Message from the Publisher #10

What we can learn from this mistake?

Dear Readers,

For more than 100 days, Melburnians have been isolated at home and become another species different from others in Australia. At present, restrictions have been eased and businesses are looking forward to 2 November or earlier to re-open.

There are a lot of learnings in this period.

We are now all wearing masks, not to be seen as sick, but as a love sign to protect others.

Over 15,000 people even with minor syndromes are tested every day, NOT to find out who is infected but to be confirmed that we are fit to interact with others.

We all stay at home, slowing and diminish our interaction with others, so that spread of the coronavirus is also slowed. With efficient contact tracing, we can contain the pandemic even if someone unfortunately is infected. We always clean our hands and keep social distance with others so that others are protected.

Many of us have suffered. Some feel depressed and lonely, others become desperate and full of helplessness. Those who cannot visit their loved ones may have a sense of guilt. Those who lost their loved ones even have regret that could never be forgotten.

What can be and should be done?

The Hotel Quarantine Inquiry was set up to find out what had been wrong in the government to have Victorians exposed in this disaster. A health minister and Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet had resigned in the process of inquiry. We are still unsure who had decided employing private security guard services.

We hope that the truth can be revealed and Victorians finally can know why all this ordeal has happened.

We understand that no government has enough experience to know the right path to be out of this situation. But we need to know what mistakes we had committed. And we need to have people who had made the wrong decisions to be accountable.

We need to learn from this mistake that Australians will no longer suffer like the Victorians in the past months.

Raymond Chow