All borders to reopen.
Im in Tassie. At least before the border opening we locals were able to go to restaurants and pubs and do some support of local tourism. Now since the 'Opening' every time you step outside you are conducting a risk assessment on when you will catch covid or be a close contact needing a personal lockdown. Ive had enough and heading to Philippines next month. At least there they have built free quarantine facilities designed with fresh air in mind and lots of outside walking around by inmates. Better than being locked into a hotel room where you cant open windows.
The problem is not the virus, it’s the ridiculous arbitrary isolation requirements. I caught it, was sick enough to have one day off work. But no, I had to take a week off, as did my wife. What should have been a single day loss of productivity became 10, multiple this by 100,000 people per day and it’s no wonder the country is coming apart at the seams.
All for a deadly killer virus that was subdued by a couple of Panadol.
All for a deadly killer virus that was subdued by a couple of Panadol.
Good luck finding panadol, I can only function with osteoarthritis with Neurofen, unable to find either on the shelves because of people panic buying. Not fun trying to get around at the moment.
However am glad he is taking a more gradual approach to opening the borders for now because once Pandora's box is opened that's it.
If Gladys and her successor hadn't made such a mess of things perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation now.
short flights long nights
McGowan has crab-walked away from a decision that has been set in stone for months. Hundreds of thousands of individuals and tens of thousands of businesses have planned around this hard date.
He has done this because either;
- He knows the virus is in the community and cannot be stopped. So he doesn't want to be blamed for this due to open borders (The Dre theorem), or
- He is deluded into thinking he can control it and will shortly return the good burghers of WA (who have done everything asked of them and more) back into lockdown, as open borders would have precluded this.
Either option is cynical, politically expedient and a disgrace.
There is white-hot seething anger amongst the many folks I engage with in WA.
You cannot hold a compact of the sort he did, imploring all that was needed was to meet a vaccination rate threshold, and then renege without consequence.
His electoral goose is cooked I suspect and hope.
The remainder of the country has lanced the boil, as unpleasant as that is in the short term.
WA must lance it too, eventually. The can cannot be kicked down the road forever.
He has done this because either;
- He knows the virus is in the community and cannot be stopped. So he doesn't want to be blamed for this due to open borders (The Dre theorem), or
- He is deluded into thinking he can control it and will shortly return the good burghers of WA (who have done everything asked of them and more) back into lockdown, as open borders would have precluded this.
Either option is cynical, politically expedient and a disgrace.
There is white-hot seething anger amongst the many folks I engage with in WA.
You cannot hold a compact of the sort he did, imploring all that was needed was to meet a vaccination rate threshold, and then renege without consequence.
His electoral goose is cooked I suspect and hope.
The remainder of the country has lanced the boil, as unpleasant as that is in the short term.
WA must lance it too, eventually. The can cannot be kicked down the road forever.
If Gladys and her successor hadn't made such a mess of things perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation now.
Living in lala land, McGowan has done a great job convincing you all that you're Peter Pan and can live forever. Hate to break it to you, but humans die. Humans may even die from a respiratory virus when they have one or several co-morbidities, which are the overwhelming majority of deaths.
In NSW, VIC and now QLD you can choose to live on your feet or die on your knees.
It is possible to avoid the virus by choosing not to go out to high risk venues or areas, washing your hands, wearing a mask, being considerate. It's great to have a choice.
Lala land is convinced it is chaos on the East Coast, you are getting filtered news, news that picks and chooses the narrative. The facts are rare. There is no chaos here, you can travel interstate, overseas. Apart from the ridiculous remnants of the fear campaign, life is pretty good. The East has accepted that you can't eliminate a virus, the west believes in fairytales.
Im in Tassie. At least before the border opening we locals were able to go to restaurants and pubs and do some support of local tourism. Now since the 'Opening' every time you step outside you are conducting a risk assessment on when you will catch covid or be a close contact needing a personal lockdown. Ive had enough and heading to Philippines next month. At least there they have built free quarantine facilities designed with fresh air in mind and lots of outside walking around by inmates. Better than being locked into a hotel room where you cant open windows.
What a lot of people who get upseat about the current situation in QLD, SA, Tassie don't seem to understand is that the same thing will happen when WA opens up, that could be today, it could be February 5th or it could be July. Omicron will rip through WA like the Eastern states at some point in time. Wouldn't it be better for the nation if we all did it together?
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: I prefer to remain north of a direct line BNE-ADL
Age: 49
Posts: 1,286
Likes: 0
Received 33 Likes
on
10 Posts
It’s obviously a fairly even split about 50/50 on the opinion of people in WA, either very happy to stay closed or completely against it.
WA provides only 15% of National GDP and if their borders stay closed it’s still a win for the Nation as royalties go to the whole country as well.
They should just keep it closed and then 50% will be happy and it’s tough for the other 50% but just start working on voting him out. McGowan was just talking now and he portraying that it is some type dystopian hell anywhere east WA. I just got back from the States, took the kids to Disneyland,
was a great trip, and get news that WA has done this, they need to get out into the world and see their policy is really only being pursued in China and Hong Kong. Feel sorry for the families that still can’t reunite. I see there will be more exemptions on Compassionate grounds, exemption equal a ton of red tape if anyone has had anything to do with travel to WA the last 2 years. QF should just give up on the Perth -London flights from now on, if any new variant comes along it will be back to the closing credits of Get Smart, all the doors again will close to WA.
WA provides only 15% of National GDP and if their borders stay closed it’s still a win for the Nation as royalties go to the whole country as well.
