physiogirl76

Ok, I probably need to be a bit more specific as the whole world has changed I guess...
So, obviously, no doubt that Australia has handled the pandemic well in terms of overall cases/deaths. However, as we move on from 2020 into a "new normal", I feel that Australia is being left behind while the majority of the world moves on. This is often referenced as "Fortress Australia" and the obsession with zero Covid - and yes, this is probably the only reasonable strategy at this point of time given the slow vaccine roll out.

However, I feel that there has been a shift in Australian society - more insular, more fearful, more parochial and yes, more racist/anti-migrant/anti-expats.
My impression is based on following Aussie news, reading comments on social media/newspapers etc., reading experiences from returning citizens/residents and conversations with friends in Australia.

I usually live in Sydney but made the decision to temporarily move to Europe in October in order to assist a family member after major surgery. The timing was right as my work contract had ended so I just put my stuff into storage and off I went after obtaining a travel exemption. A few months later, I was offered a job in one of our major Covid vaccination centres so I decided to tag along and help. My job finishes end of July and I managed to get a flight back to Sydney early October (even though I am currently holding my breath due to the newly announced flight caps).

It has been absolutely horrifying to read all those comments from Australians who continued to blame returning "travellers" and showed absolutely no understanding for complex situations and lacked of any compassion. A friend of mine who works for Queensland Health (in an emergency response team dedicated to the pandemic) confirms that this view is not limited to uneducated Bogans (sorry...) but is even an acceptable view amongst highly educated health professionals (e.g. being obsessed with zero cases, closed borders, not trusting anyone, not looking at what other countries are implementing, casual racism etc.).

Some friends have asked me if I really want to come back - and tell me to prepare myself for a divided country.
In addition, I read those stories of fully vaccinated people in quarantine which were denied to reunite with their dying relative despite testing negative multiple times. I am health professional myself and I was truly shocked.

I cannot help but wonder - has Australia lost its compassion and mateship? Neuroscientific findings confirm that people are usually unable to make rational decisions when they are living in fear. Is this the case - a fearful country?

I should add that I see one exception - New South Wales. My impression is that the NSW Premier is the exception and has a balanced, compassionate and common-sense approach (e.g. she was opposed to cutting flight caps). Some may recall my older threads where I contemplated moving to Brisbane. Well, to be honest, the last few months have seriously put me off based on the parochial rhetoric coming out of Queensland... so I probably remain in Sydney which appears to be a lot more open based on the NSW approach.

But still.. there is a side of me that feels slightly uncomfortable when I think of my return to Australia - I guess, it's a feeling of being less welcome and being confronted with indifference or even hostility towards my situation. (full disclaimer - I am vaccinated).

Have Australians become less empathetic during the last few months? What's the current vibe in Sydney? I am somehow dreading my return.

Not defending the European handling of the pandemic at all - but this finger-pointing towards individuals (which is often done by politicians in Australia) has not really happened here and Europeans would not cheer if their governments decided to essentially "shut the gates" and lock out their citizens...But this ongoing abuse of "returning travellers" seems to be the new national sport in Australia.

It makes me a bit sad when I observe what happened to this country I once fell in love with...

Beoz

Come on back. Sydney is a vastly different place to Brisbane. Sydney is only jealous you got to travel. We are in a bit of a lockdown at the moment. Pubs and restaurants are shut - apart from that it's business as usual.

spouse of scouse

I haven't really noticed much condemnation/fuss about returning travellers, a few news stories and comments on social media, but to be honest the subject doesn't seem to be on most people's radar. Same with lockdowns and travel restrictions, some agree with them, some don't, and there have been a few protests against. But for the most part, everyone's just getting on with their lives the best they can, same as everywhere really.

