South Australia to go into a 6 day lockdown

As the State of South Australia enters into a strict 6 day lockdown from midnight over a minor cluster of cases, it should serve as a warning to all of us in Victoria and Australia that the saga of rolling lockdowns & restrictions is far from over. On a whim, government and health bureaucrats can impose restrictions on the community to make the task of controlling outbreaks manageable. SA authorities and the federal government have both come out and said the lockdown in SA is a temporary pre-emptive measure, with Scott Morrison saying “These are precautionary and temporary measures with a clear end date.”

From the Victorian experience with Daniel Andrews, lockdowns first start out as a temporary measure with a clear end-date but overtime these measures get pushed back and extended because the government/health authorities insists there is no other choice. This is then followed by a drawn out battle between the community and the government for the removal of restrictions as they become obviously unnecessary. These next 6 days in South Australia, and the 7th day when this temporary measure is set to be lifted needs to be watched closely.

As a Victorian, I’m genuinely concerned that the Andrews administration will use the situation in South Australia for their own pre-emptive strike to legitimise keeping restrictions (such as mandatory masks) on Victorians for longer.