They should just keep it closed and then 50% will be happy and it’s tough for the other 50% but just start working on voting him out. McGowan was just talking now and he portraying that it is some type dystopian hell anywhere east WA. I just got back from the States, took the kids to Disneyland,
was a great trip, and get news that WA has done this, they need to get out into the world and see their policy is really only being pursued in China and Hong Kong. Feel sorry for the families that still can’t reunite. I see there will be more exemptions on Compassionate grounds, exemption equal a ton of red tape if anyone has had anything to do with travel to WA the last 2 years. QF should just give up on the Perth -London flights from now on, if any new variant comes along it will be back to the closing credits of Get Smart, all the doors again will close to WA.
The situation is diabolical. We are unable to operate, not only because of our own staff isolation requirement, but because of everyone else's. Businesses are falling over like a row of dominoes. If the 10 day isolation requirement hasn't been lifted by the end of this month, we have no choice but to place ourselves in a state of voluntary lockdown.
To those in WA, keep your borders shut, because this situation is worse than any virus.
To those in WA, keep your borders shut, because this situation is worse than any virus.
WA provides only 15% of National GDP and if their borders stay closed it’s still a win for the Nation as royalties go to the whole country as well.
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Unfortunately not the Orient
Posts: 387
Likes: 0
Received 88 Likes
on
32 Posts
I think all Perth based QF flight crew (both cabin and pilots) should start assessing which of the other bases they would be prepared to live in. Alan is pissed. LHR is toast, and there won’t be any expansion.
At least SOPS is happy in retirement
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Unfortunately not the Orient
Posts: 387
Likes: 0
Received 88 Likes
on
32 Posts
Just my own speculation. 787/A330 people especially, 737 less so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a “base balancing” as a sort of amnesty.
Yes, it's interesting how they've done a complete 180 on him, going from fawning obsequiousness to baying for his blood. Mind you, I'm not sure he cares.
Timing to reinstate Qantas’ Perth-London route, which is currently operating via Darwin and was due to return to Western Australia in late March 2022, is under review.
Note the use of language. "Timing to reinstate". Trying to extract a glimmer of hope out of a very negative day, this would indicate they eventually want to return. If they wanted to pressure the WA government they could've use language like "the viability or long term future of the Perth London route is under review". A browse of the Australian Frequent Flyers Forum shows the Darwin stopover isn't particularly popular, if it were to be a long term option they would need extensive terminal and lounge upgrades which may not even be possible from the space available. They'd probably use SIN instead.
We know just yesterday they have been in recent talks over PER-JNB. They returned to PER-LHR as soon as the aborted opening date was confirmed, and soon after announced PER-FCO. So no secret they see money to be made out of Perth, and unlike pilots business people tend to forget about grudges if there's money to be made. They know however money will only be made with open borders, so I'd expect any confirmation of those international routes will happen post a new opening date. As for the 330 we know there's enough domestic transcontinental travel that it will be needed after border reopening so doubt that will go in the long term.
So if I was PER based LH crew I wouldn't be browsing real estate listings in other states just yet. Thing is there's still a lot of unused capacity out there, A380s, which won't all be back in the air by year's end. If there was so much potential flying out there those 380s would be back ASAP and perhaps those 787s and 330s would be deployed elsewhere, but that doesn't seem to be. In that press release the group Domestic capacity is only going to 60% until this blows over so I even east coast bases won't be flying at max hours for the foreseeable future. I think what may be likely is a return to rolling stand downs, no doubt airlines will lobby for more government assistance to keep going until WA finally reopens. The estimate is now for group Domestic capacity to be at 60% til this blows over. You can also expect a lot of talk about "remaining competitive" to prepare for future EBA negotiations.
As to that new date, it's up in the air.
On one hand due to McGowan not having the balls to own a specific date, he may hope there's further spread of the Omicron cases and more seeping in with some compassionate returnees in Feb, so after the East Coast waves reduce (which they are starting to peak now) he can reopen but have an excuse that means he doesn't have to own that decision.
At the other extreme if he wants 80-90% boosted that won't be until June, and then there's zero chance they'll open up at the start of winter. So then Oct/Nov as a minimum, and then the elderly will be almost a year from their booster.
I think at this stage the eventual reopening could be a coin toss anywhere from Feb-Nov.
Also comments from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy warning about delaying reopening too much, These are the guys who supposedly the most important in the state:
https://thewest.com.au/news/kalgoorl...body-c-5377922
Last edited by dr dre; 21st Jan 2022 at 07:36.
It’s on total display at the checkout of every grocery store, newsagent, bakery etc…… all day, in every town in WA, calling him an “abject failure”. If he doesn’t care, he’s not much of a politician.
It’s going to be a long 3 years for him. With only the support of an unknown percentage (my guess would be for less than 50%) of the WA population (and that will diminish over time) and what now seems to be none of the media, he’s cooked.
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: australia
Posts: 916
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It’s on total display at the checkout of every grocery store, newsagent, bakery etc…… all day, in every town in WA, calling him an “abject failure”. If he doesn’t care, he’s not much of a politician.
It’s going to be a long 3 years for him. With only the support of an unknown percentage (my guess would be for less than 50%) of the WA population (and that will diminish over time) and what now seems to be none of the media, he’s cooked.
It’s going to be a long 3 years for him. With only the support of an unknown percentage (my guess would be for less than 50%) of the WA population (and that will diminish over time) and what now seems to be none of the media, he’s cooked.
MM is in government, as the leader, with only two opposition members in parliament.
The people of WA voted him in with the majority to "go nuts, fill yer boots, the second coming has arrived".
He doesn't have to appeal to the people, only to his own party....or at least keep them in control.
Simples really!
