2020 won't finish well but I suppose it lets us look to 2021 for some inspiration and determination.

Will society learn from the experience and be more considerate of others in future? Probably not.
Will governments learn from how they have led the country through the crisis trifecta of drought, fire and coronavirus? On the whole, highly likely. This hasn't happened in our generation, it's all unprecedented so it's understandable that in the first instance that government was not on top of the game. Most have caught up. One lags behind and will hopefully learn from that mistake.

The long term concern for us all is government debt. Keeping the economy above water has cost a lot ofmoney and the debt is hovering around the $700bn mark. It was right to spend that money but obviously I think it would have been preferable if there was no debt to begin with. It would have left us in a better situation to deal with what ultimately has to be paid back to bond holders at one time or another.

Once the economy has bounced back, the debt will need to be paid off as a matter of priority.

One other thing that the Commonwealth Government has on its plate that I fully support is the $270bn defence shield, consisting of defensive and attack missiles to deter or destroy missiles coming from China and North Korea. We may not be able to ctop the CCP sending us their viruses but with that gear we should be able to stop their ballistic missile attacks and fire off a few of our own for good measure.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

This is interesting !
2 people who tested positive for coronavirus from Lavington, which is about 4km from me went to Melbourne on a train and than took a Taxi to a Hot spot in Melbourne.
Both people were wearing Masks on the Train and in the Taxi.
They then returned back to the Albury area and became ill, They were traced to a bad known hot spot in Melbourne.
So even wearing the masks did them no good.
Both of them and family members are in isolation in Lavington.

So even wearing the masks did them no good.

I'm not surprised:

QUOTE: The current advice from the Australian Government Department of Health is that most people will not benefit from wearing a face (surgical) mask. There is little evidence supporting the widespread use of masks in healthy people to prevent transmission in public. In many cases providing face masks as a measure against COVID-19 is restricted to healthcare settings.

While I try to keep my distance from people as much as possible (and I completely avoid public transport), I am very careful to wash/sanitise my hands whenever I am out and about. Thankfully, most shops these days are providing access to hand sanitiser liquid.

I see heaps of people wear masks.

Yet these same people are touching surfaces such as handrails, lift/traffic light buttons, etc. Melbourne trains require the doors to be opened by hand (I use my elbow).

When you are out & about you do not touch anything. You also keep hand sanitiser on your person at all times just in case you have touched something.

At this stage I only wear a mask if I can't maintain social distancing. I have followed these precautions without fail since the start of the pandemic.

So far, so good.

Melbourne trains require the doors to be opened by hand (I use my elbow).

This is an energy-saving feature which really doesn't work and can be annoying and hold up the elderly who just expect the doors to open.

The first trains in Sydney to have that trialled were the C-sets in 1986. Thankfully not many of this model were made. A C-set is basically a K-set with Tangara traction and electricals and were a stop-gap to the arrival of the Tangaras which were of course late.

The same was then tried with the Tangaras when they rolled out and people protested that too. Some in Melbourne will remember a trial of a double-deck four car train down there on the only line that can accomodate them, it was rebadged as the 4D.

Many trains built for Sydney's railways since then have had the buttons fitted to the doors but the feature has never been re-enabled.

The new trams on the CBD-South East Light Rail did have that turned on when they started service but have reverted to all doors opening to avoid hand contact exchanges with the coronavirus. Hopefully they won't be changed back.

The safest trains of all, for an epidemic, are probably our old and much loved red rattlers. The doors weren't automatic and were often just left wide open unless it was raining or stone cold and there was no air conditioning to recycle the virus throughout the cars.

UPDATE: Here is the first (probably to be of many) who has been caught trying to run the gauntlet.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/dad-charged-after-allegedly-attempting-to-take-family-into-nsw/ar-BB16t7NR?ocid=msedgntp

He faces a maximum penalty of an $11,000 fine and/or six months in gaol. Don't drop the soap, old chap!

Here's another pair of idiots, stopped on the Newell Highway near the border and reported to be found with drugs and knives on board. An $11,000 fine will be the least of their worries when they finish in court.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/men-charged-after-trying-to-cross-nsw-border-with-illegal-drugs/ar-BB16tsdZ?ocid=msedgntp

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

You often see people from out of town waiting for the train door to automatically open.

The older Comeng train doors need muscle to open. Since covid I have devised a way to use my elbow. The newer Siemens (Sproggers) & Xtrapolis train doors at least have buttons (also elbow or umbrella). I think these could be configured to open automatically like Sydney trains.

