In anticipation of the upcoming election, the three major Territory parties are making overtures to the NT community about how they will conquer our crime epidemic. If that happens it will be declared a miracle. Various governments have made few inroads into managing and controlling crime, particularly youth crime, in the past 20 years.

——

If all the faces on flutes on fences around Darwin and Palmerston were to come to life, the population in our twin cities would increase by at least 200,000. There would, however, be a lot of people who appear to be cloned. Still, it would be good for our GST income.

—-

Watching and listening to an hour of Daniel Andrews giving COVID-19 updates for Victoria and then listening to the questions being asked by journalists and reporters suggests to me the only thing that stands out for The Garden State at the moment is confusion.

——

So government generated invoices for hotel quarantine reimbursement are largely going unpaid! Is that REALLY a surprise. The other notices that will not be paid those detailing fines due from people who have breached quarantine restrictions and border protocols. In real terms, financial punishments for irresponsible behaviours that endanger the lives of others are little more than a joke.

—

Hats off to the Traditional owners for blockading the entrance to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and protecting it and nearby indigenous people from bring entered by a plane load of ex-Brisbane tourists. I believe the attempt by Jetstar and Parks Australia to allow people from a hotspot location into the park was very underhand. And well done to our police for their part on quarantine insistence for 3 passengers. The rest should be be bundled back into the plane and returned to sender.

—-

Interviewed on radio (4/8) about the lack of physical distancing among patrons at the Fannie Bay Racecourse Picnic Day meeting on August 3, our Chief Minister replied that a COVID-19 safety plan had to be submitted and approved before any gathering of more than 500 people. This had been done. As part of this approval it seems the 1.5 metre separation rule is waived for large crowds. And I wonder why many people are apprehensive about not ‘if’ but ‘when’ the virus embeds within our Territory.

POINTS TO PONDER

With the coronavirus, there is for us in the NT and Australia the ‘new normal’ but not ‘normality’ as we knew it. The COVID-19 virus is ever lurking and with our soft border options on the quarantining alternative for people from hot spots, the virus has every chance of outing itself into the wider community.

Complacency is starting to take a firm grip in the NT and physical distancing (the best of all avoidance measures) is starting to become a past practice.

That Darwin Harbour view tranquility while a vision from high rise Darwin offices may offer a vista of false hope about what lies ahead in the not so distant future.

If lunching, make sure that physical distancing should be part of your eating methodology. You want this midday period to be long and not short term.

Also enjoy and appreciate your own company. There is value in quiet contemplation and being alone with your own thoughts and those shared in concert with your family.

Those who tempt danger by betting their lives against COVID- 19 are playing a very dangerous game of Russian Roulette.

DON’T TEMPT COVID-19 FATE

With the coronavirus, there is for us in the NT and Australia the ‘new normal’ but not ‘normality’ as we knew it. The COVID-19 virus is ever lurking and with our soft border options on the quarantining alternative for people from hot spots, the virus has every chance of outing itself into the wider community. Complacency is starting to take a firm grip in the NT and physical distancing (the best of all avoidance measures) is starting to become a past practice.

That Darwin Harbour view tranquility while a vision from high rise Darwin offices may offer a vista of false hope about what lies ahead in the not so distant future.

If lunching, make sure that physical distancing should be part of your eating methodology. You want this midday period to be long and not short term.

Also enjoy and appreciate your own company. There is value in quiet contemplation and being alone with your own thoughts and those shared in concert with your family.

Those who tempt danger by betting their lives against COVID- 19 are playing a very dangerous game of Russian Roulette.

The two women who brought COVID-19 into Queensland should be named and have their photographs along with names published in online news outlets and print newspaper.

Their deliberate acts of avoidance and action could wreak havoc in the state. Who knows how many people they will be directly and indirectly responsible for infecting.

How much disruption to schools and businesses are they going to cause. How much are their deliberately selfish and wanton actions going to cost the Queensland government and related organisations.

How many people who were on their planes are likely to become infected. And how much will the damage of their eight days of abandoned behaviour finish up costing.

Could it be that those who they directly or indirectly infect, will finish up in hosiptal, ICU, or even dying. If serious ill-health or death is occasioned in others by their actions, they should be durther charged with grevious bodily harm, manslaughter or even murder.

There was no excuse for what they did and there should be no forgiveness.

The longer I think about COVID-19, the more bewildered I become and the angrier I get about the attitude of nonchalance and bravado demonstrated by many people do this wicked disease.

In particular, my anger is fuelled by people who should be in quarantine but breach the regulations surrounding their isolation.

This is now being added to by people who are endeavouring to cross locked down state borders by stealth, deception and by telling outright lies about their situations.

In Queensland:

• 125 skipped quarantine early.

• 25 were not in quarantine.

• 185 gave false information about where they were quarantining.

• 200 have disappeared into the state without a trace.

• 55 have been turned around at the border.

• One person was in the boot of a car.

In Victoria:

• 90% did not self isolate after feeling

unwell and before being tested.

• 53% did not isolate after the test and before the results confirmed them as COVID-19 positive.

• The flouting if restrictions Is epidemic.

Some breaching may be accidental but most is knowingly deliberate. Those who are apprehended deserve punishment that fits the seriousness of their crimes. The issuing of fines is a waste of time because in most instances these fines will never ever be paid.

What these people need (and unfortunately this cannot happen because of the democratic nature of our country, in which the rights of individuals are held to be paramount and more important than the needs of our collective society as a whole) is to experience of corporal punishment.

