The Coronavirus, As Seen Through The Eyes Of A Right-Wing Shock Jock
"There are other issues here that are very serious issues, and I don't regard the virus as one of them," said breakfast radio host Alan Jones.
Alan Jones, 78, is one of Australia's most popular and influential radio broadcasters. As the coronavirus has swept the globe, the conservative Jones has continually played down its threat to his hundreds of thousands of listeners, preferring to focus on business and the economy.
Here is a timeline of Jones over the past month:
On Feb. 28, when there were 25 confirmed cases in Australia, Jones had prime minister Scott Morrison on his 2GB breakfast show.
Jones: "You've got to balance up the health concerns of the nation but also not alarm people unnecessarily ... You have said children can still go and play with their friends down the street, you can still go to the concert, you can go and get a Chinese meal, you can still travel internationally. So you've got to reduce the temperature a bit."
The PM was back on March 4. Jones wanted to know — what is wrong with us?
Jones: "Hysteria seems to have taken over, and what is wrong with us? What is next, are we going to have bunkers in the backyard? This is a real concern ...
"Now, there are other issues here that are very serious issues, and I don't regard the virus as one of them, and I've highlighted the kinds of figures — last year we lost 900 to flu and no-one blinked. We had 310,000 admitted to hospital with the old common garden flu, and no-one blinked. We have 6 to 7 million people die in China die every year, not a word said ... this coronavirus has gone to 76 countries around the world, the bulk of the victims are in China and we've had 3,100 deaths. Any person’s death diminishes us, but seriously we can’t allow hysteria to overtake us ..."
Morrison: "I understand that people are anxious. More than 20 members of the Iranian parliament have contracted the virus ... we are working hard to stay ahead of it. Australians can go about their business, unless you've been in an affected area. The rest of us just get about our lives as normal."
March 5 saw Jones chatting with his old mate, billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey (above), who is currently in Australia's dog house after gloating about how well his Harvey Norman business was doing during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. (He later issued a mea culpa.) Talk turned to how the coronavirus could lead to Australia manufacturing more of its own goods.
Harvey: "If you look at the positive side of the thing, coronavirus is a beauty!"
Jones: "That’s it!"
On March 10 — 112 cases in Australia — Jones declared: "We all need to have a cold shower and settle down."
"There is a fundamental need for calm here, people are acting in relation to this coronavirus as if we’re ready to be invaded ... The reality is there have been 3,990 [cases] around the world — I’m not underplaying it at all, 3,120 in China, so in the 112 countries and territories affected by coronavirus there have been 870 deaths ... the UK, which has 66 million people, have 321 cases ...
"As Donald Trump made the point, 37,000 last year in America died from the flu. They have so far got 22 deaths. There's a new media frenzy this morning, over the announcement of Italy, the entire country has been placed virtually into lockdown this morning ... We have to be realistic on numbers. This is not the Bubonic Plague."
On March 11, Jones was in a presidential mood:
"You would be concerned about the level of panic and the way in which the panic itself becomes an infection. The Roosevelt edict is valid — perhaps the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
On March 12, Harvey was back to talk retail with Jones.
Jones: "I’m told the CBDs in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are ghost towns at the moment and people are frightened of contracting the coronavirus. That’s been led, I think — the media have a lot to answer for here. We need a sense of calm in all of this.
"Admittedly Europe is a problem at the moment ... in so many parts of the world it seems to have been fairly well contained. In the United Kingdom there were 73 new patients with the virus yesterday. So we've got this problem with business, a far bigger problem than the virus ... the figures are very low, 900, as I keep saying, died from the common garden flu last year. We've had three deaths from this. We need some perspective, and we don't have it."
Harvey: "Harvey Norman sales are good or better than last year … overall it's nowhere near as bad as the media is portraying it."
Jones: "I mean ... the little bloke is doing it tough. It's probably accelerated by the media. It is unbelievable, all this talk, and they announce a pandemic. You take a country like the United States of America, 347 million people [it is actually 327] they've got 31 deaths. There were 37,000 from flu last year. I mean, we've got three [deaths] in Australia and there were 900 deaths from flu last year, and no-one blinked."
Harvey: "Well I'm associated with people in sales ... all the time, no-one brings [the coronavirus] up, it doesn't come up, except in joke form. They're saying the sort of things you’re saying — 'I don't care if I get it or not'. Mind you, I'm an 80-year-old bloke, I don’t want to get it because I’m the sort of bloke that dies."
Jones: (roaring with laughter) "They’ll never kill you, don't you worry, they’ll never kill you!"
On March 13, Jones wasn't too pleased with the message that Australians fighting over toilet paper was sending to the world.
Jones: "There’s a lot of hysteria out there isn't it, people saying don't go to this and don't go to that, stop here and stay home ...
