Australia is lucky we had Morrison for PM in a crisis | Wheeler's Wisdom

How shallow were the "gotchas"?

Andrew Clennell from Sky News deserved the mockery poured on him for that "in-depth" question about bread and petrol.

Andrew Bolt did the best job of the night by asking Clennell the price of a kilo of mince.

You don't have to be the PM to not know petrol prices. Why do Wagga drivers go to major-brand service stations? Wagga prices last Thursday night for ULP 91 ranged from 179.9c, down to 164.9 at the Apco in Hammond Avenue.

Why didn't the PM ask: "Who in the Gallery knows where to buy the cheapest petrol in Canberra?"

The silence would have been deafening.

Many journalists showed that they didn't know the facts behind their dumb questions.

States are responsible for health.

Gladys Berejiklian wouldn't allow RAT tests last September. WA only lifted their ban in January! So why would the federal government have bought a stockpile?

Last August, this column talked about Brisbane company Ellume, which sold its entire Brisbane production of RAT tests to the US because in Australia, self-testing of notifiable diseases was illegal.

The US Government provided Ellume with $231.8 million to build a factory in Maryland to accelerate production.

In October, Victoria purchased 2.2 million RATs to be administered by professionals in high-risk settings.

Government experts - the "science" - didn't accept RATs until November. By that time, RATs had become hard to obtain.

Blame health experts. But don't our leaders make the decisions?

When Dominic Perrottet went against health advice and opened NSW, the ABC was scathing. They can't have it both ways.

Vaccine shortages?

If our Press Gallery colleagues doesn't know the history they shouldn't have their jobs.

Australia bet on AstraZeneca because it was cheap, already successful in Britain, and could be made in Australia.

Queensland University had a very effective vaccine in trials, but it fell over when it was shown to give false HIV positives!

Pfizer was but one of a number of companies that had a vaccine in development. They wanted a multi-million dollar advance before they would accept orders, for a vaccine that didn't yet exist! The Pfizer vaccine was going to need ultra-deep freeze facilities, so it was thought to be impractical for outback areas.

Should the government have advanced Pfizer hundreds of millions for a vaccine that could've been a dud?

The problem now is not a lack of vaccines; it is the resistance of people who don't want protection.

If the Liberal/National Government is going to be judged on its COVID record, then we should ask Anthony Albanese to defend Labor's record in Victoria, Queensland and WA.

We in NSW had our freedom while Labor states had lengthy lockdowns. And note, that Labor's Health Shadow Minister in NSW, Ryan Park, has regularly called for Victorian-style lockdowns in NSW.

Liberal NSW has by far the best hospitals, and the most new hospitals, which, of course, includes Wagga.

Labor WA would rank last. In January, the Broome hospital ran out of a host of supplies, including sutures, swabs, scissors, surgical gloves, patient gowns and even epidural kits, according to The Australian.

In WA, people are coming to realise that their border isn't open because Labor Premier McGowan fears COVID would overrun hospitals during the federal election campaign. Victoria's death toll during the early days of COVID shouldn't be forgotten, and Queensland has more public servants but fewer nurses.

If ever there was a test for a Prime Minister under fire, it was Morrison during the Press Council barrage. He had no need to apologise. Australia has one of the lowest COVID death rates in the world and one of the best performing economies in the OECD, easily contrasted with Labor, the party of lockdowns.

Morrison was at the Press Club to outline future policy but was hijacked by journalists pursuing their own political agenda. It is Laura Tingle who should apologise for overwhelming political bias while on the public payroll.