Dated 25th March 2020
Allan Ivarsson comments… with reference to my above remarks we are now in ‘Partial Lockdown’. ‘Total Lockdown’ may be forced upon us to gain Containment for 14 days. But such an enforcement would be unwise. ‘Total Lockdown’ is a very dangerous ‘Totalitarian’ decision. And must be rejected because it is a panic station action that will threaten the very foundation of ‘Liberty Values’. It is wiser to encourage Self-isolation as a ‘Freedom of Choice’ decision.
Federal and State Laws recorded to save Australians from the Global Pandemic of COVID-19 should be very simplistic and focused only on Border control of invasion by travellers. Fining people laws for not practicing ‘Social Distancing’ is not acceptable behaviour. Such laws must be rejected. Read further below for more insight.
Coronavirus: ‘Social Distancing’ to save Australians and the Economic Danger of ‘Lockdown’
(2020)
Warning this is a long paper read, equal to 25 pages A4 size, including images, with significant emphasis focused on the survival wellbeing of every Nation, using the treatise of Australia as a solution for survival example. It also deals briefly with wrong thinking ideas.
Before we start it should be noted that 2.5 million Aussies don’t have access to the Internet and many elderly people do not have computer skills. In Isolation, Partial Societal Lockdown is a difficult emotional experience for those persons that cannot communicate with others on the Internet. Total Lockdown would be an economic and survival disaster, it will not happen in a ‘Liberty Based Society’.
Put any apprehension you may have about a total Lockdown at Rest- it will not happen, not on my watch.
Thought for the Day…
Don’t use Hairdryers at home or in a Hairdressing Salon and stay completely away from anyone using a hairdryer. A hairdryer can spread infection virus to a distance of eight to ten metres. To avoid infection, avoid hairdryers and those who use them. My wife a diabetic, has always refused to use hairdryers throughout her life because even when Coronavirus did not exist, infections can still be transmitted.
The Healthy are not completely immune as many young people naively believe. One of the age categories of being commonly infected by Coronavirus are the 28 years to 29 years of age group. Why? Because they are physically and socially active with others.
Previously… Allan Ivarsson in comments wrote…
“A fear epidemic of Corona Virus is overpromoted when what should be tabled is essential cautionary behaviour like any other Flu Virus. Logistics information of incidents is essential, but it should be compared to other past Flu Virus history in Nations like for example Australia, America and in this case China. Not that I trust China’s logistics.” (i)
“The Flu has killed more people each year in Australia and United States than Corona Virus. People engaged in panic buying over CV when they were calm about Influenza should be ashamed of themselves for overreacting in panic.” (i)
(i) Source: https://allanivarsson.com/2020/03/07/australia-liar-liar-pants-on-fire-corona-virus-panic-who-lied/
“The media has a lot to answer for in regard to messages around this virus and messages to the public. Whilst honesty about threats is critical, building hysteria and promoting inappropriate behaviours is far from ideal.” # (i)
Niki Edwards, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology March 5, 2020.
# Source: http://theconversation.com/why-are-people-stockpiling-toilet-paper-we-asked-four-experts-132975
“It is estimated that each year (in Australia) influenza causes an average of 13,500 hospitalisations and more than 3,000 deaths among Australians aged over 50 years, which suggests more than double the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents can be attributed to complications from Influenza. The highest rates of hospitalisation are seen under 5 and the elderly.” ## (i)
## Source: Health Direct… https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/colds-and-flu-statistics
“Only thirteen people have fallen ill with the Corona Virus in the United States there have been no deaths.” Dated Feb 12, 2020… (i) Source: U.S. News: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-02-12/coronavirus-in-america-keep-your-panic-in-check
80,000 people died of Flu last year in United States, the diseases highest toll in four decades. (i) Source: By Associated Press dated September 26, 2018… https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/26/cdc-us-flu-deaths-winter/
“The Flu is still more dangerous than Corona Virus… the problem with CV is that medical knowledge of CV is not yet good enough to control it.” (i)
With reference to that comment I recorded “the problem with CV is that medical knowledge of CV is not yet good enough to control it.” Sums up reality at beginning of March 2020. But whilst this statement is still true… it must be noted that…
Reports are filtering through that several Medical Scientists are striving to find a cure anti-vaccine for COVID-19, in several different countries…. The fight for a cure and containment of this deadly virus is increasing over the last three weeks of March 2020.
We all trust that around the world that Medical Science will establish a cure for this virus. Australia is praying that the difficult task of defeating COVID-19 will only take six months. Meanwhile our economy is seriously being hurt causing more than a recession, threatening us all with another ‘Great Economic Depression’ like in the 1930’s.
I suspect that the creation of an anti-vaccine cure will take at least 18 months. Then there is the problem of distribution of the preventative cure. We have over 7 billion people in the world and COVID-19 has invaded every continent. If it takes 3 years to defeat this pandemic that means migration and tourism will come to a complete stop. Thousands will become permanently unemployed in Airlines and in Shipping Company Cruises. And all freight distribution by Air and by Sea will be very strictly controlled.
The inconvenience suffered by Australians reminds us of World War II when Aussies were fighting a war to the death and those not in battle were also suffering economic hardship at home. The difference with this COVID-19 War is that the ahimsa fight is inside the country, mostly in Isolation at home, alone or with family. And the economic nightmare is in danger of being worse than the hardship suffered during war at home.
Yes Flu’s have killed more people than COVID-19 but because we don’t have an anti-vaccine we are now around the world very vulnerable to the dangerous reality that COVID-19 can overtake the past disasters caused by Flu and become a far worse more vindictive disease than past Flu’s. Whether that happens or not, now depends on our thinking and behaviour and for that reason Governments in different Nations are establishing ‘Containment Rules’ starting with ‘Quarantine’ and ‘Social Distancing’ and when necessary ‘Lockdown’.
“The history of ‘Influenza’ is currently more dangerous at present than the ‘Corona Virus’. The only difference is that Scientific Medical experts are still trying to learn more about the ‘Corona Virus’. And yes Governments around the world are wisely striving to stop the importation of the ‘Corona Virus’, brought in by migrants and tourists and travelling Business Personnel.” (i)
And that is where Australia failed to act quickly. The Coronavirus invasion came in from migrants, tourists and Australians returning home from overseas by Plane and by Cruise Ships. News reports reveal that Cruise Ships released passengers back onto Australian Land to go home without Quarantine containment.
This mistake has cost Australians healthy wellbeing and given us a very serious fight back program strategy of starting with ‘Social Distancing’ rules of behaviour followed by closing down all non-essential industries. This war against CV hurts every Australian in one way or another. But as I said in my previous article dated March 7 2020… “Liar Liar Pants on Fire” (i) we must not ever panic. People self-destruct when they panic.
“The danger of being killed by ‘Corona Virus’ is exactly the same danger as being killed by ‘Influenza’.” (i)
However, whilst that is true at present, we must fight by doing the right thing, to make sure that COVID-19 does not get out-of-control and become as serious as Plagues in Ancient Greek History and during the Dark Middle Ages.
We are now at risk as at late March 2020 that the death toll of Corona Virus could rapidly surpass the average death toll of Influenza each year. The trend has changed since late February 2020.
It gets worse than this for Australia and other countries that are now approaching the Winter Season. The rise in Influenza competing with the rise in COVID-19 suggests that Influenza and CV will be competing with each other to see which virus can kill the most.
And Christians & Muslims want me to believe in a God Creator that is responsible by his Creation Powers for this pandemic. Not likely, I reject this powerless incompetent imaginary God Creator with the contempt he deserves.
Pope Francis has agreed that the existence of Evolution Process is correct, but he claims God Created Evolution Process. ^ He is correct Evolution Process exists. Unfortunately evolution process is not very kind and can be absolutely cruel on a hit or miss basis over the last three billion years plus.
^ Refer 2013 Treatise… ‘Evolution – The Theory that is Now Fact’ published in 2018 book COMPENDIUM III by Allan Ivarsson available at Amazon.com in Colour illustrated Paperback & Electronic Kindle.