Caning of offenders would deter their further quarantine avoidance attempts. And it would discourage others who might consider testing the boundaries of restrictions.

It is these people who are putting all states and territories at terrible risk of spreading the contagion.

POINTS TO PONDER

COVID-19 is not being taken seriously.

The trouble with Victoria and New South Wales is that they are “following” the virus which is setting the agenda and authorities are then reacting, following in its wake. They should be anticipating the virus and introducing measures to counter its spread before a particular stage of infection is reached. Too much is being left to chance and good luck! And there is no good luck – it is all bad!!

Had they done this, facemasks would have been in a long time ago. Opening up hotels and clubs, gymnasiums and other places of entertainment so liberally would not have happened. It is in these places the COVID-19 festers. That is aggravated by people not exercising social distancing; they seem to find it hard to keep physically apart when drinking alcohol.

The other thing that goes hand in glove with this is the fact that people breaching quarantine are dealt with far too leniently. Fines that are being imposed will never be paid by the great majority. These people should now be locked up in detention centres, possibly those that were used when we had influxes of illegal immigrants coming from all over the world. Don’t worry too much about creature comforts; put them in a room with the very basics of life. Keep the doors locked deliver the most basic of meals and charge these people for their reprehensible conduct.

Another thing that sticks out like the nose on your face is the fact that 90% of people haven’t got a clue about what social distancing means and certainly don’t practice it when they’re out and about. Supermarkets have largely given up on trolley cleansing practices and the maximum number of people in shops at any one time is just a joke.

There’s too much that’s wrong with the processes that are in place when it comes to practical enforcement. It’s all about talk and not much action.

COVID-19 has revealed a distinct weakness in democracy. It is the rights of the individual and the arrant selfishness and lack of considerations for others is paramount and authorities can do little to meaningfully address the situation because individual rights have to be preserved at all costs.

A lot more of what is “advised”, needs to be “mandated”. Option response should not be part of the compliance equation.

POINTS TO PONDER

COVID-19 is not being taken seriously.

The trouble with Victoria and New South Wales is that they are “following” the virus which is setting the agenda and authorities are then reacting, following in its wake. They should be anticipating the virus and introducing measures to counter its spread before a particular stage of infection is reached. Too much is being left to chance and good luck! And there is no good luck – it is all bad!!

Had they done this, facemasks would have been in a long time ago. Opening up hotels and clubs, gymnasiums and other places of entertainment so liberally would not have happened.

The other thing that goes hand in glove with this is the fact that people breaching quarantine are dealt with far too leniently. Fines that are being imposed will never be paid by the great majority. These people should now be locked up in detention centres, possibly those that were used when we had influxes of illegal immigrants coming from all over the world. Don’t worry too much about creature comforts; put them in a room with the very basics of life. Keep the doors locked deliver the most basic of meals and charge these people for their reprehensible conduct.

Another thing that sticks out like the nose on your face is the fact that 90% of people haven’t got a clue about what social distancing means and certainly don’t practice it when they’re out and about. Supermarkets have largely given up on trolley cleansing practices and the maximum number of people in shops at any one time is just a joke.

There’s too much that’s wrong with the processes that are in place when it comes to practical enforcement. It’s all about talk and not much action.

COVID-19 has revealed a distinct weakness in democracy. It is the rights of the individual and the arrant selfishness and lack of considerations for others is paramount and authorities can do little to meaningfully address the situation because individual rights have to be preserved at all costs.

It would be wonderful if people could be trusted to do the right thing when self isolating or voluntarily quarantining under the 14 day rule. Unfortunately, far too many people cannot be trusted and that is evidenced by the thousands of dollars of fines already levied upon those caught. For every person caught, there are probably nine who are not apprehended, making this deliberate disobedience a risk to us all. Quarantine should be mandatory, supervised in an appropriate institution with the cost of accommodation bourne by the person in isolation.

—-

The two new mountain bike trails opened in Nitmiluk National Park will be a real fillip for nearby Katherine. Mountain biking is a burgeoning sport, one experiencing exponential growth and spectator interest. Competitor and spectator boost will be good for the town and region.

—-

The careless and lackadaisical way in which Victoria handled hotel quarantine and the self- centred attitude of those connected with the urge toward large family gatherings, have overwhelmed that state with an explosion of COVID-19. The Victorian situation is as bad as that in any American state.

—-

With the groundswell and reaction that has happened about the issue, I wonder if it is possible for police Constable Zachary Rolfe to be tried fairly and impartially in the NT Supreme Court. Surely his trial should be adjudicated by a judge only because establishing a jury of people who have not been impacted by public reaction, will be well nigh impossible.

—-

Millions and millions of dollars are being spent during this Australian COVID-19 crisis to ensure that people in quarantine do not breach their boundaries. Hundreds and hundreds of fines have been issued, most of which will never ever be paid, so they are deterrents in name only. There is no shame about breaching and in fact some breach on multiple occasions. Now we have people scaling barriers on the NSW/Queensland border in order to offend. There is no thought for others; these acts are wanton and selfish.

What these deliberately disobedience acts deserve is not jail. That would add additional cost to detention. Offenders need caning, that is a little of the type pf medicine meted out in some overseas countries for acts of this nature.

If caning was in, I’ll bet a dollar to five cents, there would be a swift end to thoughts about breaching quarantine restrictions.