Australian Response

Unsurprisingly, some residents are starting to get uncomfortable with the policing of these restrictions, which they feel are disproportionately aimed at lower income and immigrant communities

First thing to understand; SA doesn't have special rules for Olympic athletes. These are the general rules.

Second thing; it isn't a rule they just made up. It's been in place for a while. If it comes as a surprise to the Olympic Committee, that's because the Olympic Committee didn't think to check until now. But, in truth, I doubt that it comes as a surprise to them.

The rule: In general, people are not permitted to enter SA from NSW.

Exceptions: There are a number of exceptions, one of which is for returning international travellers who have landed in Sydney. This is the one the Olympic athletes who reside in SA will be availing of. Anyone who has landed in Sydney will of course have completed 14 days hotel quarantine before they can return to SA. Up to last month SA would allow them to enter without further restrictions, but then there was a 7-day lockdown in Adelaide triggered by a returning international traveller who had contracted Covid while in quarantine in Sydney, returned to Adelaide, was out in the community while infectious and sparked the Modbury cluster. So now if an international traveller returns to SA, having been in quarantine in another state, they are required to complete 14-days self-isolation (at home, not in a quarantine facility) before going into the community.

It would be irrational to denounce Australia's lockdowns, and also to denounce measures that Australia takes to avoid the need for lockdowns.

.......Snowcats....yikes!

Are you saying that because the AOC didn't properly check the protocols, the SA athletes have an additional 14 days quarantine?

That's not what the SMH says:

"...The cricketer’s predicament came as it emerged the South Australian government also blindsided a group of returning Olympians by alerting the Australian Olympic Committee they would have to quarantine twice if they landed in Sydney, but only after the athletes had already left Japan."

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/devastating-sa-double-quarantine-sprung-on-olympians-while-flying-home-from-tokyo-20210812-p58i85.html

Next election in Australia is May 2022, when the current approach will be decided.

Not so simple - this is a joint state/federal policy. While immigration (and therefore international travel restrictions and quarantine for international arrivals) is a federal matter, health generally (and therefore lockdowns, social distancing and other restrictions, domestic travel restrictions, Covid testing and treatment) is a state matter. But much of what the states and territories do on those matters is financed by the federal government, which gives the feds some influence. Financial support for those affected by lockdown has been mainly provided by the federal government but the states are now doing a bit more in that regard. Vaccination administration is technically a state matter but the federal government has assumed responsibility for procurement and for much of the administration. They have made enough of a hames of it that the state governments have reasserted themselves and are now involved in administration (but still not in procurement).

In short, various aspects of pandemic policy are so intertwined that in practice they all have to be negotiated, and a joint federal/state approach agreed.

This process is being managed through the "national cabinet" which is a joint meeting of the federal prime minister and the premiers/first ministers of the states and territories. (It works on a nonpartisan basis, which is fortunate for the current (Liberal) government, since 5 of the 9 members of the national cabinet are Labour premiers/chief ministers.) The national cabinet process is generally seen to have worked pretty well.

Even if there's a change of government in the federal election in May 2022, that only changes one seat on the national cabinet. The other eight members form their own view about what implications that has for them.

Since the pandemic started five of the nine members of the national cabinet have faced elections (Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory). In each case the sitting government has been returned, which they are likely to take as an affirmation of the pandemic management policies they have been pursuing. So even if there's a change of government at the next federal election, that won't necessarily be a game-changer as regards pandemic policy. State and territory heads of government will ask themselves if the federal election outcome reflects public dissatisfaction with pandemic management policies (as opposed to other election issues) and, if it does, whether the national mood about that is mirrored in their own state or territory.

Much will of course depend on whether the opposition wins the election of a platform promising a different approach to pandemic management, or basically the same approach, just more competently executed, or something in between. So far they have certainly not been calling for a different approach, but who knows what their position will be next May?

Just 21 days to stop the spread now. Good luck with that. Given the language being used by the authorities in this article, you'll need it 😱 what could possibly go wrong?

I wonder what the next step will be when these don't work? This is already pretty extreme.

"To curb movement, more restrictions will come into effect from midnight on Monday and NSW Police will launch 'Operation Stay Home' — a 21-day crackdown with increased penalties.

To assist with the operation, the NSW Police have requested an additional 500 members of the Australian Defence Force, who will join the already 300 ADF personnel on the ground.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said too many people were using excuses relating to exercise, the singles bubble and regional travel and they needed to close these gaps.

"I honestly think we can get NSW of lockdown quicker [with these powers]," he said.

"These are some of the strongest powers we’ve ever had in the history of the NSW Police Force, as part of the government’s strategy to get in front of the virus in the coming weeks – it's all about getting ahead of Delta, not chasing it."