If God Creator was so powerful in physical power why would he create an unjust cruel struggle for survival evolution process of several billion years and allow homo sapiens with a history of only 100,000 years during the 3 million years of evolution of mankind to live only an average of seventy years and give other creatures cruel or not, life spans of 150 to 300 years?
Does that mean God Creator favours other creatures over human beings? The answer is obvious God Creator does not exist. And this is not Atheism writing, it is ‘Cosmicism’.
Only a spiritual ‘God of Creation’ with no physical creative powers can exist as a spiritual power. Read all the works of Allan Ivarsson and you will learn how this ‘Spiritual Cosmic Consciousness God of Creation’ works in harmony with other life forms of intelligence including some animals, human and non-human. Only those with ‘Intellectual Courage’ will explore with dynamic open mind to learn the truth. To succeed they need to learn ‘Philosophical Intelligence’ the most advanced intelligence in the Universe.
One of the key rules of ‘Cosmic Philosophy’ is to live Dynamic and change and adapt when required.
I wrote in my article post titled ‘Hong Kong Virus Only two Deaths in 8 Million after two months.’ (ii) the following remarks…
“Australia is not facing any serious danger, like Hong Kong and USA we are vulnerable, but not in a serious way. Don’t Panic, Stay Alert and practice the common-sense rules always. But that process also includes dealing with the flu and other diseases that threaten us.” (ii)
A.I. comments… that reality (ii) was true on February 29th 2020… but destiny can rapidly change direction which the history of evolution has done many times. When we watch, as I have done, documentaries and watch dynamic science nature images, we can witness the fascinating change of existence through evolution process on land and sea which proves how sudden species development can change direction and this is evident in virus changes which is more rapid in a world of fast global physical communication in travel by migration and tourist visitations. Charles Darwin explorer and writer, recorded his observations of evolution process and fortunately over a century later, David Attenborough a visual explorer recorded his physical observation of nature and evolution process on film in colour for all of us to witness the wonder and magic of diversity of existence on planet earth, revealing the strange types of species on our planet Gaia that which we call Earth.
“Evolution process of viruses and other epidemics is not kind or friendly to any animal… human or not. All we can do is adapt and change according to the standards of health requirements. There are no guarantees in life, but we can work survival sense in our favour when we use calm logic, positive mental attitude and never panic.” (ii)
“Be kind to each other… we are one.” (ii)
I also wrote dated February 29th 2020…
“Don’t hug strangers, friends or even relatives. Keep the gesture of goodwill hugging inside the family unit only. A smile and a good gesture of spoken goodwill is all that is needed when we meet each other in the circle of societal activity. And shake hands only with people you trust. Even then we must do as you may have noticed that Doctors do, they always wash their hands when alone after shaking hands in a goodwill greeting or goodbye. There is no need to shake hands when greeting strangers for the first time. Often a casual salute is a sign of respect and acknowledgement and thank you. This works well when courtesy is given in public places and the thank you voice cannot travel to be heard.” (ii) This paragraph was post repeated on the 7th March 2020 refer (i)
On February 19th, 2020 I also passed forward an excellent video in my post titled ‘Corona – To Beat this Virus, Fight as One’.
The Australian Government Federal and States were a bit slow to act on incoming cruise ships to stop the invasion of Corona Virus. Australia proved to respond faster than the United States to the dangerous threat of COVID-19, but this is because Australia has the best Medical Health System Standards and Service in the world. By Monday 23rd March, Australia had started positive action in stopping Migrant and Tourists invading Australia with the risk of being a Coronavirus carrier of the disease by Plane and by Ship. By 29th March all State Borders were closed down to stop transference of the ‘Corona Virus’ from State to State. America was not that smart. Some mistakes were made especially by the NSW Health Department that failed to Quarantine all arrivals that came in on a ‘Cruise Ship’. For the record of history the name of the ship is not important, the philosophy of recognising the mistake and the need not to ever repeat history again by such errors is an essential understanding.
It seems as world populations increase… Future Travellers will need to be Quarantined checked for release into a country during arrival and departure, to reduce the risk of infectious diseases coming and going from country to country. This inconvenience will be necessary to stop the rapid expansion of new virus types and other diseases.
On Tuesday night the 24th March 2020, Scott Morrison Prime Minister of Australia delivered a very important speech to the Nation, tabling tough instructions supporting the immediate objective of ‘Social Distancing’ and the shutdown of all non-essential Industries.
Teaching higher standards of hygiene is obviously an important instruction. But then it is a practice that good caring responsible people have during the age of the ‘Baby Boomers’ and their parents, since the end of World War II been doing all of their lives. The real flaw in the societal system has been the failure to reprimand those people that refused to practice hygiene standards every day of their lives. Thus because of the rising danger of Coronavirus it became necessary to advertise across the nation the essential need of washing hands regularly, after touching things and after coughing, sneezing, blowing one’s nose and after toiletry and other dirty jobs. This sudden increase in demand for constant hand washing is a good thing, a practice that every generation must enforce by encouragement for every generation thereafter to reduce the risk of passing forward infectious diseases.
‘Social Distancing’ is a good voluntary practice forevermore in a vulnerable world of rising populations and increasing diseases, the most dangerous being mutating forever evolving ‘Virus’s. Subject to the wisdom of good practice by individuals’ freedom of choice.
However, going into Total ‘Social Lockdown’ is economically unsound and is not a wise thing to do. It is the right thing to do by always establishing ‘Quarantine’ for all people and products that need attention.
But creating a complete ‘Social Lockdown’ is a form of ‘Totalitarianism’ and risks the permanent encouragement of ‘Dictatorship Regimes’ taking over control of a country by enforcement of an expanding ‘Police State’.
‘Social Lockdown’ increases Poverty and unemployment and homelessness which in turn reduces hygiene standards and increases the risk of increasing diseases including an increase in virus infections, which in turn encourage more virus mutations.
The current panic to close down non-essential Industries is a very dangerous decision, it might logistically slow down the spread of the Coronavirus, but it will increase the danger of poverty and deterioration of hygiene standards, which in turn encourages increases in more diseases. People financially broke that have nowhere to live safely and clean and are suffering from famine are more likely to eat and drink food that is unsafe in hygiene standards.
A country rising in poverty and homelessness and unemployment and excessive welfare demands is a country in danger of being conquered by ‘Totalitarianism’.
‘Totalitarianism’ thrives on taking advantage of poor people to control them, when they are living in a dimension of desperation and excessive stress. Social conflict increases in a society that is poverty stricken.
The decision to close down non-essential Industries and stop people attending Weddings, Funerals and Cafes and Restaurants is a ‘Lockdown’ activity, a ‘Totalitarian Tactic’. It reminds me of the danger of ‘Martial Law’.
Truth and Justice does not prevail in a country ruled by ‘Totalitarianism’.
Yes it will reduce Coronavirus contamination by excessive enforcement of ‘Social Distancing’… but which will hurt more the risk of increased contamination or the risk of increased unemployment, increased poverty, increased homelessness, increased famine and increased suicide?
Regardless of initial good intentions by a Government, an increased excessive demand for Welfare can send a Government Financially Broke. A rise in unemployment means a rise in less taxes which partially helps finance welfare.
Arresting and Fining people for not obeying the rules of ‘Social Distancing’ and ‘Lockdown’ is a draconian totalitarian tactic. This enforcement increases resentment by the people and increases more conflict in society. How is it going to serve the wholesome wellbeing of the Nation? The argument by Governments is that we save them from disease by denying them the right to live free in speech and choice. We save them from disease then deny them employment and deny them reasonable income existence.
People in breach of Quarantine who have COVID-19 and persist in leaving ‘Isolation’ to contaminate others should be fined, but that should also include those with designated ‘Flu Virus’ types. However, a service should exist for such people living alone that needs supplies and help. It exists for the elderly but how good is it for the younger that are victims of a virus?
Unemployment means people cannot pay their rent or mortgage. How long can landlords and banks survive when rent and mortgage is not being paid. Two months, six months, twelve months? If the person is very rich, they probably can carry some non-payments for twelve months. But in the end that total payment has to be made, which leaves the debtor in a bigger repayment of debt- a very tough situation down-the-track for the Aussie Battler. But many landlords are not rich they are Aussie Battlers striving for additional income to help them live a bit more comfortably. Hence, the right answer is two months only.
