Completely agree but sadly I think it will make everything even worse. We're circling the drain as a society there is little doubt about that anymore.

But isn't there people doing that work already? Sorry, Don't follow his warped logic.

I am by nature a pessimist's pessimist. But yesterday I was reminded of the picture of the sailor kissing the girl on VJ day. Even the longest trial ends, and the relief leads to exuberance and a rush to forget the days of despair.

At the end of this, however long it takes, there will be a recovery. If there were to be a dramatic breakthrough in a treatment or vaccine for Covid-19, then all the more dramatic will be the recovery. The eventual resolution may be more gradual, and so too the response, but in either scenario there are brighter days ahead.

I think that draconian measures could be put in place and isolation could still overcome it, but only country by country for now. Recovering our domestic economy should be the result of controlling the virus, and that’s going to take strong man measures in controlling US for five or six weeks. If we could do that, then we could gradually reconnect with the wider world.

Thats if we had a government that was competent and knew what it was doing and put measures in place immediately ala South Korea or Singapore where the virus being put under control. Heck you could even say China eventually instituted better control measures, and is getting their economy back in business, I guess being an authoritarian dictatorship comes in handy at times. It also helps when you have an educated population that listens to directions. The government is just a reflection of the people and I think we’re seeing that here in great effect.

I’m reminded of the phrase “the Lucky Country”, and it’s creator’s original meaning. Not that Australia is genuinely great, it’s just that we are lucky to have such a high living standard when we are comprised of second rate people with leaders drawn from that population. I fear the response to this crisis will expose that.

Dr_dre, this is the full quote and it is as apt today as it ever was...

Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.

Indeed dr dre.
Donald Horne’s book is as relevant as ever. The consequence of ignorance of his insight is a nation wth 40% of its export income relying on only 3 commodities, iron ore, coal and gas , over 40 % of which goes to only 2 markets China and Japan. The lack of diversity is terrifying. Take away tourism and education exports and we are screwed. Yet so many think that we can shut down aviation, the coal industry , gas exploration etc. etc. with impunity.
We are not yet at the beginning of this and the consequences will be profound.

Fascile explanation based on unproven assumptions about the behaviour of a population. Also that idea guarantees a wholesale devastation of the elderly cohort for what should be obvious reasons.

Josh Cox, your video is utterly wrong and misleading. It is wrong and misleading because of three factors that make a mockery of your idiotic theory.

- You cannot accurately measure the number of cases at any given time - the private briefing I had explained that the true number was somewhere between 7X and 10X what is reported.

- There is at least a week lag between infection and the symptoms of illness leading to hospitalisation. During that time a person will be infectious with no symptoms.

- The R0 for the virus is approximately 6. It is highly infectious.

There is no @#$%ing way this mythical tipping point exists, let alone the idea that it could even be calculated - as Boris Johnson belatedly realised yesterday.

To put that in terms you can understand Mr. Cox, let’s you and me try an experiment; let’s soak you in petrol and I’ll give you a fire extinguisher, then I’m going to flick burning matches at you. Your task is to put them out before you get incinerated. That is the exact lethal equivalent of what your video “friend “ is advocating.

You can’t have “a little bit” of a pandemic.

This IS a coordinated world response to CREATE a depression.

If the country goes into a full lock down which is possible early next week. Where would this leave aviation? Already running on a skeleton schedule already stopping completely would have to leave long lasting effects to which some will not be able to recover.

They will have to implement "helicopter money" to bail out the general population, rather than just for the bankers in the GFC. To be honest, there is no other option except the abyss. The UK is already getting the chopper warmed up: UK government to pay 80% of wages for those not working in coronavirus crisis

I would think with the rapid rate of infections from last night that there is no other option. If you’re overseas stiff s&@t you have had plenty of warning. Scott Morrison needs to work with the NZ PM have a full lockdown that way on the 13th April we can get Australia going again trans tasmin travel can also kick off. We can’t afford to sit idle any longer.

Hmmm that’s an interesting concept, that NZ and Aus could start up trans Tasman travel once they have both worked through their respective worst patches, hadn’t heard that idea before. Could be worth a lot of jobs/ trade.

I suspect that is the general idea, I noticed with interest that Australia all of a sudden about a week ago stated implementing the exact same policies as NZ wi5h regard to borders etc. I imagine that once the initial peak is over that Australia and NZ will coordinate the track and contain policies and start acting like we have a common border and treat trans Tasman as a domestic flight which can be increased in line with the lifting of restrictions.

Well that sounds like a pretty good idea to me. It might help both economies tread water for a while.

Sunfish,

Not my video or "idiotic theory", purely a conversation point, some earlier posters were of the opinion that the Government has been remiss by not acting sooner, perhaps there is another explanation.

Also, the gentleman in the video is not my friend.

My wife, who is a GP and DAME, thought it was a good conversation starter, and I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings, but I agree with her.

So Sunfish, knower of stuff, what's your idiotic theory ?,,,,,, I cant wait to hear it.

No theory. Incendiary conversation starter, you reeled me in! I don’t think we can be as brutal as the Chinese in locking down the community. We will thus experience something like Italy. It’s not a question of theories. Ask your wife. It’s maths. God help all of us.

Speaking as someone who collaborated on an AIDS vaccine (unsuccessful) with Institute Pasteur.

We can do this.

The comparisons people are using to the Italian experience I believe are flawed. They have a population of over 60 million people in a small country. Australia has just under 25 million spread across five major capital cities. A very different situation to Italy.