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Your views: on border control, W&CH, wine dumping, AFL finals and electric cars

Today, readers comment on SA-Vic travel restrictions, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, China’s wine probe, Adelaide’s AFL finals push and the future of road transport.

Aug 20, 2020, updated Aug 20, 2020
Photo: Kelly Barnes/AAP

Photo: Kelly Barnes/AAP

Commenting on the story: Border debate: SA’s response a “best guess”

Surely we should be protesting in concert at the terrible treatment of our border towns – both those of SA and Victoria – at the moment.

We are destroying community and people in a way that we apparently can’t imagine here in the city. I hope we can make that stop by a united call to the people who are making the decision. Cathy Chua

Politicians and the elite bureaucracy need to do more than ‘best guess’ anything. And they certainly don’t get off the hook because they ‘mean well.’

The idea that international students can be flown in to this country to ‘stimulate the economy’ while people who live in this state, and happen to be on the wrong side of the border at a given time are refused entry is a disgrace!

And there is no justification what-so-ever for this absurd situation to be allowed to stand.

Open the borders to our people, now! – Gary MacRae

Is this best guess or just good commonsense? Why do we polarise between two implacably opposed beliefs?

For some, changing all our habits to deal with the virus is a waste of time, it is better to let the eventual “herd immunity” enable us to keep the economy running. 

Yet for others, apparently the majority, life is precious. 

Destroying the economy is regrettable but acceptable with hard lockdowns, quarantine, closing business and wearing of PPE before being allowed to pick up basics from shops.

Neither of these two polarised standpoints appreciates or pays heed to the consequences of their mutually disastrous approaches.

The SA Government has by all accounts applied commonsense solutions, targeting best outcomes from a combination of four actions. 

This has allowed SA life to continue, without the need for Victoria style life-sucking hard lockdowns (lockups) that destroy lives and the economy. 

Without the benefit of relevant medical qualifications, only the benefit of commonsense, surely we can let the grown-ups in the room manage mandates? 

Such as mandatory testing of all international arrivals, followed by an eight to 14-day quarantine depending on risk. Retest at four-day intervals with fast results before safe release. Managed by Police and ADF, not security guards or healthcare workers.

Hygiene. Build strong personal immune systems, keep fit, eat right, wash hands, use PPE as mandated, regularly wash areas where community infection can spread. For individuals at risk or incapacitated where personal care and management required, look after them in existing healthcare care managed restricted access facilities or in quarantined locations. 

Maintain social distancing outside of the direct family, enforced outside by local volunteer marshals. Fast, accurate contact tracing and testing. Nail outbreaks and target quarantine at the source of infection.

Maybe then we can open state and territory borders and restart the economy, get on with our lives under changed circumstances and not head down the path of economic and mental health armageddon. – Clive Wallace

If one is still free to comment in this country without fearing a knock on the door, I reject the comment by Grant Stevens that “some decisions will be retrospectively branded unfair”. 

What Stevens and Marshall are proposing with regard to international students and border communities in the SE of our state is outrageous beyond words. Matthew Buck

Commenting on the opinion piece: Women’s and Children’s Hospital is in good shape, actually

Unfortunately for lots of the general public, the current issues around the Women’s and Children’s Hospital are out of sight, out of mind. I mean, you don’t need the WCH, until you do.

Following complications with our child’s birth last year, my partner and I saw almost all of the WCH as treatment followed in various departments, including the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and other wards until discharge. Following discharge, we’ve been back multiple times for appointments with various departments. 

The doctors, nurses and other staff are among the best in the world, the level of care they provide is unrivalled and for that we will be forever grateful. They truly are heroes. However, the conditions they work in are simply unacceptable for somewhere like Adelaide.

There is no doubt the hospital has been left over many years to fall apart, with the panacea of the new WCH as the reason why. But the new hospital won’t be ready until 2026; and with COVID, who knows whether that date will be met; I for one hold serious doubts.  

