Survey on COVID-19's impact and management

Labor's introduction of Medicare in 1984 caused many if not most surgeons to withdraw their services from NSW public hospitals, including obstetricians. Some left for 5 years (orthopods). A resultant medical delivery mishap meant we have only one child. I was resentful at the time, but more accepting now, as I don't know how we would have been able to insulate more children from the long term financial impact on them of the Covid pandemic.

The incompetence and arrogance of the Victorian Labor Government and their bureaucrats has inflicted catastrophic damage upon the State and the entire country, yet, they will not be held accountable for their mis-deeds.

As Alan Jones in "This country is a mess" on 8 September 2020, "how can you handcuff a pregnant woman yet allow 10,000 people to protest (insert certain three letters here) ?".

Jack Mordes - "Never did I think that a pregnant woman would be handcuffed for merely saying she would protest against the Government. This is not the Australia with which my family sought refuge. My mother cannot believe that at 78, she again finds herself under effective house arrest in a democratic Australia".

There are limits to the ability of the government to keep paying out. In all states except Victoria it needs to be cut back, in Victoria it should be continued.

It needs to be cut back in Victoria as much as everywhere else, if not more. The idiots who support Dan Andrews will only realise the economic and social harm he is causing once they stop receiving handouts from the Federal government.

Wage growth has been slow in recent years without any increase to the SG. In that time proportion of profit to shareholders has grown as compared to workers. The proposals to defer/cancel the SG rise is further evidence of declining worker bargaining power.

I'm hoping that Australians will develop more of a savings culture rather than consuming for the sake of it. Some rigour and frugality would not go astray.

Nothing further for the Socialist Republic of Victoria

And if it goes too far would prolong the recession. Like it or not, modern society needs people to buy things or services to employ people to make or provide them. Consuming for the sake of it is a total misnomer. People consume what others produce in order to create the environment in which others will consume what they produce, so that everyone has a chance of feeding their families, providing a home, enjoying some entertainment, etc. Once you stop doing that, it all implodes and the number of people who struggle increases.
The seemingly 'righteous' approach of urging everyone to be frugal is actually a recipe for increased poverty. We see religious leaders all the time urging people to cut back on being 'consumerist' but they are also the first to call for governments to create jobs when recessions hit, little realising the inconsistency of their position.

Post COVID, people will work from home much more than they did previously. This has lifestyle and environmental benefits. Children will see more of their parents. However, another consequence will be a mountain of public debt that our children will be required to repay one way or another. Also, hopefully the Ponzi scheme of housing in Australia will falter (though many many experience great hardship if this occurs).

I question what people needed their super capital for given the government largess, along with the generosity displayed by banks re loan commitments and landlords re rental properties. If there was a desperate need for this capital, it feels like it was present before CV-19. Now with some balances decimated, the call for the SGC increase to proceed seems inappropriate. If super is "your money", tax concessions should be examined. Perhaps a better strategy is to allow low income people to take the equivalent of the SGC in wages and save the unnecessary administration associated with the super system for those individuals. Having your cake and eating it is not the real purpose of super.

Living in retirement and being financially "OK" is not going to get easier.

The world is going to take some time to drag itself out of the damage caused by CV19. World trade will diminish with weaker economies and rising protectionism/nationalism.This will result in a period of consolidation and change which will affect the markets.

The whole virus situation is here to stay forever and we need to plan for the next incursion by a virus and put in place a sensible plan both at a personal level and government level. We can all take steps to help ourselves and thereby lessening the aid needed by governments.

JobKeeper has delayed the worst of the recession to date and may have reduced the permanent closure of many businesses, but will leave an awful debt for future generations. It's a tough question.

Jobkeeper probably needs some re-engineering to work in the scenario that it is required for much longer.

The government (ie other taxpayers) have provided a safety net which allows individuals and businesses to determine future employment and opportunities. Zombie businesses cannot be supported indefinitely.

Some people unfortunately use the benefit as a hammock rather than a safety net.

It's an absolute joke, is what it is. You have two sorts of people - those of us who are still working (regardless of salary) and those who earn LESS than $1500 a fortnight who are now getting the full whack (if you don't believe me, read Scott Pape's column from a few weeks ago, where a uni student was getting it and had gone from earning $100 a week to this, and didn't know what to do with the extra cash).

My wife works in a bank and the amount of people who have been coming in to deposit their cash, then spend it all on smokes, grog and gambling is amazing.

Why would you ever want this to end so that you had to go back to work, if someone is paying you $1,500 a fortnight to sit around with the guarantee that your job is safe ?!

So many new investors coming into the market without experience leads eventually to last stage of bull market.

There is no likelihood of a vaccine for at least another year and a half. Therefore we are not likely to see a recovery back to pre-Covid days before two years.

We are retired not worried about our health, not worried about investments, not educating our kids, not caring for elderly parents (they live on a different continent). What we are worried about is the impact on our young working children (in their 20s) and the increased need for the Bank of Mum and Dad to help out due to their loss of income.

There has been no wage growth for years so you cannot say that the SGC increase would stop any wage growth. The increase has already been delayed various times as it seems there is never a 'right' time to introduce it.

I have friends who lost their workforce because of generosity of job keeper. I agree with jobkeeper, but some distortion of economy occurs. Austerity great failure in Greece, need to learn from it, and act carefully.

we are going to have to manage and live with Covid19. Eradication is not a realistic objective

Fully agree. What has become clear is that while govts can ask for people to "do the right thing" a not insignificant proportion of the population only care about themselves. Future planning needs to accept, even if we don't like it, that people WILL continue to spread this when things open up. All the stats are based only on those who have presented for testing, I expect many of those who are self-centered will not likely get tested even with reasonably severe symptoms, and I would be surprised if any of these likely spreaders have the covid safe app on their phones. We need to focus on the most vulnerable; nearly all deaths are those over 70/80 who fortunately can be isolated with minimal impact on jobs & the economy. Locking down the whole population because a small subset needs protection simply cannot go on forever. We need a big dose of pragmatism.

Absolutely right. There needs to be a focus on where the problems lie. Mainly workers in the medical and aged care sectors subject of course to proper management of new arrival lock down situations.
For the rest, we need to get back to normal working and living conditions with a clear focus on common sense. Why would one need to wear a mask in the middle of a sports oval when the nearest person is twenty or more metres away! Sure, you need to have a mask with you and to wear it if you are within, say, three metres from others. Has there been one golfer go down with the virus? I have not heard of one. The damage to business, mental health and small business in particular is way out of proportion to the few lives saved.

Hardship provisions exist in Super - and that is the mechanism that should have been used.

Australia's early access scheme was simple but, in not asking some further questions, undermined the long term purpose of super.

Personal debt levels have decreased in the whole, which is a good thing. But recessions bring unemployment and business and consumer confidence could be down for years.

Re super access: People needed money and had to be given the right to take control of their future.

Triple M had a phone-in a few weeks ago, people went and spent it on gambling, paying down debt and speculating on the sharemarket. One person got cosmetic chest surgery and another person bought a used car because they viewed it as "their money" and they spent it on rubbish. They weren't starving to death.

Many people do not save anything - and Super is the only savings they have (because it is "forced" on them). And now we have allowed them to go and raid that for dubious purposes. The money taken from Super should have been treated as a "loan" that they needed to automatically repay much like a student HECS/HELP debt so that their super balances eventually recover.

The legacy of the federal government putting the economy ahead of the lives of the elderly, will stain the country forever.

The evidence is that they have been doing the exact opposite and prioritising health over the economy. How is that the lives of the elderly are so neglected when total deaths in nursing homes are actually less this year than last year.