A Cry From Colac And The Country
An over-night sitting of the Victorian Government Cabinet has failed Victorians.
Regional Victorians, especially, could tell the Premier, his Acting Premier and any other member of the Victorian Labor Government that the coronavirus lockdown should end immediately.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, said the solution is simple.
“The state wide lockdown has to end. The regional lockdown has to end. Common sense needs to start,” Mrs McArthur said.
“A state wide lockdowns is only required if the hospital system is overwhelmed. Today – there is one Victorian in hospital with coronavirus and that person is not in ICU.
“More Victorians will die from the associated costs of lockdown than the virus.”
Mrs McArthur said she is receiving letters of despair from the community.
“Overnight, I received an email from a lady in Colac. Her story is one of overwhelming anxiety, sadness and increasing fury as she watches children and the community spiral into untethered desolation and anguish.
“She has condemned the lack of proportionality in the Government’s approach, with no measure given to the weight of personal devastation being created,” Mrs McArthur said.
The letter included the following observation of her friends’ social media accounts describing the lockdown impact on children:
“Reports of severe anxiety around mask wearing and leaving the house. Children who are mimicking QR code check-ins and mask wearing in their play. Reports of bed wetting recurrence. Severe anxiety around being near other children for fear of catching the ‘germs’ and dying. Self-harm and suicide attempts among CHILDREN. Very real, irreversible damage is being done. I cried and cried last night after reading each one of these heartbreaking stories”.
The Colac letter also said:
“I am angry that after more than a year of dealing with this situation, we are still responding in the same way. I am angry that each time we end up here, the goal posts are changed….We cannot sustain this uncertainty any longer….The fear mongering has to stop…We need change. We need transparency. We need accountability.”
Mrs McArthur said the letter is among many that are describing such anger and frustration.
“Victorians have had enough,” Mrs McArthur said.
“The Cabinet doesn’t need long meetings. It needs one sentence: Stop the lockdowns across the state and get people back to work, children back to school, families back together.
“What is this Government trying to achieve?
“Elimination is a false God.
“The cost is greater than the infection.”
02 June 2021