When the PM starts to quote Kyle Sandilands you know you're on shaky ground. But that's where we're at, Australia.
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Scott Morrison was explaining the decisions of the latest National Cabinet meeting when he said he agreed with Mr Sandilands' "vaccine anthem" - Get Vaxxed Baby.
Suppression, Mr Morrison said, was the way to handle the COVID outbreak.
And so after another three-figure day in NSW when the state's leader used the words "national emergency", Mr Morrison said National Cabinet had made tweaks to the vaccine program in order to get as many people covered by first doses of vaccines in NSW as quickly as possible.
It's hard to know whether a tweak is a suitable response to a "national emergency". Guess we'll see.
Either way that was the big takeaway from the PM's late Friday chat. That and also that there's no need for a "ring of steel around Sydney" as suggested by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
After the year that was 2020, Mr Andrews is a fierce advocate of those steel rings. And with his state and South Australia now locked down after the highly infectious Delta variant leaked across the border from NSW, who can blame him.
On a completely different note, let's hope the good people of Greater Sydney (ring or no ring) didn't buy the schtick from Lorna Jane that ended up costing the Aussie business big today.
The activewear queens launched an ad campaign a year ago which included the tag: "Cure for the Spread of COVID-19? Lorna Jane Thinks So".
Smack, bang in the middle of Australia's first COVID-19 outbreak, the company claimed its anti-virus gear had been sprayed with a substance called "LJ Shield", which protected people against pathogens.
Ummm, well, OK then.
Possibly not surprisingly, authorities took a dim view of this - particularly as it was not just stores but the company's website and associated social media platforms that spruiked the same message.
In the Federal Court on Friday, Justice Darryl Rangiah said Lorna Jane sought to "exploit the fear and concern" surrounding the deadly outbreak. He described the behaviour as "exploitative, predatory and potentially dangerous".
The company has blamed a "trusted supplier" and thought it was "passing on a benefit to our customers".
Yeah, nah.That thought cost the business $5 million - and a whole lot of credibility.
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Janine Graham
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