So when Governments hand out welfare payments, does the amount pay for monthly rents and mortgages plus food supplies plus clothing and education supplies plus basic needs in home electronics/mechanical essentials? The answer is no! Welfare cannot afford to pay full coverage of a persons needs; hence poverty rises and increases the risk of declining hygiene standards and increasing invasion of diseases.
During the last four days from 23rd March 2020 as so-called non-essential industries are closed down the unemployed exponentially rose high. # Welfare Centrelink in Australia was so overwhelmed that queue lines out onto the street extended so long in numbers all over the country that Centrelink staff could not handle the increased demand by tens of thousands of now unemployed people.
As Daniel Gibson on Channel 7 News correctly said on Thursday night 26th March about the report of long queues for urgent welfare support, they exist in his words, “For all the wrong reasons”.
# This is one of the reasons Americans have been reluctant to close down businesses because of the high risk of increasing unemployment. The danger of expanding COVID-19 is real versus the danger of rising Poverty.
The above Contradiction image of ‘Social Distancing’ was floating around the Australian Social Media in late March 2020 forwarded by an unknown author of the observation.
Television News revealed people not well, crippled and struggling to stand were trapped in queues waiting for financial aid service. Many briefly interviewed had been standing all day and still had not been helped. Many were forced to go home and come back the next day, clinging to hope for financial help. Promises were tabled by the government to receive money within two weeks back payed to present. Problem is now, how do they eat and live without money during next two weeks? Do they live without food for two weeks? If they are homeless where do they get free water from? Bubblers and taps on the street? Where?
These unemployment queues reminded me of the long queues trying to get work during the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930’s. They did not enjoy the use of the electronics age of Computers.
The Government Welfare Centrelink told people they don’t need to stand in a queue they can apply through the Internet for financial help. Problem is that not everyone can afford a computer and not everyone has computer skills. Over 2.5 million people do not have a computer- probably more. I know many elderly ‘Baby Boomers’ that are not comfortable with use of ‘Computer Technology’, including Skype, Facebook and Internet Search Activity. Fortunately my wife and I are not in that category even though we are now elderly in our early 70’s, we made the effort to learn computer skills in our late 30’s and 40’s changing and adapting as computer technology changed and advanced forward. But here is the flag being raised… for over 48 hours Centrelink computers kept crashing the demand for welfare help was suddenly so high over 300,000 without blinking that the electronics system could not cope with the demand, hence back to long queues on the street desperate for financial help.
Idiot Karl Marx introduced the idea of ‘Marxism’ ‘Socialism’ a transition stage expanding to ‘Communism’. Both anti-freedom Socialism and anti-freedom Communism, have always been oppressive economically failed ‘Totalitarian Belief Systems’.
Since the 1917 Revolution in Russia when Communism was launched in March 1918 the ideas of Marxism has failed again and again. This ideology failed to understand that people work better when they are free in a Capitalist society then they do in a dictatorship society. Something which ‘Totalitarian’ China and Saudi Arabia and Iran has not learned well during this period of their time.
Prosperity and elimination of Poverty can only happen in a “Liberty Based Society’ free in speech, choice and equality, which respects every persons right to live free of abuse and harassment.
The current bullying standover tactics by good Police as ordered by Government Instructions is a ‘Police State’ mentality that has lost sight of the more important objective, which is to protect peoples right to live free, not oppress them.
Fines range from $1,000 to $11,000. This bully harassment process is an unjust act.
The draconian act of arresting and fining people for not practicing ‘Social Distancing’ and ‘Lockdown’ is a very ‘Totalitarian’ stunt.
How is society better off? We save lives from the invasion of CV, which results in increased unemployment and increased poverty. Or we take the risk and allow so-called non-essential industries to stay open.
Even when and if non-essential Industries are released from ‘Lockdown’ thousands of people will not be employed once again by their employer they will be forced to search for a new job. Unemployment will stay high for many months into years. How is society better off?
True enough the most vulnerable are the elderly and they by survival necessity must sadly practice ‘Social Distancing’ but that choice is an individual decision. Many elderly people and I am not one of them, cannot handle hermit style isolation living. They need family around them and many cannot not even use Skype to talk to family. The risk of dying from CV is a personal choice versus the risk of dying in isolation and never seeing their family ever again.
For many people ‘Isolation’ living alone is very demoralizing, but I believe this is because these people have never developed intellectual interests in education and home activity hobbies and hence are easily bored when they don’t have social activity with people. Fortunately I am very active in mind, always have been, and until I became very crippled in my left leg two years ago, I was very active in physical landscape gardening. I have always been able to handle being alone many times throughout my life, but a lot of people don’t enjoy the ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ belief system which I have enjoyed since I was 21 years of age in 1969. I have endured a huge amount of hardship, pain and suffering caused mostly by my commitment to live a dynamic life and in a Quest for Truth since 1970, find out why every ‘Belief System’ on the planet is a failure, because they are in lockdown to fixed dogma and don’t have the courage to do self-evaluation of their belief systems negative naïve ideas, which sadly in many cases are pro-oppression and violence.
Yes ‘Containment’ by ‘Lockdown’ helps reduce the risk of infection of Coronavirus but is it wise to destroy a countries economy by enforcing ‘Social Distancing’ and ‘Lockdown’ that forces people out of work?
I would rather take the risk and stay employed than live a life in poverty.
I would rather take an occasional risk, not regular and enjoy lunch at a café or dinner at a restaurant than live an isolated life, so isolated that pleasure ceases to exist. What is the purpose of life? …to live peacefully and enjoy. When we impose oppression the thrill of freedom in life vanishes and with it joy vanishes.
It could take six months to two years for Medical Scientists to find a cure anti-vaccine for billions of people, do we all stop living and go into hibernation until a cure is found? Or do we live the adventure of life and live the risk and take a chance. If explorers on earth and in space had not taken risks in their great adventures, we people would still be living in a stone age.
Which is better? Wrapping ourselves up in cotton wool and mummy cuddling ourselves or just live life, one day at a time and take our chances? Pedestrians and Drivers risk their life every day. Many survive, some don’t. The same reality applies to sports many are dangerous and some die during their daring adventure.
Do we stop these adventures to save lives or do we with courage and calm ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ just live the challenge, the adventure called life, with no guarantees?
The answer is obvious… we must never stop living the challenge… the very foundation of Homo Sapiens intelligence needs the challenge to value and enjoy their existence.
If we are so afraid of the risk of death, why are we still waging the ‘Habit of War’?
If we are striving to save lives, why are we encouraging women to be sent into overseas Combat?
Where is our logic?
We are clever but how smart are we? Clever is not good enough.
All I recorded above about the valid concerns of injustice and the rise of a form of ‘Totalitarianism’ is correct. After reading the below Prime Ministers speech, I will then post my conclusion about how far we should go in accepting some of the draconian rules that have been imposed upon us because of the invasion of COVID-19.
I have no doubt of the Prime Ministers sincerity and good intentions. But imagine if this speech was delivered by a Socialist or Communist what the implications would be for delivering a Lockdown excuse to create a rising ‘Totalitarian Political Ideology’ to grab power control over the people for permanent enforcement.
The Federal Government’s decision to enforce partial Lockdown is a very dangerous decision not only for economic reasons of causing increased unemployment but also because if there is a power shift during this ‘Lockdown Period’ where Morrison is backstabbed and removed from the leadership as was Rudd (Labor) Gillard (Labor) and Abbot (Liberal) and Turnbull (Liberal) we Australians would be very vulnerable to the rise of a Dictatorship takeover.
This current ‘Lockdown Decision’ can backfire and lead us into a National Police State Takeover. The lives we save avoiding infection from COVID-19 could easily be lost in a Civil War between ‘Freedom Fights’ versus Political Tyrants.
If such ‘Lockdown Rules’ using this current generations example of falsely claimed success are ever imposed upon new generations to come, they may not be so lucky and may lose their freedom.
Think about that danger every time before people rush in and accept an ordered Lockdown to stop the invasion of a disease. Losing our freedom is far worse than death.
