New South Wales Liberal Premier, Gladys Berejiklian may be forgiven for being unaware of the blow to the head she delivered to the people of NSW yesterday.
It’s apparent that the people of New South Wales are not going to let her forget it.
The Premier advocated two contradictory messages.
In her 8:01am posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram supporting the R.U.OK day mental health campaign, the premier wrote: “Reach out to ask a loved one if they are okay.”
This was later negated by a press conference where Berejiklian doubled down on her government’s stubborn – and unconstitutional – mandatory vaccination policy.
“It would be extremely careless and reckless if anybody welcomed someone who wasn’t–if you’re vaccinated–I, myself, would not want to be anywhere with someone who’s not vaccinated,” she said.
The residents of New South Wales – still in lockdown, and now facing harsh penalties for disobeying new ‘no jab, no job’, no shop, no life public health orders – took to social media en masse to protest.
Berejiklian’s Instagram post drew a flood of criticisms noting the dissonance between her “love your neighbour”, and her “steer well clear of them.”
One Instagram user wrote, “I think you’ll find people are NOT OK Gladys. Stop with you[r] virtue signalling and end your totalitarian policies.”
Another said, “Not really. Our premier is removing our freedom and impacting our human rights. But I’m sure you’re ok hon.”
With another asking, “Is this a sick joke?”
Then another, “This should be: ‘are you ok, only if you agree with our agenda day. If you don’t, we will outcast you from society, insult and ridicule you.’ [You’re] causing the worst mental health this country has seen in my lifetime. But hey…thanks for the feel-good post!”
These aren’t anomalies and were not from bot accounts. Also worth noting, the majority were blunt, but respectful.
Responses to the Premier on Facebook and Twitter were similar in scale and content.
The response indicates that there is a monumental grassroots tidal shift against the current Government. One that may well end in an eruption of heated non-stop protests, and non-violent civil disobedience, rather than subservience.
Berejiklian’s only credit on the day rests in allowing her social media posts to be open for comments.
Scott Morrison left no room for criticism.
The Australian Prime Minister’s platitudes were soured by the (strategic?) decision to disable comments on his RUOKday video.
The Prime Minister, ironically, asked people to reach out to one another.
Acknowledging that Australians are not OK, and encouraging them to speak up, while at the same time blocking comments, only served to make the Prime Minister look like a cold-shouldered, indifferent hypocrite.
If the Premier and Prime Minister’s counterparts in the Australian Labor Party are not paying attention to this, and thus formulating a complete reversal/alternative that preserves civil liberties, reads and respects the Australian constitution (as it is written), they’re not just morons missing the perfect opportunity to present themselves as the “adults in the room”, they’re not fit to govern either.