Son: Please daddy... what's the other side of the Blue Mountains.

Father : We don't talk about that son. It's too horrible.
Just a wasteland full of old mining excavations and unsophisticated barbarians.
(Hushed voice) - They don't even have leagues clubs

A few arrogant twats on here.

If and when China come for a “visit” I know where there will be heading. You laugh, but...

What will you do? Fend them off with 30 clapped out F100s or come back sucking up to Mamma’s teat? By then Mum might have just had enough.

Well there we can agree.
I can't see the Chinese wanting anything from the "remaining states".
Not unless they're into leagues clubs and female impersonators.

Hmmmm...lives in HGK.
Calls people twats.

Which passport do you use up there? The Aussie one or your Pommie one?
How's CX treating you?

You will need more bait ya Clown.

Vag when the Chinese colonise WA Independant (or whatever you wish to call it) they won't be buying the iron ore any more, it will be appropriated, any wealth generated will be directed to the CCP under the leadership of the Glorious Leader Xi Jinpin and after suitable re-education the colony will be provided by the CCP with enough to survive but little more. You of course will be grateful to Xi Jinpin for his abounding generosity.

Think I read HK bureaucrats have 1 month in which to pledge allegiance - not to Hong Kong but the Chinese Communist Party.
Hope WA residents note the pledge - may need to use it in the not too distant future! ;)

WA has its own international Airforce, plenty Singaporean planes, after all don’t they own Pearce now?

As a West Australian (I hate even saying that as we are one country), I feel like that I am one of the few that aren't blinded by McGowan and his cult following. He's an embarrassment to the country and is showing that he really has no idea how to handle this crisis. Making WA a fortress is his only tool. So many people I've spoken to (friends, family etc) worship him like he's a god. Makes me feel like maybe I'm totally missing something. But it's good to see outsiders from other states see exactly how useless he is.
I've sent emails to my local Labor MP asking what the plan going forward is, how long can they keep shutting us off from the rest of the country for. Nothing... Won't return my calls. Blocked me from all social media for asking general questions.
Feels like WA has become a dictatorship in a sense...

The only thing more annoying than Queensland exceptionalism, is WA exceptionalism.

What will you do when you end up a quarry?

tomorrows headline ...

China offers Fiji etc. AUD$100 billion loan(which they'll never ever repay), then few Chinese fighter jets will land at NAN & few Chinese aircraft carriers/destroyers will "visit" Suva & Lautoka ports, "permanently".

As a WA lurker, I cringe when I read this thread. Rednecks both sides of the border. Not everyone wants to secede and I'm wary of the Dragon. Yes WA does well but the wealth is for all Australians to benefit from. We can't drink all the beer and wine ourselves, it just wouldn't be healthy.

McGowan has painted himself into a corner with this approach. It is very difficult now to start risk managing when you've been risk avoiding all this time. One slip up and he will get hurt at the polls - not fatally but hurt all the same. That to me points to more a political framework for dealing with the pandemic than a health and safety one. Very tough for the opposition to attack.

Interesting pattern emerging.

Those most satisfied with the measures taken by any particular state are those resident.

Those least satisfied are those residing elsewhere.

Seems to extend internationally...

In other news, looks like international wont happen until 2022...pretty much as expected, but could be even longer

https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...e53ebb7e014e7c

I’ll say one thing about the WA hard border policy, it ensured mining companies went back to their previous shifts after the swing time was doubled at the start of the pandemic, to limit movement, (ie back to two weeks on instead of 4). This led to a return of intrastate flying to previous levels, whilst at the expense of interstate flying, so I guess some people win, some lose. If a looser border was enacted then would mining companies increase their swing time again, leading to a decrease in intrastate flying? Who knows, they’re the ones who really run the state.

Despite most of the anger here directed at one state leader truth is most states are taking a hard line when community transmission occurs, changing borders, isolation requirements, testing requirements, hot spots, points of entry requirements on an hourly basis sometimes. This pretty much stuffs up forward planning for travel from any state to another.

There has been one person pretty much absent in this debate however. If, like so many people here want, we are meant to act like one country, where is the leader of that country? MIA. Too afraid to make hard choices as it might lose him his 2 seat majority.

I’m glad they stepped up the start of the vaccine program, although it would be better to ensure the required numbers are immunised well before the original end of October. Another thing he can show some leadership on is federal control of quarantine away from cities.

It doesn’t take much to show some leadership Scotty.....

Technically, international quarantine is a federal responsibility.

It was made so shortly after the Spanish Flu epidemic, in order to settle disputes and inconsistencies between the states regarding, you guessed it, borders and quarantine.

That was actually made so about 20 years BEFORE the 1918 flu:

51. Legislative powers of the Parliament

The (Federal) Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:

(ix) quarantine;

I am pretty sure this is already happening, have you not seen all the infrastructure being built in FiJi already.

With supposed herd immunity achieved by October? I guess he’s just remaining conservative and narrowing expectations, but it’s hard to look at this article without incredulity.

I hope that happens and then they can shut their borders off for good. Oh and they can take Clive Palmer as well :)