The ABC posted the speech delivered by Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison on Tuesday Night the 24th March 2020. (iii) The post is titled… ‘Read Scott Morrison’s full statement on the new national coronavirus restrictions’
(iii) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/scott-morrison-alll-restrictions/12087112
I was glad to receive this excellent ABC report and the transcript from Australian Parliament House. This is one time I did not have to transcribe a speech. I have done many transcribes in the past of speeches and interviews to preserve the history of what was said, before the video vanishes from history records.
(iv) https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-5
“These measures are really draconian. We know that. But if we are going to control community transmission, we have to stop the capacity of this virus from spreading from person to person. And I have said many times, it is a long haul and that’s why we are keen to keep society functioning but keep society safe.” (iv)
Professor Brendan Murphy Chief Medical Officer 2020 24th March. (iv)
Allan Ivarsson Conclusion
Before you read the below important speech for philosophical history, which includes a logical draconian guide for survival against the invasion of disease… I do comment… As I said earlier, I believe the Prime Ministers speech is sincere and very ethical and concerned for the survival welfare of the Australian people. In truth as he knows it, the duty of all Politicians is to serve the people, which does not happen in a ‘Totalitarian Regime’.
This understanding is verified by the Chief Medical Officers warning recommendations.
My concerns about the Dangers of using Draconian methods is a very valid issue and we the people must calmly stay alert on watch to avoid the rise of anti-freedom Socialist takeover which is constantly striving to conquer the entire Western World using bully tactics.
One Socialist Method is anti-freedom of speech ‘Political Correctness’. Another method is the incorrect imposition of ‘Climate Change’ tactics and the reckless imposition of ‘Renewable Energy’ which is causing excessive costs of energy to rise too high. Far too many legislated laws exist which unjustly overcomplicates the structure of societies control process, restricting reasonable freedom values. Political Socialist groups in Australia like the Greens and GetUp must be stopped by resistance activity and the abolition of anti-freedom of speech laws in Australia like 18C.
However, having identified these dangers and the risk of repetition of the current ‘Draconian Laws’ being enforced in this current survival case for all the right reasons, we must always be vigilant and make sure that these draconian ideas are not ever used by an anti-freedom ‘Socialist Political Ideology’.
With this understanding we sadly must support the Governments essential draconian actions to protect Australia from the invasion of COVID-19. And we must use common-sense and obey the rules of ‘Social Distancing’ to save Australian lives in this definite war against a virus for which we currently do not have a cure.
However, I do not believe that people should be caned by Police as has been happening in India and I do not believe people should be fined for simply failing to practice ‘Social Distancing’. Not everyone has patience, emotional calm and commonsense That is evident amongst ‘Phone Zombies’ and Drivers on our roads and by Drug users, Excessive Gamblers and Alcoholics and by inconsiderate Smokers and many other unwise thinking and behaviours. There are laws in place to deal with criminal behaviour be it a mild offence or a serious offence.
If a person fails to practice ‘Social Distancing’ the Police can reasonably explain to them why they are doing the wrong thing and instruct them to disperse and go home. This reasonable method was often used by Police in earlier decades in both Australia and Britain and it worked with good people. When people become abusive and violent that is when Police have the right to enforce ‘Criminal Laws’ designed to stop uncaring irresponsible individuals and groups.
We don’t need new COVID-19 laws. ‘Criminal Laws’ cover our control needs of wrong thinking and behaviour.
I advise everyone to learn ‘Cosmic Law’.
If a person has a virus COVID-19 or a Flu Virus or another disease type and refuses to stay home in ‘Quarantine’ until released by the Medical Profession that is a criminal offence and should be fined. That comes under ‘Cosmic Law’.
Cosmic Law on Quarantine states…
- “Thou shalt not leave ‘Quarantine’ when suffering from any form of disease until cured and approved by the Medical Profession that it is now safe to enter into social activity once again.”
- “Thou shalt always remember Decency founded upon caring consideration of others demands obedience to ‘Cosmic Law’. To do less is an act of dishonour.”
- “Thou shalt always strive to do the right thing.”
If a person does what some creeps have done spit in a persons’ face, civilian or Police Officer, whether they have a virus or not that is violent abuse, a criminal act and they must be fined, and must also face a jail sentence. We must not tolerate offensive violent abuse from any person.
I am concerned about the close down of many business’s and the creation of mass unemployment, even though I believe the current Government and Medical Profession that supports these Draconian Methods are equally concerned.
I fear that three months close down will seriously hurt the economic welfare of the Country and the People from which it will take three years to recover, though loses are not ever recovered and many people like in flood and bushfire will lose permanently their job or business livelihood and consequently their home. I don’t believe the Government can protect the economic wellbeing of every person, the gaps will be wide for many months to come, probably for two years or more.
What happens after three months if a solution to stop the expansion of COVID-19 is not found?
How long can our economy last if all employment stays shutdown?
There will come a point of time when the Country could go broke. With large losses in taxation how will the Government be able to finance all essential services including increased welfare payments?
Allowing children to go to school and allowing hairdressers and barbers to operate is a hypocritical decision for whatever the reasons, whilst we close most other businesses down. The danger of COVID-19 can still thrive in these locations.
Likewise Public Transport for workers is still a high-risk area… we cannot create ‘Social Distancing’ on transport when commuters must get to work.
We cannot close down essential services in a total ‘Lockdown’ our survival needs demand they must stay open, hence we are all in these areas still vulnerable to the dangers of CV.
Thus we reach the point of the serious question, “Do we have to take the risk of accepting more infections and more deaths of the Coronavirus, to save our economy?
Increased Poverty is equally as dangerous to survival well being as the risks from being infected by COVID-19.
Poverty destroys health and increases the risk of more infectious diseases and increases the dangers of famine and desperation and suicide. Look towards Africa to witness the extreme forms of ‘Poverty’ which is common in many countries.
To stop ‘Poverty’ we must live free in industry with good employment opportunities.
The conflict now stands… ‘Freedom to Work’ versus Unemployment to create ‘Social Distancing’ to avoid the risk of disease infection. This conflict is now during partial ‘Lockdown’ and many months thereafter… a conflict between rising Poverty and ‘Reduction of the Risk’ of being infected from a disease from which we may or may not survive.
Questions will resurface by end of July 2020, when Lockdown must come to an end.
Allan Ivarsson 29th March 2020
Founder, Director, Chairman of things to come called ‘Cosmicism’.
Ps. My writing presentation style is not about being Alarmist like Doomsday Climate Change Activists who are motivated by false knowledge beliefs. My presentation is focused on being calmly logical about the dangers of anti-freedom ideologies that will deliberately use draconian methods to gain control of the people.
Given the societal opportunity, Marxists would take advantage of a disease crisis to manipulate and play the people to serve the ambitions of their anti-freedom agendas. If economics suffers and puts the survival of the people on the line, history has proven that in an economic crisis people will become desperate and follow a ‘Socialist Leader’ that promises them a way out of their nightmare. Marxism has cost the lives of millions of people throughout the 20th Century and is still threatening to destroy more lives in the 21st Century.
Hence, it is imperative that every new generation stays alert. Let the buyer of panic thinking and anti-freedom doctrine beware. Where panic and anti-freedom thinking exists in doctrine… disaster follows.
This is the important history record of a great speech by Scott Morrison Prime Minister of Australia delivered on Tuesday Night the 24th March 2020. …
March 24, 2020 – below… PRIME Ministers Speech…
Transcript 24th March 2020 From Australian Parliament House
Tip: Click on Video start of speech, then scroll down to start of Speech Transcript to listen and read at the same time. This presentation of both communication methods has been organised by Allan Ivarsson Number One ‘Cosmic Philosopher’ in the current world view.
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-5
Note: Italics and Bold highlights and underline have been inserted by Allan Ivarsson for focus reading of the Prime Ministers speech and the Chief Medical Officers Directive Advice. And the Interview with a Journalist. I, Allan Ivarsson, had to edit and repair several Government punctuation errors in the interview stage of the transcript below.