"It is a critical time for leaders, when you’ve got women sort of fighting in the aisles over toilet paper, the image around the world for Australia is bad and this hysteria and panic has taken over ... There's three deaths in Australia, a country of 25 million; 10 deaths in England — country of 55 million; and 30-odd deaths in America, a country of 327 million. The fear factor may be more damaging than the virus ..."
On March 16 Jones wheeled in veteran showbizzer Richard Wilkins — one of Australia's most famous people to contract COVID-19 — for a further crack at the "nothing to see here" angle.
Wilkins: "It takes the wind out of your sails, and having to call the kids and tell them was not a pleasant conversation.’’
Jones: "But I mean, people are carrying on as if their arms and legs are going to fall off..."
Wilkins: "There are two sides to it. If there are people like me wandering around with no symptoms, then that's scary ... but then if I'm what it looks like when you get the thing, it's not so bad."
Jones: "That's what Boris Johnson says, that's probably the best vaccine — just let a lot of people get it."
On the same day, Morrison was back — and Jones took the prime minister to task over his shutting down of outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people. And he was worried about the canteen people who make egg and lettuce sandwiches at ... the footy.
Jones: "I do feel that this alarmism has taken root ... I’m really concerned, I have to say, I think the media have a high responsibility to do some homework and advise and inform and not alarm ...
"People are being given the impression that a meteor is about to collide with Earth and we’re all about to get the virus and suddenly our arms will fall off and there won’t be enough timber to make the coffins that are needed … should we be stopping people from going to football matches, these are mainly healthy, middle-aged people?
"I mean, the multipliers are enormous, aren't they? You're a Sharks fan, so the Sharks play, no ground, then the pies, sausages, the egg and lettuce sandwich, the beer, the clean up afterwards. These are a stack of people whose jobs are at risk."
By March 17, there were 454 cases in Australia.
Jones: "This coronavirus, we’ll try and bring some sanity to all of this ... Everyone’s getting swept up now about the virus. My concern is not so much about that, because you've heard it’s a member of the flu family and as you know, we all get the flu.
"The concern here is about those who are at risk ... I don’t think the issue is how many people get the virus or are contaminated, the question is about death, illness, critical health — that’s the things we’ve got to address.
"This business about banning the meeting of people in groups of 500, some say that will reduce to 100 [indoors] so outfits like Opera Australia close, musicians are out of work, Rugby Australia — who wouldn’t know anything about research — they've banned community rugby until the first week of May. I don’t know what that will achieve.
"It is not I who is frightening people. It is the headlines, which suggest people are going to die. The figures suggest otherwise.
"The coronavirus has destroyed — as one listener pointed out to me — the dreams of people like George Soros: open borders, open society, one world government, new world order. So some good may yet come out of this coronavirus. You can reach me on Facebook. My thoughts on the coronavirus over the last week have been seen by over 900,000 people."
Jones was in awe of travel agent representative Jason Westbury, who came on the line on March 18 to demand the government "give us back the money".
Jones: "There are 106 countries in the world where there have been no deaths. Now because of the language, the headlines, the response — everyone follows everybody else — we've got your industry ... in diabolical trouble. I mean, obviously we've got to be preventative."
Westbury: "The fear is now so deep and so wide that nobody wants to go anywhere. Nobody told us, there were no pre-emptive suggestions we'd go into global shutdown. We are on the brink. We need the government to get over the fact, I think, every Australian is sick to death of hearing how well we’re going. Forget it, it's irrelevant. Give us back the money. We've given you a whole heap, clearly because you've got plenty, so just start it flowing ... I think we’ve got a civil war on common sense. This place has gone mad."
Jones: "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. All of this because there are 622 cases in 158 countries. For God’s sake, look at the figures!"
March 19 and Jones is very worried... but still not about the coronavirus.
"This alarmist talk, possibly 150,000 will die. Social media telling lies. People are terrified. First it was climate change. Then the bushfires. Now the coronavirus ... People don’t have an inbuilt mechanism to handle this sort of stuff. People are sick of this stuff."
On March 20 — 847 cases — it's Morrison again, claiming credit for calling the pandemic early. Jones was in furious agreement.
Morrison: "Australia called the global pandemic more than two weeks ahead of the World Health Organization. I remember the press conference I gave. At the time people thought I was being a bit alarmist, but not at all."
Jones: "No. You've done a good job, absolutely I agree with you."
A grim, slightly irritated Josh Frydenberg — Australia's treasurer — faced down Jones on March 23. He seemed to have had enough.
Jones: "These are difficult times."
Frydenberg: "We are trying to slow the spread of the coronavirus because if you look around the world, United States, Italy, parts of Asia, the virus has spread when people are in close contact."
Jones: "That's true … but nonetheless we talk about cases don't we, but we've managed to contain this to seven people dead, one critical. It's important isn't it that we don't alarm people? And I just worry about those people who wake up today and wonder how they're going to put food on the table."
