Is Scott Morrison the most dangerous man in Australia?

The latest research shows that if we were mad enough to follow his demand, we could expect "between 25,000 and 43,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 270,000 people with debilitating long Covid" ("Dire death toll warning", canberratimes.com.au, August 24).

We can only hope that our premiers and chief ministers (with the exception of Gladys Berejiklian) are sane enough to dismiss his demand out of hand.

Surely there comes a point at which gross incompetence becomes criminal negligence.

Tuesday's editorial "PM's rush to open up early could be deadly" (canberratimes.com.au, August 24) is just another example of media scare mongering about COVID-19 with terms like "deadly", "frightening" and "reckless gamble with people's lives".

About twice the number of people have died on Australian roads since March 2020 than have died of COVID-19.

The Doherty Institute (modelling Australia's pathway out of the pandemic) has confirmed the country can reopen under current caseloads once vaccination thresholds are met.

The Prime Minister should refrain from using the phrase "safe to reopen" and instead refer to "acceptable morbidity and mortality rates".

The Doherty report models significant infections (610,029), ward admissions (20,057), ICU admissions (4594) and deaths (2710) in the first six months of reopening at 70 per cent vaccination coverage (Table 5.1 of the report). Table 5.4 of the report contains an age breakdown of these numbers, including the deaths of 86 children under 16.

How "safe" do Australians feel now?

Ian Morison (Letters, August 24) should not believe everything in Scott Morrison's press releases. Clearly many Australians do not want to open up.

He is correct that the Labor states are not opening up to NSW in a hurry but neither are the Liberal states of South Australia and Tasmania.

I reckon the election prospects of those premiers are a lot better than Gladys "let it rip" Berejiklian's.

Australia is led by a failed marketing executive who continually demonstrated a lack of intellectual gravitas. On Monday he used statistics to argue for a re-opening of the states from lockdown.

Scott Morrison is not alone; gravitas is missing from most of his ministry. Whether it comes to delivering election promises, acting on recommendations of two major royal commissions, appreciating the devastation of bushfires and/or the pandemic, and now the evacuation of Afghanistan; there is simply no leadership, no accountability and no acceptance of responsibility.

Australia is a nation with growing concerns with our deficient and inept government. Bring on the 2022 election.

There is a reluctance among Australians to have the AstraZeneca jab.

This is due to the risk of deaths from blood clots; instead they would rather wait for the Pfizer jab and take the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the meantime.

In Australia as of August 5 there have only been seven deaths related to the AstraZeneca jab. In NSW alone there have been a total of 128 deaths related to COVID-19 (72 in the most recent outbreak up to August 23).

This seems to be telling me that people would rather risk dying from COVID-19 than being immunised with AstraZeneca.

Am I missing something here?

I am curious as to how the Prime Minister states he relies on the figures from the Doherty Institute in regard to the 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination targets to see the nation going forward in moving out of lockdown.

He categorically stated he believes in the model put forward by the institute.

How is it that he believes in these figures, but has his head in the sand in relation to all the science that is provided to him about the imminent calamity of climate change?

The Prime Minister has a faith in his deity, as do many thousands across our nation, and they accept on faith their deity exists. One cannot see these deities.

However, evidence, something that is tangible, is provided to the Prime Minister to act now, not by 2050, and he still ignores it.

Why does our supposedly lucky and free country have such weak leaders? I cannot believe the PM and the Premier of NSW are advocating easing restrictions and abandoning lockdowns.

These ideas are obviously politically driven, to keep the public on side, and to assure the parties of votes. The government is spending trillions of dollars, "renovating" the Australian War Memorial, obviously to attract tourism while so many in our country are suffering, in many ways.

Jobkeeper should be reinstated, financial support should be available to small business owners, before they all shut their doors and struggle to feed their families. Don't tell me "the government can't afford it".

Stop throwing money at tourism and fund programs to fight the virus. Is tourism and the money it brings to our country, and in our case, our city, more important than saving lives. If the lockdowns and other restrictions are abolished how many more lives will be lost?