PRIME MINISTER: Good evening, everyone. I said in the Parliament that 2020, for most Australians, was going to be their toughest year and what we have seen unfold just this week has been demonstrating just that. Australians who have lost their jobs, lost hours of work. Businesses that have been forced to close their businesses. These are heartbreaking events in our nation’s history and story. And I want to assure all Australians that the National Cabinet has been meeting, as the federal cabinet has been meeting, state governments also and we’ve considered the many, many difficult issues we are having to address. We are not unconscious of the real impacts that these measures are having on the daily lives of Australians and so we will continue to do everything we can, both as a federal government and as state and territory governments around the country to do all we can to support our people through what is going to be an incredibly difficult time. The queues that we saw outside Centrelink, the challenges and frustrations people have had in gaining access is a sheer function of the extraordinary and overwhelming demand and we will work night and day to ensure that we can get more capacity into these systems. What this reflects is the size of the need and the size of that need is demonstrated by the impacts of what the coronavirus and the many things that governments are having to do to limit its health impacts across the country and to ensure that we can protect the lives of Australians.
Our goal is to get through this together and by following common sense rules and doing the right thing, that’s how we slow the spread of this virus, and that’s how we save lives. It also means that not all states, I want to stress, are in the same position. Some states, particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, are far more advanced on the progression of this virus than other states and territories. But tonight, despite the variations that do exist, there is a strong will for states and territories to seek to move together, wherever they possibly can, to ensure a consistency of application of the various rules and arrangements that we’re putting in place across the country.
Tonight, we agreed to extend the restrictions that were announced on Sunday night, but to do so in a manner that was consistent with the types of measures that we announced on Sunday night. What I mean by that is there was an initial list of activities that largely went to the issues of social gatherings, particularly in enclosed spaces, that was being done to restrict the amount of contact between people outside activities such as going to work and things of that nature. And so tonight we worked to complete that list of those types of activities that we believe were appropriate at this time to slow the spread of the virus, to ensure that we are covering all the necessary activities and business functions inside premises that should be considered at this time. And so from midnight tomorrow night all of these following activities, and they include some that I’ve already announced from earlier, will no longer be taking place.
Cafes I’ve already said but that but the takeaway that will continue. So no change to the issues around cafes. Food courts in shopping centres will not be allowed to continue. But getting takeaway from those food outlets in those shopping centres, that can continue because takeaway is able to be done. In the retail space, auction houses, gatherings together in auction rooms, that can no longer continue. Real estate auctions and open house inspections – in particular, open house inspections – that cannot continue. Outdoor and indoor markets, excluding food markets like Flemington and things like that, because that is essential to ensuring the food supply right across the country, they will be addressed specifically by states and territories in each of their jurisdictions. States and territories have very different arrangements in terms of the types of markets they have, and they’ll be making those decisions specific to their states and territories.
But the point and the principle is very clear – large gatherings brought together by particular organised events are things that we are seeking to avoid and that’s the principle the states and territories will be seeking to follow.
In terms of personal services where there is a lot of contact, obviously, between those providing that service in a premise and the patrons, the following now won’t be able to continue: beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons and tattoo parlours and the same for spa and massage parlours. That excludes health-related services in those areas, physiotherapists, things of that nature, health-related and allied health services. Hairdressers and barber shops will continue to be able to provide those services, but it is very important that they strictly manage the social distancing and limitations of the number of people in their premise. So that’s four square meters per person. And on top of that, to restrict the amount of time a patron is in the premises to no more than 30 minutes and preferably less. Cinemas, nightclubs, casinos, gaming or gambling venues, all of these were included in the announcement on Sunday, as were adult entertainment venues, concert venues, theatres, arenas, auditoriums, stadiums. They were all included in what we said on Sunday evening. Amusement parks and arcades are now included. Play centres and both indoor and outdoor are also now included. Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre – I hope I’ve pronounced that correctly, I might need some help with that. I’m not quite sure what that is, to be honest, but B-A-R-R-E for those who are looking for the specific definition. And spin facilities, saunas, bathhouses, wellness centres. Boot camps and personal training is limited to a maximum of 10 people and the social distancing arrangements must be strictly enforced. Social sporting based activities, swimming pools. Now, I’ll come back to the social and sporting based activities in a second to explain what we mean by that. That’s large groups of people gathering together to play soccer in a community oval and things of that nature.
You can see what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to limit the gathering of people in large numbers that can relate to the transmitting of the virus through those social interactions which are not considered necessary.
Galleries, museums, national institutions, historic sites, libraries, community centres, youth centres, local government, non-essential facilities, libraries and swimming pools, community facilities such as community halls, clubs, RSLs, PCYCs, I mean, many of those are already included in what I announced on Sunday night and of course places of worship. On places of worship and other similar type venues, there has been a very difficult decision we’ve had to make tonight in relation to weddings and in relation to funerals. Now, weddings can continue to be conducted where it is just the couple, the celebrant and the witnesses. That’s no more than five people. And the four square metre rule has to be observed within the venue in which that’s taking place. But large gatherings for weddings, sadly, won’t be possible under these new arrangements. And sadly also – and I know this will be very difficult – funerals to no more than 10 persons observing the rules around the four square metre rule and social distancing practices. Particularly on these types of activities, this is not an easy decision. Where we’ve already found, and Dr Murphy can speak to this, some of the events that have been some of the major transmitting events, it has been exactly these types of events, particularly weddings. And that is why, regretfully, we have to be able to put these arrangements in place.
Now, these are the rules and arrangements that are applied when it comes to the strict enforcement of these arrangements and that will come in from midnight tomorrow night and states and territories will be moving tomorrow to put those arrangements in place. Now, there are some also very important further rules that we want people to follow, just like the 1.5 metre rule, just like washing your hands and coughing into your elbow and doing those straightforward things. And that is to stay at home unless it’s absolutely necessary that you go out. Going out for the basics, going out for exercise, perhaps with your partner or family members, provided it’s a small group. That’s fine but going outside and going out and participating more broadly in the community, unless you’re shopping for basics or there are medical needs or you’re providing care or support to another individual in another place, going to work and where you cannot work from home. So that is encouraged, strongly encouraged, to work from home where you can do that. Visits to your premises, to your house, to your residence, should be kept to a minimum and with very small numbers of guests. We don’t want to be overly specific about that. We want Australians to exercise their common sense. So that means barbecues of lots of friends or even family, extended family coming together to celebrate one year old birthday parties and all these sorts of things, we can’t do those things now.
These will be significant sacrifices, I know. We’ve all been to those events as extended families and gatherings and gathering together in that way, even around the large family table in the family home when all the siblings get together and bring the kids, these are not things we can do, now. All of these things present risks and they obviously present them to the elderly members of our families as well, who we need to protect.
House parties where someone wants to now have the social events, not at clubs and venues like that, but to organise a party at someone’s home, it’s, the states and territories will particularly be looking at that one and be considering whether they will put specific measures in place that could lead to that being an offence for those who’ve organised those types of events.
Outdoors, do not congregate together in groups. Now, the medical experts panel have made suggestions about how that can be managed. It’s very difficult to put a number on it. But the point about it is this – if you’re gathering together in a group, say, 10 people together outside in a group, that’s not Ok. We’ve got to move people on. It’s not a hard and fast rule. I say it only for illustrative purposes. The point is that you should only be going outside of your home to go to those essential things that I’ve talked about, not to go out and congregate together in groups. We need you to stop doing that. That is not going to help. If we do all of these things then we are going to be able to put greater pressure on slowing the rate of the spread of this virus, which particularly in New South Wales and Victoria has been growing at a much more rapid rate than other places and the numbers in Queensland have been similarly affected.