Pollyana

I can promise you its not just among health professionals. I also work for Qld Govt as part of the pandemic response team, amongst other things, and deal with people from all government departments and Queensland Police Service. I really have to bite my tongue these days as so many highly educated and competent public servants and police make comments about how if no one was allowed to cross the border, there would be no risk of COVID ever again. Comments about people being stupid to have not given up their homes and lives overseas and come home to "safety" early last year instead of staying in dangerous foreign countries. People who just do not understand how - of why - the UK is now actually letting people have a life again. And today, people saying that after being locked down for 4 days and (funnily enough) being released just in time so that a crowd of 15,000 can go to a Broncos match is ok because "they are all sensible Aussies, foreigners don't go to those games" . Absolutely no logic.
I can only echo your comments, certainly where Qld is concerned, its changed, and not for the better.

All true. I've challenged some senior staff over some of the horrific quarantine stories like that one, and the only response is a vague "oh theres probably more to it than that" whilst being totally unable to think of what more there could be that justifies some of these decisions.
Compassion? Not a word thats much ine evidence I'm afraid, certainly up here. The majority of people seem to be like sheep, they hang on the Premier's every word and slavishly believe all she says, especially the stuff that makes them fearful. The Nanny State is alive and well and can be found north of NSW.

Returning travellers are seen as the root of all evil these days, I think. And as for those like me that say I'll be glad when I can leave, we are just seen as insane, why would we want to go out into the big nasty world full of non-Aussies.
At least Gladys in NSW can see the border issue needs to be sorted soon, I think if it was left to Annastacia and her sidekick, the borders would never be opened again.

Amazulu

No

physiogirl76

Thanks for your replies so far.
It really seems to be vastly different depending on the state and its handling of the pandemic. So Sydney seems to be a positive outlier so far (apart from the panic buying and hoarding of toilet paper which apparently has happened again during this lockdown ).

pollyanna Wow, that sounds crazy but kind of affirmed my impression that Queensland is quite extreme with their paranoid response. My friend tells me similar things and she is at the point where she just tries to avoid news about this as it upsets her too much. I really wonder if those Queensland government officials ever accept that Covid will be treated like any other infectious disease once the vaccinations have ramped up. I mean, that's just a given - how can they ignore scientists and continue with this extreme rhetoric? Completely irresponsible - but I guess that's what won an election.

So, in a way, it appears to be true - a deeply divided country.
I always joked that NSW will probably be opening international borders before WA and QLD fully open their domestic borders (consistently....) - but this scenario surprisingly seems an option.

Beoz

Don't be so sure on that. The borders are a federal decision and whilst NSW would undoubtedly be the first to put its hand up to take incomers (it already takes more than twice anyone else) Scomo will be very conscious of the insular WA and QLD votes needed at the next election. Note in this thread already, the WA crowd thinks nothing has changed. They are all drinking a bit of McGowen koolaid over there.

This is what this man said a few days ago. "The idea that you go overseas to do a course at a uni, or you go overseas for a conference, or you go overseas for a business meeting — then you tack on a four-week holiday — is just wrong and it shouldn't be happening."

Mr McGowan said he assumed some of those who had embarked upon multiple return overseas trips during the pandemic were FIFO workers.

"But ... going off to Africa working FIFO in the middle of a pandemic, when we now have many of our cases coming back from Africa, just has to stop.

"We have plenty of jobs here, people need to look for work here.

"One of the biggest issues we have is not enough people for the jobs we have."

This guy needs to take the blinkers off. There are plenty of jobs that can't be done in Australia or you wouldn't do in Australia. This bloke knows that anything other than zero cases is bad for his politics, and he is crap at controlling hotel quarantine. He loves rattling off the one liners, attracting the dumb to his brand of politics. - "McGowan says the hard border will help keep West Australians safe"

However we might have an unexpected saviour in the mix - Dan Andrews. Whilst Dan voted for the cap reduction recently to cosy up to QLD and WA he has said its very temporary. He knows Victoria is in the shitter right now and it needs borders open to function. Melbourne is also of a similar ilk to Sydney in that respect. Stay tuned, its only a matter of time before QLD and WA get rolled.

paddy234

McGowan is the male version of Jacinda Adhern, comes across as caring for his own people while underneath he is causing substantial damage. The Healthcare industry is severely understaffed and several few hospitals were put on yellow alert because of it. The building industry is going through a significant boom and many people in Perth are becoming homeless due to the fact there is a series rental shortage which is only growing because there are few tradies available to build properties which is pushing labour and material costs up.

