Whilst the name conjures up images of quick processing times and swift decisions, the policy is anything but. One paper went as far as to rename the ‘fast track’ process as “lethal hopelessness”.
It took a single announcement to shatter the last vestiges that ‘we’re all in this together’, with the state government letting the burden for its disastrous hotel quarantine scheme fall on marginalised communities in Melbourne’s north and west.
As the outrage of the Black Lives Matter movement spread globally, this time sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of violent Minneapolis police, Australia has been forced to confront their own race relations.
You may recall hearing the phrase ‘it’s a free country’ thrown around the schoolyard. It acts as a justification. It’s not a counter argument, it’s an on the spot defence, lacking in substance and without forethought.
It’s interesting to think about the left and right wing politics that have encapsulated my lifetime in a non-stop battle between everyone who wants the world to be a better place and everyone who’s afraid of change
A car radio plays nearby, feeding through evacuation information and the phone numbers of relief services. A few feet away, my boyfriend watches a press conference by Daniel Andrews, who tells us that, as of 9:30am, 28 people are missing.