Now, on schools, we had another important discussion, the medical expert advice on schools has not changed. It is safe to send your children to school. Tomorrow, I’ll be meeting – and there have been discussions today between the Education Minister, Dan Tehan, and the education national unions– and I’ll be meeting with them tomorrow to discuss a set of arrangements that we would like to proceed with that, importantly, keep schools open. That also will protect those teachers and other staff who are working in schools and to work through those issues to ensure we can put acceptable arrangements in place to ensure that children get taught. I said this the other day. This is incredibly important. It’s going to be a tough year in 2020 and one of the things I don’t want to have yielded up is a year of a child’s education, which is so important. We need to work so hard together to try and ensure that those kids get that education and that is not lost to this virus. And so I look forward to meeting with the Australian Education Union tomorrow and to have that conversation and to see how we can come together and agree how we can continue to deliver that while doing that safely for those who work in schools. And of course, for the kids themselves, as we know, the medical advice is that kids can safely go to schools. Under the arrangements we’ve already put in place we’ve seen the number of students attending schools reduce significantly, and that actually assists in observing the other issues around social distancing that are applying more broadly across the community. So we can do this. We can work this out. And so that would mean ensuring that schools in those states that haven’t already ended the term, which is only in Victoria, that we would be able to continue to keep those schools open up to the end of the term. But I would anticipate that for several days prior to the end of the term, there will need to be some pupil free days while the teachers and the school staff work on the projects they’ve already been pursuing on extending distance learning. And so that will be an important job for those educators to be doing as we go into the term break. Schools, we agree, across the country would need to reopen on the other side of the term break because it won’t be a holiday. It won’t be a school holiday, given the arrangements I’ve just outlined to you. They will reconvene after the term break and there will be a mixture of both distance learning and where parents choose to keep their children at home, then there will be the learning that is there for them to undertake, and the parents would be needing to take responsibility for ensuring that their children are engaged in that. For all those workers who need to send their children to school, that’s why the school needs to remain open.
Now, if you ask me who is an essential worker? Someone who has a job. Everyone who has a job in this economy is an essential worker. Every single job that is being done in our economy with these severe restrictions that is taking place is essential. It can be essential in a service, whether it’s a nurse or a doctor or a schoolteacher or a public servant who is working tonight to ensure that we can get even greater capacity in our Centrelink offices, working till 8 o’clock under the new arrangements, in the call centres, these are all essential jobs. People who are stacking shelves, that’s essential. People earning money in their family when another member of their family may have lost their job and can no longer earn, that’s an essential job. Jobs are essential and everyone who has one needs to be able to keep doing their job. And that means they will need to continue to be able to send their children to school for an education, for an education at that school. So I look forward to having those discussions tomorrow and I’m sure there will be a common sense of purpose in ensuring that we can meet these objectives and keep the nation functioning and providing the necessary education for children, the protection that is necessary for staff and to keep Australia running.
Now, before I go to Professor Murphy, there are one or two other things I have to mention. The National Security Committee Taskforce that works on the coronavirus also met this afternoon, this evening. And we have previously had a ‘do not travel’ warning on Smart Traveller in terms of all overseas travel. That will turn into a ban using the biosecurity powers that were afforded to us by the Governor-General through the Minister for Health. Now, the numbers of Australians going overseas has reduced dramatically and there will be exceptions to these rules which will be set out in the directive that will be provided. But this would include people involved in aid work in the Pacific and the support that we’re providing. It may involve compassionate travel and essential travel for employment, things of that nature, but the number of people and the number who are coming, sorry, who are leaving Australia now is very, very low. But still, it strikes me on those numbers that there are people defying that advice and still looking to go overseas on leisure travel. They can’t do it because when they come home, that’s when they put Australians at risk. I had hoped that would have been fully complied with and I’ve got to say, Australians have been pretty good about it. But we need to put that arrangement in place.
Also, we’re putting in place arrangements that will make it an offence and we’ll be able to seize at the border those who’ve engaged in profiteering by bringing together and making large purposes of various supplies in Australia and seeking to export them overseas. Now, it doesn’t relate to normal commercial legal activities, but we have been able to seize at the border – and the Minister for Home Affairs can speak more to this – quantities of materials that were seeking to be sent overseas and that is not helping Australia. That is not consistent with doing the right thing. And there’ll be penalties in enforcement, and we’ll be able to seize those, that equipment and that can include medical supplies and include personal protective equipment and that will be seized and redeployed to its best use here in Australia.
So with those changes, there was still a lot more that we needed to deal with tonight, but we knew we needed to report tonight, and the National Cabinet will meet again tomorrow evening at the same time to work through a series of other issues, which includes a further consider of possible measures down the track. So we’re well-prepared should we have to move to that stage, and the thresholds that would be necessary to move to those other arrangements. We’ll also consider the issue of leases that I’ve flagged earlier, that will be considered and there’ll be other matters that have been raised by Premiers and Chief Ministers that we’ll address as we go forward as well. So I apologise for the length. It’s been a busy night and hopefully that’s been very clear. Dr. Murphy…
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister. I’ll be brief. We are very worried about the rate of rise in the number of cases of coronavirus in Australia, particularly over the last few days. It is a very, very steep growth and it’s very concerning. Still, a significant proportion of those new cases are returned travellers or contacts of returned travellers and before I talk a bit about social distancing, I want to emphasise again that we are really serious now about a return traveller. You leave the airport you go home and stay there for 14 days and the states and territories will be checking on you. We will not tolerate anybody putting the community at risk as a return traveller. People coming back from some countries, and you know which ones they are, have a high risk now of carrying the coronavirus and they are the people who’ve largely led to the spread of the virus in our community over recent weeks. So return travellers, please stay at home. Don’t go anywhere on the way from the airport or the cruise ship or wherever you’re from. We’ve been materially hit by people from a cruise ship in the last few days as well. So that is so important. And the other important thing is that if you’re identified as a contact of a case and you’re told that by the state and territory public health official and you’re told to isolate for 14 days, you must isolate. You must not go to the chemist when you’ve been told you’ve got the disease. Some people have been doing things like being told they’re a positive case and going into the chemist or the supermarket on the way home. If you’re isolating because you’re a positive case or you’re isolating because you’re a contact, you go home, and you isolate, and you obey those rules. That is a really, really important part of the control.
Now, the other part of the control is this social distancing. And that relates to the fact that we do have some community transmission cases that aren’t clearly contacts that have appeared in small pockets, particularly in New South Wales, in Sydney, but tiny pockets in other states. That’s why we introduced those very restrictive measures from yesterday that were announced on Sunday night. But because of the great rise in cases, we felt it was very important to recommend that those restrictive measures be well articulated and made clear and to some extent tightened, because we have to get people to take this seriously. We have to change the way we interact as human beings in our society for quite a long time. This virus will be with us for some time. We have to all think about avoiding any unnecessary interactions where you are close to someone and could place them at risk. These measures are really draconian. We know that. But if we are going to control community transmission, we have to stop the capacity of this virus from spreading from person to person. And I have said many times, it is a long haul and that’s why we are keen to keep society functioning but keep society safe. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I just want to be very clear about something I said before – shopping centres remain open. I was referring to the food courts in the shopping centres. Shopping centres, retail premises in shopping centres, they will remain open unless they’re the ones that I’ve mentioned about beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, etc. Those premises, because they’re personal services premises, they will obviously not be able to remain open. So I want to be very clear. The shopping centres remain open. In each of the retail premises, there will need to be displayed, to assist patrons, how many people can be inside that enclosed area in that shop at any one time. That’s just observing the four square metre rule, I would hope many retail premises were already doing that. I want to be very clear – shopping centres remain open. There’s no need to rush out to shopping centres or the food stores or any of these. They will continue to remain open and you should go and get things as you need them. Thank you. Phil?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, my question, you are now strongly advising people to stay in their homes unless, you know, the need for exercise or going out for essential reasons. At the same time, the shopping centres are open. Is now just inevitable we’re going to move to closing down retail as well?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, hopefully this is not necessary, Phil. Hopefully that putting in place the unnecessary gatherings of people and also within our own homes and our residences by not having those gatherings in our homes of lots of people, dinner parties with 10 friends and all these sorts of things. No, we can’t do them any longer. If we do all the things that Dr. Murphy has outlined and these other quite strict measures we’ve put in place about other areas of social gathering and not having that community game of football down on the lawn on a Sunday afternoon in the park and things like this, stopping all those things we believe will have a really significant impact, we would hope, on the spread of the virus. But it is important for people to go to the shop. It is important to go to the shopping centre. It is important that they get access to these normal services. It’s important for them because they need it. It’s also important for our economy that it continues to operate and function as much as possible. So I don’t leap to that conclusion, Phil. What we will do is put these measures in place and should the information change and the advice change, then we should contemplate at that time. But I do note in a lot of the commentary in both in the public and others, that there seems to be a great wish to go to that point. Well, be careful what you wish for on something like that. Be very careful because that will need to be sustained for a very long time. And that could have a very significant and even more onerous impact on life in Australia and we should seek to try and avoid that where it is possible. But if it is necessary for health reasons, ultimately, well those decisions will be taken the time. Andrew?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there does seem to be something really incongruous about the fact that life as we know it should stop, that we should not be going out in groups, not be playing football in the parks, not be going to the shops unless absolutely vital. And yet you’re encouraging kids to go to school. My question to you, Professor Murphy, aren’t schools now human petri dishes for a virus? What would you do if there is an outbreak at a school? Does it close down or just keep going to get through the children’s population? And Prime Minister, separately, are you encouraging schools that have closed their doors to students to reopen after the break, after the holiday break?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll make two points and I’ll ask Dr. Murphy to speak on the other matter. I think it’s very important, Andrew, that media don’t use that sort of alarmist language. I don’t think it helps. I would encourage more modest language on these sorts of issues, particularly based on the medical advice that you’ve heard from us day after day on this issue. So I would encourage a more measured way of talking about these issues, because I think that can cause unnecessary alarm amongst parents. Secondly, you’d have to remind me of the question now, of the second question.