Lyn Armstrong (Letters, August 22) trots out the old primary school "you do better" message to letter-writers to urge them to be kinder to those in power.

While that charitable sentiment is to be applauded, the reality is people who attain positions of power for the most part put themselves forward in dog-eat-dog contests to gain party preselection on the basis they had what it takes to advance the best interests of the nation.

If, after securing a position of power and influence, they don't live up to those expectations, they should expect all the criticism levelled at them.

If letter-writers, or anyone else, perceive that self-interest, party-interest or the interests of party donors are rating ahead of national interests, they will rightly direct criticism at the person concerned. "Doing the best they can" is no defence to abrogation of duty to constituents or to the wider community.

An Aussie veteran, speaking about inaction in getting Afghan interpreters out of Afghanistan, is reported to have said: "It starts with the PM. He now says he wishes it was different in Afghanistan, and he wishes we could get them out, but it just can't happen. But it could have happened if he had done something. If we had acted in April, we could have got 100 per cent".

I find it very difficult to express any kindness for someone who is the subject of a comment like that.

Finally, Lyn, please be kind to letter-writers. In the circumstances they are only doing the best they can.

The NSW government had an epiphany after the ACT's delta covid lockdown and now cares about NSW regional communities ("Regional NSW communities will be told 'well before Saturday' about lockdown extension", August 17).

How touching as they didn't care in the least about communities in the Central West, the North West, the Hunter and Upper Hunter, the Southern Highlands, the Northern Rivers, the Blue Mountains, the Illawarra and the Central Coast before the Delta strain leaked from Sydney to the ACT. Nor did they care about the leakages to Victoria and South Australia.

The NSW government has a lot to answer for and I hope that voters remember their arrogance, pride and failure to learn lessons from other (Labor) jurisdictions before the next NSW election.

The headline on the ABC News website read: "Canberra's population is set to nearly double within 40 years - but one developer wants it to grow even larger". No prizes for guessing that that developer was Nick Georgalis's Geocon. Of course he would want Canberra to grow and grow and grow.

I wonder if any cases are linked to SPC's cannery row ("Victoria in statewide lockdown amid Shepparton scare", August 22, p6)?

I see the war memorial has three "advisory groups" (on veterans, Indigenous and access issues). I notice that it hasn't asked historians to advise it. What a surprise! Good luck to those who get into bed with the AWM. It has form in disregarding uncongenial advice.

With the natives becoming restless, rioting in the streets, a population pummelled by the hour with ever more frighteningly confusing statistics and poverty exponentially driving greater inequality, Morrison's reopen "plan" seems to be a bid to counteract his relevance deprivation.

Conflicts in Afghanistan over 40 years have seen the loss of many thousands of human lives, spending over $3 trillion, and undecided results. Who won? Would I be far from the truth if I said the arms manufacturers?

I just wanted to reassure readers that Scomo's push to "embrace" COVID-19 and open up is 100 per cent based on the health advice and not on the forthcoming election. Meanwhile, back on planet earth ...

Let's not forget how NSW got here COVID-19 case wise. An unvaccinated driver picked up an aircrew with the Delta strain. But despite warnings Berejiklian's and Hazzard's laws did not require him to be vaccinated or wear a mask.

F. H. Briggs (Undue influence, Letters, August 24) has hit the nail on the head.

This is an important message to the Victorian government. Your television message streamed to residents of the ACT on August 23 was particularly offensive and certainly un-Australian. Do you really think that Ken Behrens would want to visit Danistan at this time? Anyway, our coffee is better than yours.

This, my first-ever letter to the editor, is simply a huge "thank you" to Zoe Wundenberg for reminding readers "that you can always ask for help" ("The power of asking for help when you need it", August 24, p16). You nailed it! I hope your advice helps many "silent strugglers" (and good luck with your studies).

With his refusal to commit to ending his state's COVID-19-related border closure, has WA Premier Mark McGowan stolen John Howard's electoral catnip?

"We decide who comes to this [state] and the circumstances under which they come". It's also a proxy for the WA pipe dream of secession.

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