What about Victorians who were further afield?
January 3, 2021 10.00pm
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What about Victorians who were further afield?
When the Victorian border closure with NSW was announced late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve it appears that there was no consideration given all of the Victorians like us who had driven to Queensland before Christmas for a long-awaited reunion with loved ones.
We met many couples like us on the way who were headed to various locations in Queensland. When the announcement was made, we had virtually no hope of being able to get to the border in time. It would have meant packing up and leaving immediately and trying to condense a three-day drive into 24 hours of non-stop driving with little chance of finding accommodation on the way. We are seniors and such a prospect was just too difficult as well as very dangerous.
No-blame inquiry
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The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number.
No-blame inquiry
There is much to support in Jeff Kennett’s views on a national inquiry into Australia’s performance during the coronavirus pandemic (‘‘Virus royal commission has much to recommend it’’, 30/12 ). Kennett’s view that an ‘‘educative’’ inquiry is needed because there could be another crisis in the future and lessons needed to be learnt may well be prescient.
If a royal commission or other inquiry is eventually held, its chair and counsels assisting need to be independent and of the highest quality. The inquiry should have a no-blame culture and as Kennett says, an educative focus, learning from both the things which were done poorly as well as the things which were done well and the inquiry’s outcomes should produce templates for nationally co-ordinated disaster plans, border closures, testing regimens, isolation crit