JOURNALIST: Will you be encouraging…
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, on individual schools, yes. I believe, and the position of the National Cabinet, is that schools should remain open and they can provide distance learning for those parents that wish their children to remain at home. But importantly, for those parents who have jobs who need to send their children to school for their learning because they can’t stay at home with them because they need to be at work. These are nurses. They’re doctors, they’re people who are working at Centrelink, people doing very important jobs. I mean, even just in the last few days, we have had impacts on our workforce in some of those areas in the public service, which is compromising our ability to do those things. Now, we’re responding to it. But what we don’t need is arrangements that we put in place which compromised the society’s ability to function and to deliver important services, whether that’s aged care, whether it’s education, whether it’s driving a tram or providing public transport. We need to keep Australia running, consistent with the health advice that’s been provided. And on the health advice, I’d provide you to Dr. Murphy.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister. So I think, as I said on Sunday night, Andrew, there is no evidence that we have major transmission amongst school children. We don’t know whether that might occur. We do know that children do not, in general, get symptomatic disease. So I think that analogy is inappropriate. Of course, if there were an outbreak in a school, you would close the school until you’d sorted out who are the direct contacts and you would quarantine all of those contacts. And of course, we need to do measures to protect vulnerable teachers, because older teachers with chronic disease shouldn’t be in schools. And that’s part of the discussion the Prime Minister’s going to have with the education unions. We’ve got to protect any vulnerable people in our community. We do not see children, fit, healthy children, as vulnerable people with this virus and schools can do a lot of things to make them a safe place to be with good hygiene, they are already adapting in many ways with reduced classrooms because some parents are choosing to keep their children at home. And we think a well-supervised, well-structured classroom is probably a safer place than many children roaming the community, which they would probably do if they weren’t at school.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the offences that you were mentioning for those gatherings, what could they… are the states that they indicate a real willingness to go ahead? And do we have the Police resources for something like that to be really adequately policed and monitored and executed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are two parts to the enforcement, which is a matter for the states and territories, and there’ll be opportunities, I’m sure, for media to put those questions to the States and Territories and the Premiers as they’ll be marshalling those resources and deploying them as part of their responsibilities. There is the actual legal position itself, which means that if something has happened, there’ll be the opportunity to follow that up. But in terms of house parties and gatherings like that, well, it is not uncommon for police to be turning up at noisy parties in the suburbs. That’s a fairly common Saturday night. Hopefully there’ll be far less reason for them to do that, given the strong message that we’ve sent about those types of gatherings and they can – it’s not just at night either, by the way. It’s during the course of the day, just to be really clear about that. And so in taking these decisions, states and territories are very aware of their responsibilities of how they need to take actions to enforce these measures. So I’ll refer you to them about how they will achieve that. But they haven’t taken these decisions – and I want to stress, these are decisions that are being taken by the State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers with myself as the Prime Minister who convenes the National Cabinet, these are not decisions being made by the Federal Cabinet and instructed to the States and Territories. That’s not how the National Cabinet works. These are decisions being taken together, heads of governments, to form these views. And in these areas in particular, it is the states and territories that have the lead and the primacy and so they are coming together and setting these in place. Brett and then over the back.
JOURNALIST: Just to clarify when the travel ban kicks in, is that immediate or is it midnight tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, people shouldn’t be doing it right now. That’s the advice. So no one should be getting on a plane and going overseas. We’ve been making that point for some time. The direction is being worked on overnight and as soon as that direction is signed off by the Health Minister, it will come into force then and that will happen tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: Just a second question, to be frank, some of the most distressing interviews I’ve done in a while today with people at Centrelink who were trying all night with children who aren’t in school. They’ve lost their jobs. They don’t know how they’re going to pay the rent, in tears in the gutter, trying to use the website, the phone system crashed. They feel as though when they needed the Government most, the Government wasn’t there for them. Are you sorry about that and what is the Government going to do to make sure that that capacity is there for those Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: We are deeply sorry about this. I mean, we’ve gone from 6,000 to 50,000 to 150,000 all in the space of, a matter of, day. And tonight, they’re working to boost it again. I would say to Australians, yes, we are terribly sorry, but at the same time, we are asking Australians, even in these most difficult of circumstances, to be patient. Everyone is doing their best. What we’re dealing with is unprecedented. No system is built to deal with the circumstances and events that we are now facing as a nation. And I would urge people as difficult as it is, work with us. We are working to get this up as high and as far as we can. But we have had a multiple, many, many, many times over what is normally expected from this system. And it was already upgraded, and it’s been upgraded again, and it will be upgraded again. Opening hours for the call centres have been extended, no resource is being spared to ensure that we can get these systems in place. But the support is there. It will get to you. And it is dated from when you’ve expressed that intent. And that’s all registered and that’s taken care of. So even if it takes a few more days to get the arrangements sorted out, it will go back to the time from when you needed it. And we’ll work those, through those issues together and it deeply distresses me as I know it does the Ministers and the Secretary of the Department and all the people who are working there trying to get this as good as they possibly can because they want to get that support to Australians. I want to get that support to Australians. And we’re going to do our very best to get there.
JOURNALIST: PM on Sunday the National Cabinet received advice from 22 health experts, and lawyers, a bunch of other, across the Group of Eight universities. The Chief Medical Officer had commissioned. That advice was to launch an immediate and hard line lockdown that would be very costly but would flatten the curve immediately and then get Australia out of an economic recession in a quicker fashion. Why was that advice dismissed, and what was the discussion of that advice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that was not recommended.
DR MURPHY: That, there was a group of university academics who convened and provided a diverse range of opinions. It certainly wasn’t a unanimous view. There were-
JOURNALIST: It was a majority.
DR MURPHY: Yes- And that was not necessarily– they were selected on the basis of their interests in this area. And that opinion, like the opinion of many external experts, was considered by the very large and complex process that we undertook with the Communicable Disease Network of Australia, which is the primary expert advisory group, and the AHPPC with another half a dozen academic experts in that, and that that position was very seriously considered. But as I said then, and I have said tonight, any measures we place, we believe need to be for the long haul. The idea that you can put measures in place for four weeks and suddenly stop them and the virus will be gone is not credible. So we are very keen to put as restrictive measures in place without completely destroying life as we know it. If Australians all do the right thing with these measures and do exactly what the Prime Minister has said and behave completely differently and practise distancing at every point that will achieve the outcomes that we want, and we haven’t even seen yet what the early implementation of our measures will be. But make no mistake that if there is widespread community transmission, we may have to introduce some harder measures.
PRIME MINISTER: And the National Cabinet acts and receives the advice of the medical expert panel, which is not the group you’re referring to. That is the medical expert panel, which Dr Murphy convenes. And their collective consensus view is what is put to the National Cabinet.
