Brendan’s point towards the end of this interview that Covid is now a ‘toxic’ political issue that…

Brendan’s point towards the end of this interview that Covid is now a ‘toxic’ political issue that politicians won’t touch, is so important. At the end of 2021 some politicians decided to weaponise public health action for electoral gain. It failed, they lost badly. But…/1 https://t.co/7TMjVmnV5Z

…the legacy they left us makes it now seem impossible for existing leaders to do anything about Covid at all. That’s not actually true, bipartisan action could shift things. But State elections then got in the way, Victoria and now NSW. Elections are a total hindrance. /2

Name one complex problem that was ever solved using popularity as a method. There isn’t one. That’s why vital social processes are always run by non-elected officials, not by politicians. There are objectively known risk management methods to be applied, and a politician’s…/3

…only job there is to build public support for that objective action. Not to create their own version of public health, to try to drum up votes. We’ve been here before with climate change. We can only hope that once the nonsense of the NSW election is out of the way, there…/4

…may be some breathing space at National Cabinet level to try to turn the Covid disaster around. But I’m not holding my breath, societies that vest ultimate authority in popularity cannot survive. /ends