It seems so unjust.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We Canberrans do all the right things. We lock ourselves up when told to do so. We go around bowing to each other like nodding donkeys. We knock elbows instead of shaking hands.
And we then get our just reward of a clean bill of health - only to be lumped in as pariahs with slack NSW when it comes to blocks on travel.
Out of the blue, Queensland has announced that from tomorrow, Canberrans will also be barred from the sunshine state because of the situation in Sydney.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says he was given no advance warning.
It is true that the authorities can't announce that a block on travel is about to be imposed too far in advance, because then everyone makes plans to hit the road so they can get through before the barriers go up. But a quiet premier-to-premier phone call out of simple courtesy would have been nice.
The decision matters. It's not just a matter of inconvenience.
Canberra Airport, for example, has been moving heaven and earth to try to get destinations opened. The longer its runways remain quiet, the more likely it is that jobs there will go - jobs needed by Canberrans and New South Welshmen just over the border.
Mr Barr said Queensland's decision showed it was "a fact of life" that most jurisdictions were treating the ACT and NSW the same.
A much more sensible move by the Queensland government would have been to restrict entry to those from greater Sydney.
It is a fact of life. The brutal reality is that thinking of the ACT as some sort of independent entity on a par with the state surrounding it would be like thinking of Monaco as independent of France.
It's true that Monaco has a lot of rich yacht-dwellers fleeing from higher taxes in the rest of the world. And who can doubt its independence when it comes to organising a noisy motor race or a casino?
But on the big things, it doesn't diverge from French policy. It uses the euro even though it's not in the European Union; its citizens speak French; its foreign policy is the same as France's; nobody but the yacht-dwellers feels a different atmosphere.
Tails don't wag dogs, might be its motto.
And perhaps also that of the government of the Australian Capital Territory.
The truth is that if the ACT gets out of line with the way NSW does things, people vote with their cars.
When the pubs opened in Queanbeyan and remained closed in the ACT, thirsty Canberrans took a drive over.
When the pokies were relaxed over the border but not in Canberra, there was an exodus of gamblers.
Clubs ACT chief executive Gwyn Rees estimated that almost half of those signing in to Queanbeyan pubs and clubs were from Canberra.
The truth is that the border is more in the minds of politicians protecting their own turf.
Do the citizens of Oaks Estate think of themselves as Canberrans, or do they think of themselves as living on the outskirts of Queanbeyan?
It is mostly in dealings with government that the difference is noticeable.
During the bushfires last summer, the Rural Fire Service of NSW seemed far less bureaucratic than its counterpart in the ACT.
READ MORE:
And there's a difference in atmosphere.
Can there be any fleeting fashion not embraced in the voguish quarters of the ACT?
From electric scooters to metal straws, Canberrans are at the forefront, where Queanbeyanites and Yassians lag behind - sensibly.
None of this argument absolves the Queensland authorities from their poor decision on the current border closure.
It must have looked like a no-brainer in Brisbane, but they were wrong. This terrible crisis has two aspects, the health one and the economic one - 3000 soon to be former employees of Virgin Australia will tell you that.
At the moment, the uncontrolled pandemic seems more important than the quiet tragedy of countless livelihoods being destroyed.
Minimising the mounting economic pain demands a finely targeted response to the health crisis. It demands a scalpel and not Queensland's pick-axe.
Just as Canberra Airport suffers, so will the airports of Queensland through which the spenders of money from Canberra pass. The enterprises of the Gold Coast need money, too.
A much more sensible move by the Queensland government would have been to restrict entry to those from greater Sydney, where infections are out of control, but to allow in entrants from the "clean" ACT.
It is becoming clear that we may have to live with the virus for a long time. We can't just close down absolutely everything to halt it.
People's livelihoods matter, too.
- Steve Evans is a reporter at The Canberra Times.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