Now I promised here earlier, then we’re over there, and then we’re up the back and then Michelle. Yep. And then we’ll go around for one, maybe one more.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, many Australians watching at home would think that there is an inherent mixed message that 10 people can go to a boot camp, but you’re saying only 5 people can go to a wedding. How do you explain that contradiction? And there are calls from Tony Abbott, amongst many others, saying that it is inevitable that we have to go to a shut down, is it not better to do it now, it is very conflicting rules? It’s very complicated rules for Australians to get across.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no I don’t think it’s that complicated to understand that only the direct participants in a wedding, in an enclosed venue, that would be a necessary restriction. I think that’s fairly straightforward. I think people can follow that quite, quite plainly.
What we’re saying is people shouldn’t group together when they’re outdoors. Now, what we’re talking about of people up to 10 for a training, that is a business, that is someone’s livelihood. And you’re saying that I should turn their livelihood off and I’m not going to do that lightly. And if it’s not believed to be necessary based on the medical expert advice, I’m not going to be cavalier about people’s jobs and their businesses. Where possible the National Cabinet together is going to try and keep Australia functioning in a way that continues to support jobs and activity in our economy, which is not going to compromise the health advice that we’re receiving. And so, no, I don’t think we should rush to that sort of scenario. I think you could rush to failure in that sort of scenario. You could rush to causing great and unnecessary harm because understand this, this country is not dealing with one crisis. We’re dealing with two crises. We’re dealing with a health crisis that has caused an economic crisis. And I am very concerned about the economic crisis that could also take a great toll on people’s lives, not just their livelihoods, the stresses that that will put on families. The things that can happen when families are under stress. I’m as concerned about those outcomes as I am about the health outcomes of managing the outbreak of the coronavirus. And it is a delicate task for the National Cabinet to balance those two. Lives are at risk in both cases. And so the National Cabinet won’t just rush on the sense of an opinion of inevitability. We will calmly consider the medical advice that is put to us and weigh those things up and make sensible decisions as leaders. I will not be cavalier about it, and neither will other Premiers and Chief Ministers.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Michaelia Cash has announced mutual obligations for welfare will be suspended for just one week while the website gets back up. You’ve outlined a very wide range of businesses that are going to be shut down. Can you explain how that’s sustainable to still require mutual obligation after that week? And how will it work with jobseekers being required to make job applications with so much of the economy off-line?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if those arrangements needed to be extended, then they will. I mean, we are working in a very flexible environment and we’re in a position to take further decisions. What we also want to encourage people to do, is right now, I’m looking to hire 5,000 people, 5,000 people to ensure that we can get the support into our social services system so people can get the benefits and we can upgrade the systems and we can roll that out. There are other places in retail shops, in supermarkets and places like this. There’s logistics arrangements that need to be done. In manufacturing, we’re producing masks and sanitizer and things like this, important services. We need people to go and work in those jobs and we’re going to encourage people to do just that. But we will be very sensitive on the mutual obligation issue. It’s a matter that is regularly discussed by Cabinet Ministers and we will seek to ensure that it is has worked in a compassionate way for people in those circumstances.
Yes, sorry, thank you, a question up the back?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on house parties…
PRIME MINISTER: Yep.
JOURNALIST: The social distancing measures have been in place for a while now. As sad as it probably is to everyone in this room, it is pretty clear that not every Australian is watching or reading the news. What are you going to do so that all of these changes that are happening almost day by day now is actually explained to Australians in a way that they will understand and receive it? Minister Hunt mentioned today that text messaging would start, is that happening? When is that happening? How are you going to ensure that even though individually these things might be easy to explain, en masse this is a lot for the public to take in and they are clearly not getting it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we all have a job to do in that, you included, the media included. And our public information campaign continues to grade up every single day. It’s on bus shelters. People are still catching buses and walking down the street. It’s on social media. The official messages that are being put out need to be shared amongst your friends and that will continue, the public advertising, whether it’s on television or radio or the many other means of communication, it is all being deployed, and it is all being increased. The text messaging, yes, that will be coming very, very soon. Very soon. And we’ll be using all of those devices to get that message out. But I think it’s pretty clear that most people, if not every person in this country, would know that the coronavirus is having an impact on our country and on the lives of Australians. I mean, it’s hard to avoid when you look at the Centrelink queues and not understand that something very serious is going on. So I would encourage Australians to seek out that information from the trusted sources. We’ve got time, I think, for one more. Phil? Oh, sorry, Michelle hasn’t had one, then we’ll finish with Phil.
JOURNALIST: Could I take you to the question of border. There’s a lot of credible…
PRIME MINISTER: Did you say border or order?
JOURNALIST: Border, people coming in. There’s quite a lot of credible anecdotal evidence that the checks there, although people are being given material, are not very stringent in some cases. Are you putting any more resources and effort into that, given that the people coming in now must be very high risk?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wouldn’t make the second assumption about high risk. That’s not the advice we’ve had. In some cases there are high risk groups that are coming through and they are identified by the Australian Border Force in terms of how they manage those arrivals. All those who are arriving, and the numbers arriving are falling each day, all of them are required to go into self-isolation by public health order at a state level. They’re required to do it. It’s the law and that’s where they need to go and that’s where they need to transfer to immediately, not to go via the shops, not to pop in and see a friend on the way home and not to go and go for a wander around the park. You go straight home and you self-isolate for 14 days. That is the law and that is the major protection that we have and that applies to everybody, every Australian returning citizen or resident. And yes, more resources are being put in, Michelle. Phil?
JOURNALIST: PM, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs and small business operators who don’t know how they’re going to pay rent. What progress, if any, has been made tonight on trying to ease people’s rent bill? Waive them, lift land taxes and whatever?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure. A lot of progress has been made over the course of today and over the course of this week, we’ll be looking to hopefully finalise some measures. This is obviously a complicated issue because you’ve got a tenant, you’ve got a landlord, you’ve got creditors and all of those issues and you need to solve for the entire chain that’s there. The states, working together with the Treasurer, have done some excellent work today and there’s more work to be done on that. It will be considered tomorrow night at the National Cabinet. And as a first pass, talk to work through that issue and it will be considered again. But it does involve both the Commonwealth and the States working together. The States have the legislative authority when it comes to tenancies, both commercial and residential and the Commonwealth has other incentives and levers that it can pull to support and enable that chain of businesses and individuals who are caught up in that process where people are under rental stress. Of course, rental assistance also goes to those who have found themselves out of work and on the jobseeker payment. That’s one of the many other payments they can get access to, like family tax benefits and other payments that can help them in those circumstances. But rent payments, how much people are paying on their energy bills, is another area that we’re working with the energy companies and we’ve already seen some concessions on that, which we welcome. On top of that, it’s mortgage relief, which you’ve seen the banks already move on and I think that’s another important area. And the work that has been done by the Treasurer with the banks and in that area in particular, both whether it’s for small businesses or others, I think is really good work to try and reduce the pressures that otherwise are falling on people at this incredibly difficult time. We spend every minute of every day seeking to identify every possible burden or harm that is falling to people in these difficult circumstances and to ensure that we can do something, working with the states, to provide some remedy to that. But equally, the same time is being spent on ensuring that we get respirators and that we get personal protective equipment manufactured, that we have enough hand sanitizer. I mean, we currently have I – and I’ll end on this – we have one of the highest testing rates in the world. One of the highest testing rates in the world now. The last number I had before coming in here and going to the National Cabinet early this evening was 147,000 tests and we’ve been able to secure supply of hundreds of thousands of more tests into Australia. Testing is critical to how we manage the coronavirus and its impact, as is the contact tracing. And we’re doing a lot of effective work there about how digital methods can be also used to assist in identifying contacts and to be able to shut those issues down as was practised in Singapore. And so those delivery methods are also being looked at by the Commonwealth and we’re making a lot of progress there. But to fight this fight, there are so many tools that we have to use. But the people we need most are Australians listening, being patient, carefully understanding the things we’re asking of them. We know it is a massive change to our lives, but if we do it and we do it consistently and we do it patiently and understandingly, then we will get through this. Thank you very much.
End of Speech & Interview
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