Originally Posted by
jrfsp
Mark McGowan is likely to win by the largest majority ever.....the WA population support the border closure by something like 93%.
Polls taken when Victoria was getting several hundred cases per day, and then when under a strict lockdown. When the eastern states are opening up and travelling without lockdowns by December then polls may change very quickly.
I think no one expected Victoria to get their situation under control this quickly (thanks Dictator Dan!), so maybe the WA government thought Victoria will still be in trouble for the rest of the year. And for a while it looked like NSW were on the cusp of a Victorian style outbreak too. Now with Victoria driving cases numbers down hard they should where NSW/Qld are today in about a month. So on track for eastern states re-opening in December. If there’s no trouble then it could be a political disadvantage if the border is still closed for another 3 months. So preparations may have to be made to shadow the East coast re-openings by a few weeks. Contact tracers being recruited en masse in WA now.
I’ve heard rumblings about a potential early December re-opening. Fits in well with the High Court trial.
I think the key is to wait until October 26 when most Melbourne lockdown restrictions lifted, if the cases are stilling trending toward zero it’ll make a good case in order for all borders to be open by Christmas.
For some light reading here’s a Grattan Institute document explaining the reasons why aiming for zero cases is an achievable goal and the best option, and how that can be achieved this year:
Go for zero: How Australia can get to zero COVID-19 cases