April Fools
One 1st April 2020, Premier Daniel Andrews announced a “Huge expansion of our health system to fight Coronavirus”.
It outlined $1.3 billion to ‘quickly establish an extra 4,000 ICU beds’. This would add to the 450 ICU beds already in place across the state.
Another $1.2 billion was announced for ‘equipment’ such as ‘551 million gloves, 100 million masks and 14.5 million gowns’.
The $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion were on top of $537 million previously announced for `more beds, ICU equipment and PPE’.
In total, the April Fools announcement gave Victoria at least 4,450 ICU beds.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, said the lockdowns were about ‘flattening the curve’ so the hospitals could cope.
“In Victoria today there are 52 people in hospital with the virus, 16 are in ICU. That leaves another 4,434 ICU beds procured for COVID-19, empty.
“You would have to argue that the curve has been flattened and the system can cope,” Mrs McArthur said.
“Yet 517 days since that April Fools announcement, the whole of Victoria remains in lockdown, curfews are in place, shops are shut, schools are closed and people are desperate.
“Either the April One investment was made, or it was not.
“Are we in lockdown because this ‘massive task’, as the Premier described it, has not been achieved? And if not, where has the money gone?
“Because if these beds exist, then we should not be in lockdown,” Mrs McArthur said.
When announcing the $1.3 billion, the Premier said he was “...preparing Victoria’s healthcare system to rise to the challenge”.
“Since then, it seems every Victorian has risen to the challenge of being locked up, except the Premier, his Government and the CHO. Their Hotel Quarantine debacle cost 801 lives.
“They are the April Fools in this announcement – but Victorians are bearing the brunt of their callous, inept, undemocratic tyranny.
“We have become the laughing-stock of the world.
The Premier’s April 1st media release also said: “None of us want to see the scenes from Milan, New York and other parts of the world happening here in Victoria.”
“Wrong again Premier. Victorians would love to have our economy open, streets busy, shops full and a community that is ready to live with the virus,” Mrs McArthur said.
The former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the April 1 investment was needed to “…save lives and help us get to the other side of the crisis”.
“In truth, this Government’s cruel decision making is costing lives – even of our young.
“It’s time the Premier told us what ‘the other side of this crisis is’ - and when - because zero cases is not it.”
31 August 2021