NSW Deputy Premier, Minister for Western Sydney and derelict fountain who constantly spouts rubbish, Stuart Ayres, went on a little tirade this morning slamming folks in western Sydney for having a “victim mentality” around the previous lockdown, which is a healthy dose of bullshit.
The quotes that I’m about to dissect came after Ayres was asked to comment on the recent revelations that the NSW Government repeatedly ignored the advice from Dr Kerry Chant on making the lockdown “consistent” across the state, effectively creating what many have called ‘two Sydneys’.
“I’m really over the victim mentality, this is a group of people that muscled up, rolled up their sleeves, got vaccinated, did everything we asked of them and because of what they did, that’s why we’re in a strong economic recovery position now,” the spoilt yoghurt man said on Tuesday morning.
“This whole concept of a two-tiered city has got to stop… just let’s get rid of this rubbish about two-tiered cities.”
Hmm… didn’t @GladysB apply a two tier lockdown a few months ago?! Police horses, choppers, vans, all over south-western Sydney while northern beaches and eastern suburbs ate smashed avocado on toast.
— Hani Iskander (@Hani_Iskander) November 22, 2021
Interesting claims about the concept of a ‘two-tiered city’ and a ‘victim mentality’ when these circumstances were engineered by our government who disregarded official health advice to divide the nation. Anyone from western Sydney who complains about the most recent lockdown does so from a place of fair critique, and it’s not hard to see why.
Are we forgetting that under Gladys Berejiklian‘s decision, 12 LGAs in south-western and western Sydney were placed under stricter rules than the rest of NSW, with constant helicopter monitoring and even the damn military rolling through to ensure compliance?
Hell, people in the west were being arrested for being maskless while those in Bondi were lounging about on the beach committing the same crime.
However, western Sydney’s frustrations were about far more than just who can and cannot wear a mask. And it certainly wasn’t about stripping freedoms from the east.
The most recent lockdown in NSW widened the divide between the affluent east and the ‘less fortunate’ west. It highlighted how privileged some of us are to live by the beach in the first place. It put a magnifying glass on the government’s casual racism — the lax rules in the east existing in an area that is predominantly white, and the heavily-monitored rules of the west being applied to a multicultural and diverse group of suburbs.
I can assure you residents of western Sydney did not manifest the two-tier society. That was done for us years ago. https://t.co/cMKKDTX5GY
— Rayane Tamer (@rayane_tamer) November 23, 2021
As someone who grew up in western Sydney myself, and have had to deal with bullshit from folks who demonise the west all my life, Ayres’ comments come as no surprise.
SBS Journalist Rayane Tamer put it best in the tweet above: a two-tiered society has existed for decades. Those from the west feel it most, this cultural, wealth and privilege divide that exists not only in practice, but in the ways those from the east treat and speak about the west.
But sure, if you want to argue that a two-tiered society is nonsense, you cannot deny the fact that the NSW government literally created one in this most recent lockdown, especially now that we know the health advice was to give the entirety of NSW the same rules.
Stuart Ayres if your Govt did its job then 12m people might not have been locked down. Instead YOU created the two tier and actively sabotaged health advice risking those 12m people in a protracted lockdown causing hundreds to die and economic losses of $20b+.
— ????Shiv ???? (@BLShiv) November 22, 2021
Victim mentality of actual victims of NSW Govt racism, of discriminative policies that cost lives and safety. Gaslighting whole communities of Western Sydney. We’ve had a gut full. The LNP has to be stopped.
— Marcella Brassett (@MarcellaBrasset) November 23, 2021
The demonisation of those from the west as ‘rebellious’ and rule-breaking continued for months, until the revelations came out that western Sydney lead the state’s vaccination rates, with Blacktown being the first to smash 90% first dose.
Sure, Ayres commends these people as ‘muscling’ up and doing the right thing, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t dealt an awful hand. This is a group of people who suffered the most during the last lockdown, and they have every right to call bullshit when the government is found to be selective with who they lockdown and how intense the rules are.
https://twitter.com/ChrisMac1270/status/1462922955789254656?s=20
Everyone from the west is tired. Tired of the poor treatment and the lies that follow to cover it up.
Stuart Ayres is frightened that the flaws of his own government are showing, and it’s about time too. If we’re going to treat two sides of Sydney differently, then expect to be called the fuck out on it by the people who got the shit end of the deal.
