And to think that we saw it on Spring Street

Posted on 11:04 am, October 2, 2020 by Henry Ergas

Today in The Australian

Eyes wide shut – Victoria’s debacle shows the public service sector remains steeped in political expediency

“When I leave home to walk to school / Dad always says to me / ‘Marco, keep your eyelids up / And see what you can see.” So begins the classic 1937 children’s book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss.

About Henry Ergas

Henry Ergas AO is a columnist for The Australian. From 2009 to 2015 he was Senior Economic Adviser to Deloitte Australia and from 2009 to 2017 was Professor of Infrastructure Economics at the University of Wollongong’s SMART Infrastructure Facility. He joined SMART and Deloitte after working as a consultant economist at NECG, CRA International and Concept Economics. Prior to that, he was an economist at the OECD in Paris from the late 1970s until the early 1990s. At the OECD, he headed the Secretary-General’s Task Force on Structural Adjustment (1984-1987), which concentrated on improving the efficiency of government policies in a wide range of areas, and was subsequently Counsellor for Structural Policy in the Economics Department. He has taught at a range of universities, undertaken a number of government inquiries and served as a Lay Member of the New Zealand High Court. In 2016, he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia.
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8 Responses to And to think that we saw it on Spring Street

  1. cuckoo
    #3604177, posted on October 2, 2020 at 11:30 am

    Just when I thought it was settled. Victorian CHO says he did not ask for a curfew. Okay, that settles it, no medical rationale. Then yesterday at the Supreme Court, someone I’ve never heard of before – Michelle Giles, who was acting as deputy public health commander when she signed the order extending the curfew from September 14 – pipes up and says it was for public health reasons.

    Laughably, she claims in court that case numbers went down after, and therefore because of, the curfew.

  2. Louis
    #3604187, posted on October 2, 2020 at 11:41 am

    It’s because being a party hack working in the public service can earn you a fabulous high six figure salary where your job is to simply delegate (aka pass on the directions you were given in a way that enables you to take all the credit for success and blame someone else for any errors).

    Being a fair and balanced public servant means you get in the way of both politicians and party hacks, and we all know what happens to obstacles.

  3. Lee
    #3604223, posted on October 2, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    Laughably, she claims in court that case numbers went down after, and therefore because of, the curfew.

    Hilarious!
    If anything, that’s possibly even less provable than the claims that Dictator Dan “saved all of us Victorians from death,” despite his bungled security guard fiasco causing the second wave, and more than 90% of all deaths in Australia occurring in Victoria.

  4. John A
    #3604259, posted on October 2, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    Lee #3604223, posted on October 2, 2020, at 12:07 pm

    Laughably, she claims in court that case numbers went down after, and therefore because of, the curfew.

    Hilarious!
    If anything, that’s possibly even less provable than the claims that Dictator Dan “saved all of us Victorians from death,” despite his bungled security guard fiasco causing the second wave, and more than 90% of all deaths in Australia occurring in Victoria.

    And more than that, over 90% of the deaths in Victoria were the result of the failed quarantine conditions at the now-infamous Four Hotels. To be shortly increased to the infamous Five as Novotel disclosures are made.

  5. Mustapha Bunn
    #3604317, posted on October 2, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    If Andrews gets his Omnibus bill through the upper house morons like Michelle Giles will be able lock Victorians up without trial etc. That truly is frightening.

  6. Lee
    #3604344, posted on October 2, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    If Andrews gets his Omnibus bill through the upper house morons like Michelle Giles will be able lock Victorians up without trial etc. That truly is frightening.

    I wouldn’t for one minute put it past independents being bribed with taxpayers’ money into passing the bill.

  7. Delta
    #3604371, posted on October 2, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    Ah yes – political expediency like this little gem that appeared on one of my information feeds this morning.

    Now who’d thunk it? Did someone say Spring Street?

  8. Steve
    #3604397, posted on October 2, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    I suggest we put a 10’chain mesh fence around Victroria, with Check Point Charlie in Albury.

    Anyone attempting to leave will be turned over to the Brown Pol internal special police…..

    I guess with enough juice, you could electrify the Murray river to make it unappealing to the inmates who may try to flee…..

    Autonomous armed drones to shoot on sight anyone trying to cross in to West Berlin….er…NSW…

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