Chinese do a Runner from Melbourne to NSW.

https://amp.abc.net.au/article/12432650

That reminds me of our V-sets, which were made by Comeng in the late 1970s and through to around 1984. The doors are a lot narrower as these are intercity trains and they are set so the guard can unlock them but they don't open by themselves but will close on command. This is a mechanical design issue and if the Comeng trains in Melbourne have the same door mechanisms it's probably not possible. That said, the V-sets were probably set up like that because they traverse snow country in the Blue Mountains and it'd not be ideal seeing the doors open at each stop unless they were being used. There is also a door between the vestibule and the saloon on these trains to make sure there's some sort of air lock in place. It's not wheelchair-friendly though so we won't see that feature on the new D-sets when they hit the rails soon.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Chinese ""I am too disappointed with this country ... so I changed my mind," Ms Li said. Go back home then, sheesh. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

"She said her research found that even before the COVID-19 crisis, life for Chinese students in Australia was not rosy, citing limited access to reliable local information and vulnerability to misinformation, racism and social exclusion, and restricted opportunities for intercultural mixing."

Better than arbitrary detention, charged with espionage or drug trafficking, and then put to death.

Brad do you remember the double-decker U-sets? (Or u-boats as we called them). They had a problem where if the battery went flat while stabled the train couldn't be prepared and were the proverbial dead duck. The V-sets fixed this issue, and the U-boats were all converted to trailers and became additional cars in V-set trains.

V sets are one of my favourite trains.

One night on a trip from Mt. Victoria back to Strathfield there was a stretch around Kingswood where the train hit near 130 kmh. That is pretty fast for an old electric train. Not sure about purple upholstery though.

Robert ! It's laughable to even compare China with Oz.

Last week they got busted importing
Tons and Tons of Human Hair ! It's believed it has come from their prison camps In China.
Boy that sets off alarm bells to me!
Anyway it's all in quantine .

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.9news.com.au/article/2221133e-5d96-4a5e-88fc-afed68b1cf15

A truely hair raising story Pete.

It never ceases to amaze at how dumb some of these crims are. The number that get pulled up around here and are caught by speeding and other idiotic actions that attract coppers like flies, is incredible. There was a lot of Chop Chop moving out of the area a few years back & the locals were patrolling the places like McDonald's carparks, & other highway rest areas etc. and of course the back roads.

Parking a lonely Ute in a patrolled car park, that absolutely stank of Tobacco, just has to be dumb and bound to attract attention.

Clearly, with road blocks it is only natural that those that do stupid things & the coppers are suspicious of, are going to get nabbed.

Brings up the line from a 60's protest song lyric, "What a field day for the Heat".

MonochromeTV, the purple (or plum as it is officially known) was rolled out in a mid life refit. Before that the seats were an olive green and the rest of the cabin a bit like burnt orange - very 1970s. The traction on the V-sets has big balls for two reasons. First is the length of the cars, they are several metres longer than regular suburban cars thus added weight. An 8-car V-set weighs around 470 tonnes, unladen. The second reason is that they have to climb just over 1,000 metres to get from Emu Plains to Blackheath.

If you want to feel the earth tremble, stand on the platform at Concord West station whilst one screams through on the run to Newcastle. If you stand too close to the platform's edge the last car will suck you onto the tracks. Though, yes, on the outer stretch of the Western Line they run pretty fast between Penrith and Blacktown.

They are about to be phased out, which is unfortunate. Despite their age they are solid trains and one can't help that there's another 20 years of service life left in them, though it's the same story - parts aren't available for them anymore. They came with a few firsts for an Australian train. They were the first with air conditioning and the first with airbag suspension, which is why they are so quiet.

Robert, I do remember the U-sets. In winter the conductor would put out these cans filled with hot oil to help warm up the cars on the Blue Mountains Line. I can't help thinking that no-one ever used the shutters that you could bring down over the windows. They used to rattle quite a bit. The U-sets had the same battery backup as all the older trains did but the trick was that some of them would be stabled for longer periods than the F and M sets, which were suburban cars. The battery was required to raise the old diamond pantographs.

With regard to Chinese propaganda relating to exclusion and discrimination - enough of the Chinese people, mainly students, have been to Australia and know that is all BS. There was a public repudiation of this in China a few weeks ago and it forced Chairman Xi to crawl back under his rock.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...