Opinion
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Trust me, I'm the government.
Sounds like a punchline, but it's what we've been practising these strange few months.
We've been asked to trust the government with new rules, to believe their experts, obey the authorities, allow billions of our dollars to be spent with little scrutiny so far. Go shopping now, but then not too much, stay isolated, keep the kids home from school, then suddenly send them back to school.
Despite decades of people losing trust in governments, owing to those governments' tendencies to put themselves before the people, we've been willing to trust.
Now it's time for that to be paid. It's not time to force through a political agenda - anyone's - in the name of recovery.
Some noises from governments have been worrying on this front.
Should we be concerned about the prevalence of executive alumni from fossil fuel companies, and the biggest of big business, on the National Covid-19 Co-ordination Commission?
Perhaps, when a leaked report shows it recommended the taxpayer underwrite a gas industry-led economic recovery, with regulations to be rapidly cut and limits on exploration removed.
We know the lingo: "red tape" is replaced by "red carpet" laid out to business; "green tape" in the form of environmental rules gives way to the "green light".
But, the Government's new "roadmap" for technology investment prioritises moves towards lower emissions - renewable energy, and gas. We shall see.
Will property developers and chancers jump in now, with applications for inappropriate projects in excess of planning regulations, with government backers saying this is no time for "red tape"?
Governments are sending out the signals that if you have a project, now would be the time to try and stand it up - and we'll help handle the resistance.
We're all keen for a jobs-driven recovery but we shouldn't have one without scrutiny. There's billions of dollars involved, not to mention the future of our towns and cities. We've seen what happens when big-spending programs go unchecked. Let's hope we're not led out of this crisis by cynical profiteers and their enablers.
For a moment we acted like we can trust our governments. Wasn't it nice to think they were acting in the people's best interests, instead of their own political party's?
For many people, trusting the government through this has been counterintuitive. But it's worked. Let's hope the rest of this year doesn't give us reason to go all the way backwards again.