steeped in market-based ideology, it is difficult to let go. And so he has unleashed his minions.

And what a group they are. Frydenburg, Hunt (I am the Health Minister), Tudge (locks up detainees illegally), Kennett (desperately seeking relevance), Dutton (not prejudiced, he hates all Laborites, Victorians and Queenslanders) Tim Wilson (please take a photo of me) with the evil Scotty from Marketing, still trying to put daylight between himself and his Victorian attack dogs.

Steady as she goes

Many of us have been separated from family, limited in our social lives, many are in fear for their finances; but most of us are alive, and the fear of contagion is receding. For a reason that I cannot fathom, Scott Morrison has decided that he is willing to continually wage war on Daniel Andrews, pressuring him to re-open the state and to remove restrictions.

Victoria might be considered a lost cause to the Coalition, but we all have memories. We can still punish you at the next election, by removing the remaining duds from your team. And although Dan has had some uncertain moments, I still stand with him, and the rest of Victoria.