MCGOWAN & THE WA BORDER

McGowan and the WA Border Cruel or necessary?

Words by Luka Krivokapic

On Friday the 21st of January, Mark McGowan, the premier of WA announced that the state’s borders would remain shut indefinitely due to the threat of the Omicron Variant. This sent shockwaves throughout the country, with many labelling the move as a ‘backflip’ or even a ‘betrayal’. Social media and news websites flowed with vitriol towards McGowan, labelling him as a cruel dictator.

McGowan’s choice to delay the reopening of his state’s borders represents a significant deviation from the policies of other states across the country, who have all to varying extents, opened their interstate borders and committed to ‘living with the virus’. Predictably, ‘living with the virus’ has not delivered the expected results. Due to the high transition rate of the Omicron Variant, Australia has been struck with an unprecedented wave of COVID-19. The number of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths have broken records. Major supply chain failures have also occurred as a result of the sheer number of workers infected. Despite this, our state governments have refused to take significant action to combat the spread, with only basic restrictions such as reintroducing density caps.

At the time of writing, Western Australia’s borders remain firmly shut. With 131 active cases as of the 27th of January, originating from an outbreak mere days after delaying the border reopening, McGowan’s stance remains firm, stating “This is a human tragedy and what our measures are designed to do … is to reduce the impact to Western Australians.” Even if this outbreak grows, having their border shut gives WA Health the best chance of supressing the outbreak and 33

In contrast to the sledging that McGowan has received, other premiers have been congratulated with positive coverage from news outlets. Even as South Australia records multiple days of 10+ deaths, the ABC and others have parroted the premier’s claims that infections have peaked and that the worst is over. Before this, during the period in which infections were soaring, these same outlets supported the premier’s claims that the Omicron Variant was ‘mild’ and that the hospitalisations and deaths were no cause for concern. Now that people are hospitalised and dying, all is well because infections are down. There has not been a point where the extent of the disaster has been acknowledged. Instead, the public have been presented excuse after excuse. In this media landscape, premiers are given a free pass to expose their citizens to COVID-19, putting the most vulnerable members of our society at risk.

Somehow, the villain of this story has become the one premier who has been willing to resist the pressure from the federal government and protect his citizens from the same fate. He has been characterised as a grinch who has taken people’s hopes of seeing their family, which while obviously disappointing, has been greatly exaggerated. There have been many stories of people saying that they have not seen their family members in WA for 2 years (aka since the start of the pandemic). However, the WA state borders have been open to people from interstate at various points throughout the pandemic, with the borders only closing when positive cases have been detected in a certain state or territory. The people who have been waiting for 2 years had the option to visit at an earlier date. Obviously, many of the people who waited were doing their bit to limit the spread of COVID, however that reason does not disappear with the Omicron Variant. It is frustrating, it is unfair, but it does not make McGowan a grinch for protecting his citizens.