WA desperately needs overseas skilled labour however it's become popular in OZ to be a hardliner when it comes to the border so a few like McGowan are using this to their advantage. One more thing you'll always here McGowan talk about and that is lockdowns when there's one or two cases. Let me tell you something, Perth has NEVER seen a lockdown which should prove they aren't essential, what they call a lockdown here was in fact level 2 or 3 restrictions in New Zealand, since when is McDonald's, office works, kmart etc essential? He's calls this a lockdown to appear hardline and serious when it comes to protecting the lives of WA residents and so many lap it up, he really does have a cult following. One thing I noticed about Australia is how manipulative the Premiers have been in politicizing covid especially in the less populated regions, this alone should prove their career is more important that the well being of their voters, sadly few can see that.

Pollyana

But when His Majesty ScoMo does just that, why shouldn't everyone else?

Beoz

Scomo's team are the one's giving exemptions for conferences, work and the holiday. I have no problem with this. Anyone should be able to travel and if they want to put some type of cap on it, make it for holiday makers. Everyone else should have a choice. It was the National Cabinet and namely QLD, WA and Vic who rode rough shot over reducing the caps.

abner

As an Australian immigrant myself, I don't think there has been any fundamental shift in racial attitudes during the pandemic. What there has been is a somewhat racially-biased identification of who is responsible for a considerable proportion of returning-Australian arrivals, who in turn are seen as (passive) generators of the all-too-frequent hotel quarantine breaches. Which in turn generate locally-spread cases, which lead to lockdowns.

It doesn't help that the Delta variant of the virus is commonly described as "first identified in India".

So there is certainly some sentiment within the country that "Indian-Australians aren't true Australians" (or some such nonsense), even if they were born here in Oz. And/or -- equally nonsense -- that if they travelled outside Australia for whatever reason, they should just get in a queue to come back, until the health system can handle them.

...

But that despicable type of attitude has always existed among some. It has just found a new outlet during Covid-19.

But continuing along beside it, is mateship. In the meal-room where I work, everyone knows everyone else's story: how their parents are, how their kids are doing, especially during the pandemic, and especially if they have relatives offshore that they're concerned about.

And there's no racism in that room, among mates of any background.

Pollyana

So so lucky. Some of the comments thrown my way when i talk about how i just want to see my family, how hard it is here with no close friends, no family, nobody, well to see the comments are unsympathetic would be to put it mildly. I can never forgive the colleague who said to me "your family are not australians and are not in australia, so we don't care" - that was when i said I was worried I would never see my mum (in her mid 80s) again.

I now tend not to speak to anyone beyond essential work chat.

moneypenny20

Not in my experience.

Retirednow

It’s fine. Warblings from a few whingeing poms are irrelevant.

BadgeIsBack

For us Victorians, whilst Lockdown 2.0 grated from September, it gave some of us the sabbatical and rest we needed and showed we could WFH. It gave others time to retrain (from home) head back to work and was a bit of a tonic. When borders reopen there will be cash in the bank.

I am no fan of Scomo - not his politics necessarily -he's a buffoon, a lyer / sociopath, gaslighter and a photo-op idiot (all smirks, grins, thumbs and hi-vis) but most of the time it's BAU.

I think people forget we are on the edge of the world and having always enjoyed a bit of distance and security. So other countries got hit by the pandemic and it was easy for us in 2020 to look good and to form an eradication mentality (which I didn't think possible yet Dan did it).