For those brave doctors and staff to speak out with their concerns should show everyone what the situation is and cause genuine alarm and concern amongst the public. The dismissive nature of the WCH administration, SA Health and the State Government as a whole to these concerns is hugely disappointing.  

 We see Government ministers wrongfully claiming allowances, we see both parties shifting hundreds of thousands of dollars through Global Allowance entitlements to seats for campaigning, yet there’s not enough money to fix the hospital where our sick kids go?

This should piss off everyone who pays tax in South Australia! This should not stand! 

So to the brave doctors, nurses and staff of the WCH, I say bravo. We stand with you. Keep making yourselves heard until the appropriate level of care and conditions are implemented to help treat our sick and injured women and children. Lives will depend on it. – name supplied

Commenting on the story: Govt bins wine-dumping claims in China

As there are so many Chinese owned wineries and vineyards in Australia, perhaps it is the wine produced by Chinese producers in Australia that is being dumped in China! – Prue Sutton

Commenting on the story: State Govt pushing for AFL finals at Adelaide Oval

The AFL would do well to consider the following when making their decision as to where to hold the 2020 AFL Grand Final.

Queensland – The Gabba. Capacity 42,000, has apparently been successful with AFL teams in hubs. Queensland is also a commited rugby state.

Perth – Optus Stadium. Capacity 60,000. Stadium is sponsored by OPTUS! Telstra is one of AFL’s main sponsors. Go figure.

Adelaide Oval – capacity 53,000, Partly sponsored by Telstra. Proven ability to successfully host big events, including AFL, concerts, cricket and rugby.

The AFL should choose Adelaide Oval over all other candidates. SA has been the real home of grassroots Aussie rules football for years. Trevor Synnett

Commenting on the story: SA near bottom of class with electric vehicle efforts

By October I will have been driving my electric car for five years.

It’s the only car my partner and I have. When we decided we only needed one car it was easier to justify the price to ourselves.

At the time I looked with envy at government incentives in a variety of countries from Armenia, where all government ministers were to be issued electric vehicles to Norway, where, as in many other nations,  policies are set to make electric car purchases more attractive than petrol cars.

When you look into it, it’s astounding how long many governments have been pushing car owners into a non-fossil fuel world of mobility. Penny Gale

Australian drivers it seems are ready to embrace electric vehicles. That’s great because as a nation we need to reduce our reliance on imported oil, address climate and health impacts associated with the current vehicle fleet, and keep pace with global changes.

We should be aiming to reap the full benefit, and not be run-over by unmanaged change in the absence of clear and positive direction from governments – especially the Federal Government.

Yet, following what ought to have been an influential Parliamentary inquiry on this topic, there has been a surprising lack of national leadership. 

As your article highlights, a number of States and Territories are lagging behind as well. However, some important reforms like aligning fuel standards with other nations do require national leadership – which has been lacking for some time.

Measures like installing electric vehicle charging stations are ideal ways governments can help to quickly generate employment-intensive economic activity that is sorely needed in 2020 and 2021. 

We need a plan with quick delivery! Jim Allen

What a great opportunity for SA to develop an electric vehicle manufacturing industry perhaps under licence to one of the big overseas electric vehicle manufacturers, possibly utilising part of the former Holdens Elizabeth plant.

This should be investigated by government and industry leaders. Also an opportunity for country towns to install electric vehicle charging stations, promote this and increase tourism whilst providing these necessary facilities throughout the state.

The state government should lead by committing to purchasing more electric buses and also vehicles for the state government car fleet. John Zwar

All governments should stay out of the vehicle market place.

One has only to look at the mess they created in the energy market – huge ongoing subsidies and market priority to unreliable renewables at the expense of base load generators forced to operate inefficiently, thus increasing costs. No wonder our electricity prices have risen so much lately.

This leads on to how large numbers of electric vehicles obtain their recharging electricity. It won’t be from renewables for many years yet.

We need to sort out the electricity market for cheaper reliable power before wasting any more money on electric vehicles. Ian Youles

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