QED

In Victoria, Liberty Waits for September

Unprecedented.

We’re hearing that word a lot in Victoria at the moment as we adjust to life in a police state. There is no doubt  we have faced a severe health threat from COVID-19. But what started out as a goal to “flatten the curve”,  has quickly turned into an unprecedented, overreaching encroachment of human rights by the government of Premier Daniel Andrews.

Just two weeks ago, Dear Leader Andrews passed the aptly named ominous Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill giving himself extraordinary control over the state until the end of September. If he wants to justify and hold on to this unprecedented grab for power, we are facing heavy restrictions for many months to come.

Our supposedly independent and neutral, Victorian deputy chief health officer, Annalise van-Diemen, showed her true colours with her petty and historically inaccurate tweet likening explorer Captain James Cooks first voyage to Australia with the impact of the Coronavirus. This, however, not only trivialised the severity of the pandemic, it cast substantial doubt on her ability to make decisions independently of her radical ideology.

Now knowing that Dr van-Diemen is a left-wing ideological warrior, we should be questioning her decision-making process which has led to some of the harshest and most inconsistent laws in the country.

I can catch a train, visit a shopping centre or stroll through a packed hardware megastore, but I can’t visit an empty church and pray in the presence of God, sit quietly on a park bench, fish in peace or escape with my family to a quiet campsite.

All of these currently forbidden activities are essential when it comes to health and wellbeing and involve far less risk to the spread of the virus than the government-approved list of activities. Yet, Victorians face a hefty fines, which can run to as much as $20,000, for undertaking them.

We have flattened the curve, as the latest charts and figures demonstrate beyond doubt, but for many living under the authoritarian rule of the government in the Democratic People’s Republic of Victoria, the darkest days are yet to come as unemployment rises, financial uncertainty sets in, and the strain of being confined to our homes takes a devastating toll. Is it any wonder health authorities are bracing for a cataclysmic mental health crisis across the state?

For the 13 million Australians who identified as persons of faith at the 2016 Census, having the freedom to practise their beliefs and access spiritual support has never been more important. It is in times of crisis we see just how necessary this right is.

There is simply no reason for people to be denied access to their church for private prayer or services. Nor should they be banned from sitting on park benches, fishing, camping or making use of any other recreational outlets that improve overall health and wellbeing. All of these activities can be undertaken with reasonable precautions and social distancing in place. Yet diktats handed down from Spring Street, presumably by those who share Ms van Diemen’s mindset, declare such activities and recreations beyond the pale.

Our freedoms, enshrined in both the Constitution and the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, are under serious threat when decisions exerting unnecessary control over the public are being made, judging by the gross inconsistencies, on the strength of whim and caprice. Victorians should be very concerned that these rules are not only being imposed without the scrutiny of parliament but also without any scientific or medical basis.

All governments across the nation have each done a tremendous job in containing the virus. Now that the curve has flattened, Daniel Andrews must move with the rest of Australia, reopening and rebuilding the state which starts, of course, with the reinstatement of our freedoms.

An apology wouldn’t hurt either.

7 thoughts on “In Victoria, Liberty Waits for September

  • Lewis P Buckingham says:

    Sitting on the big block of timber near the naval base at Garden Island today, everyone was nicely socially distanced and Harrys Cafe De Wheels was doing a moderate trade.
    https://www.harryscafedewheels.com.au/
    Now that people can gather outside in small groups and visit people, its no stretch to allow visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
    The churches have been shut down for so long there can be no lingering virus.
    No health risk there.
    So lets open up a claytons betting ring and put odds on which will be the last state to open Churches.
    I wager $5 that it will be Victoria and accept 7 to 1 odds against.
    Any winnings go to those families of police who were recently killed while properly doing their duty.
    Such police must always be recognised and remembered.
    Any takers?

  • en passant says:

    Lewis,
    “Is it any wonder health authorities are bracing for a cataclysmic mental health crisis across the state?” Umm, No, as I predicted this way back in March and took the following bet: by Christmas the number of ADDITIONAL suicides over the long term average will exceed the TOTAL number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 for the whole year.
    There are now 10% of local restaurants in my area with For Sale or For Lease signs in their windows – a bargain for some and economic devastation for the losers, many of whom will likely become depressed as their world and hard work has crashed. No presents for the kids at Xmas, no social interaction, the bleakness of the Victorian Gulag everywhere. Enough will think that it is time to exit the Stage my bet is a certainty – and the Left will jazz hands their silent applause.
    One curious side-effect was from my grand children pleading to go back to school as they miss their friends and their teachers!

  • Nezysquared says:

    Er… didn’t you people vote this shower in??? Don’t whinge.. Self inflicted injury I’m afraid….

  • Lilybeth53 says:

    Nezhysquared, I and many others didn’t vote for Chairman Dan. He got in because of the warped and twisted charade that is called preferences and don’t ask me how to explain that, because I can’t get my head around the premise that if one candidate receives 80,000 votes and the second candidate gets only 60,000, the second candidate can still win from the skewed preferences. Of course, there is also the union element that helped our Dear Leader to his present status. Yesterday I was too scared to drive five minutes down the road to Harvey Norman for fear of being hauled over by our Police Gestapo, so I didn’t go, as I am no longer employed due to the virus, and I am not eligible for any government handout, so I would not be able to afford the $1600 fine. I now understand what the loss of real freedom means.

  • Ross Tucker says:

    It seems the Eastern states’ premiers are in a contest to see who can be the silliest and most unreasonable. Dan is winning but only because he waits to see how silly Gladys and Anastasia can be with their dictates then, a day later, he announces his more unreasonable and illogical dictates.
    roscot

  • DG says:

    “pray in the presence of God” ? Christian church buildings are not temples. God doesn’t live in them. They are merely meeting places that believers have funded out of after-tax dollars for the convenience of their belief community (ie church). Nice to have and to be able to use, but not temples. As God is omnipresent (sort of like government these days), he is place independent.

  • Nezysquared says:

    Lilybeth53… Victoria is a labor state and, whilst the ridiculous preferences system continues unabated, obviously many more people voted for the extreme socialist option than against… In this “lucky country” of lions led by donkeys it is a sad fact that we have become so apathetic as to accept this status quo… . But not to worry too much – in reality all political options are socialist – some just happen to be more extreme than others… In the words of H.L.Mencken “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”…. September seems such a long way away…

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