Frydenberg: "Well I'll be very clear: this is deadly serious, and if people don't adopt the social distancing arrangements recommended by the medical experts, they will increase the likelihood that their fellow Australians will contact the coronavirus. This is not the normal flu and I think people have to understand, whether you are young or old, you can be affected."
Jones: "Right, but the prime minister said last week we must keep Australia running."
Frydenberg: "Because ultimately we have to accept the health advice ... this is a global pandemic like we've never seen before."
Jones: "Part of your education was in America. You’d be very familiar with the prestige of the Wall Street Journal. They have won the Pulitzer prize for distinguished reporting on international affairs. The editorial board wrote an editorial on Friday about all of this, and they ended by saying no society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its own overall economic health ... [they said] America urgently needs a pandemic strategy that is more economically and socially sustainable than the current national lockdown ... do you agree?"
Frydenberg: "I agree the economic impact is enormous, but I think it's a false choice to choose between the health of your nation and the health of your economy."
It went on:
Jones: "So the solicitor goes to Newstart?"
Frydenberg: "The ideal is to keep the solicitor in a job."
Jones: "But the courts are closed down."
Frydenberg: "And again, these are extraordinary times. What we are seeing across the world. Look at Italy Alan, look at California."
Jones: "Look at Australia, there are seven dead and two critical."
Ex-prime minister Tony Abbott dialled in to chat with Jones on March 24. Jones wanted to talk business, but Abbott was all about just shutting the whole thing down.
Jones: "In that speech you made in Japan last week you said the challenge is not to let the health emergency produce an economic emergency that is even more harmful in the long run..."
Abbott: "Well, what we need to do is have a very, very complete shutdown now to do everything we humanly can to prevent the spread of disease. And there's a sense in which Alan the more complete the shutdown is, the shorter it will have to be. Obviously you can only put the economy into a coma for so long. The more complete it is now, the more likely it is to be short-lived."
Jones: "Well done. Wonderful to talk to you. Isn’t it extraordinary, makes common sense really easy, doesn't it?"
On March 25 — 2,431 cases in Australia — right-wing commentator and NSW politician Mark Latham argued for a complete shutdown, and widespread financial support for workers and businesses.
Latham: "I think we should've adopted the New Zealand or UK approach weeks ago. If you're going to contain the virus ... I think you're better going into a lockdown and the problem at the moment is we're half locked down."
Jones: "So if we lock down, and I agree with that, if that's what they say, and that will enable us to get over the bridge earlier — so we've got an economy left when we get to the other side — then it's axiomatic, then those responsible for the lockdown should fund the life support ..."
The University of Melbourne’s epidemiologist professor Tony Blakely disagreed with Latham, advocating not for a shutdown, but slowly allowing 60% of Australians to become infected. Perhaps it was Blakely's mention of 130,000 deaths in Australia that finally got through to Jones.
Jones: "This is where the debate now stands... Tony Blakely has argued that the move to shut down pubs and cinemas has happened too quickly, or too slowly, depending on what Australia is trying to achieve. Do you think the public understand what the goal is of the government?"
Blakely: "We got utter clarity last night from Scott Morrison: the direction we've chosen, we're going to flatten the curve, we're not going for eradication [like] New Zealand, we're going to ride this one out ... it's up to people — you, me — to try and get that across today, that we are going down the flattening the curve approach."
Jones: "If we flatten the curve, I understand you say we're in for the long haul, where if we'd gone down the eradication curve we may have crossed the bridge earlier?"
Blakely: "It's possible. It's theoretical now. If we'd gone for eradication it would've been utter lockdown for three months, with a 50-50 chance of success. We might have come out of that by about June-July with a country where we could move around freely but with no-one coming in or out.
"That's what New Zealand is doing. But we have made the decision to flatten the curve and we all need to get on board with that. So many facets of society need to assist with that response... if we just let this thing roll we're talking 130,000 deaths. If we lower the infection rate among those people 60-plus from 60% [total infections] to 20%, we will half the death rate ... protecting our elderly, those with chronic conditions, and just letting the infection slowly spread through the rest of the population. We need 60% of Australians to slowly get infected in a way where it is managed and we have the least harm."
Jones: "Are governments getting advice ... that our health services may not be ready for peak loads within six weeks?"
Blakely: "It's a major concern. I think the settings we've set now will slow that curve down and the whole idea here is when we get to the peak, which will be about May, that we are not exceeding the capacity of the health services."
And we will leave Jones on March 26, because we have already gone way, way above and beyond to bring you this story, and frankly we can't take anymore.
Jones: "We don't seem to be too flash at testing people coming off planes, we weren't too flash last week testing people coming off that wretched Ruby Princess. The testing establishes those who have contracted the virus, and that could finish up being all of us, but could someone say emphatically to stop the hysteria. We're not going to die. Peter Dutton and Richard Wilkins are perfectly OK..."
Contact Peter Holmes at peter.holmes@buzzfeed.com.
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