The Queensland government is giving the message that voting in the election is more important than Covid 19

Over 3,000,000 on the electoral role in Queensland have been told they have to vote this Saturday or be fined. This is despite the Prime Minister  putting the country in lock down with the exponential rise of Covid 19.

The compulsory voting on Saturday flies in the face of what the Government is trying to achieve in slowing the spread. The directive from the Prime Minister is to stay home and visiting only essential businesses such as supermarkets, banks, petrol stations, pharmacies convenience stores and bottle shops. Nowhere on the list of essential services is a Voting Booth. Voting is non-essential and can be arranged to be completed online. It’s better than risking the lives of the people of Queensland

Telling people, they have to vote gives a mixed message to the people and clearly the government have their priorities in the wrong order.

Currently there are 2317 confirmed cases in Australia with 8 deaths. Queensland has the third highest recorded cases with 397 people confirmed with Covid 19.

The government cannot guarantee the virus wont spread by observing the distancing rules and hand washing. They have been advised it's 'low risk'! but the NSW health minister who assessed the 150 sick people disembarking from the Ruby Princess as low risk got it wrong and 130 have tested positive with 1 death. This could have been avoided. 

The government are consistently making mistakes, like the Centrelink debacle. They didn’t think through the registration process for claims and thousands of people lined up to register not observing the social distancing rules. This should have been anticipated and better planned and now Centrelink are scrambling to get this online. Who knows what the ‘fall out’ will be from this!

Voting needs to be cancelled, arranged online and people need to stay home where they are safe. The government need to set a good example and show what is important.