There is no doubt that the concept of Quarantine centres in more remote, sparsely populated areas is light years ahead of the “Hotel Quarantine” concept. Why the inverted commas?….. because to call it Quarantine is laughable.
Howard Springs in the Northern Territory is, to a lay person endowed with a modicum of common sense, the current “best practice” example.
The Avalon centre, proposed by Victoria, will be light years ahead of the current hotel debacle.
So why is there so much negativity about the Wellcamp concept put forward by the Palaszczuk government?
Let’s start with the most glaring deficiency. There is no hospital capable of handling COVID cases nearby!
The Toowoomba hospital has the capability of handling…..2….. yes that’s right, 2 cases before becoming overwhelmed. Once a system is overwhelmed, you get leaks, and those leaks stand to devastate the local community.
The simple fact is that there is NO suitable hospital in regional Queensland. Once they realised that they were so far out on a limb, Anna and the cacophony of bleats that is her Deputy, have fallen strangely silent.
But this is not about COVID.
Yes, it has taken COVID to highlight the problem, but this is about medical services and services in general. We are seeing babies born on roadsides due to maternity closures, diabetics and others with renal failure having to relocate away from family and support networks to access dialysis, seriously injured ringers lying in pieces and excruciating pain in a third-class regional hospital while waiting for a place in a big city hospital – sometimes for weeks.
Do not for one minute accept the much-touted video link with a specialist in Brisbane is the answer. Rather it is an admission that we are not important enough for this Government to provide care that is commensurate with a first world nation in the 21st century.
In around 30 years practice as a Physio, I saw how many times the thing that made the most difference was placing a hand on someone’s shoulder, looking into their eyes, and telling them everything was going to be OK, and I was there for them – try doing that on a zoom link. A multitude of studies over many years have shown how essential human touch is, yet this current process is moving away from this at the speed of light.
To show just how out of touch Anna’s mob are, they are intending to rip a further $550 million out of our hospital system – no prizes for guessing where the most dollars will disappear – not likely to be urban Brisbane I wager.
Before long we will hear the whine about the federal Government not helping. Hardly believable when you look at the litany of debacles costing billons that this mob have presided over.
Our community is in danger due to overcrowded prisons, forcing criminals to be released to further terrorise the citizens whom have upheld their end of the social contract despite this mob totally breaching it.
Biosecurity is an utter joke. Fire ants, weeds, feral animals, and the associated diseases are rampant with the Minister cluelessly puffing his chest and declaring himself the “Farmers Friend”.
Is there one thing, just one, that this mob has done, that has actually worked from the start, not cost far more than planned, and made things better in the regions?
The only way for things to get better is for them to get much worse. This tragically is almost a certainty. Once the regions have been pillaged dry to prop up a failing system/government in the urban south-east, the rot will become apparent in even those coddled spots. Sadly there will be a whole lot of grief and pain in the process.
How much longer are we going to continue to tolerate being held in a state of serfdom, by those who deign to leave their Ivory Urban Tower?
How much longer will we tolerate people in positions of power in bodies that supposedly represent us, being more interested in NOT ruffling feathers as that may prejudice their next board appointment?
Is there one of you out there that can say that life in the regions has gotten better as the years pass?
Why are we so accepting of this?
By Marty Bella
