Aussie Rules

Couldn't happen here? We're part of the Anglosphere and are still the freest country within that sphere, but the winds of totalitarianism are blowing ever stronger throughout the sphere. Teachers unions and Blue State governors and Blue City mayors are doing what they can to bring the country to a grinding halt, pending the outcome of the November election. The extent of their efforts includes denying necessary medicine to actually affected persons.

Today Lifesite has an article on the Covid response Down Under, in Australia's most liberal state, Victoria:

COVID rules in Melbourne, Australia let police enter homes without permission, smash car windows 

'We have a curfew from 8 pm to 5 am, rigorously enforced including by the use of police helicopters and search lights. Is the virus a vampire that just comes out at night? ...This is all about inducing mass fear, and humiliating the populace by demanding external compliance.'

It's about coercion.

Are the police defying these rules? Refusing to oppress, bully, and humiliate their fellow citizens? Um, no. Apparently "fellow citizens" is not how they view the other inhabitants of the areas in which they live and work. I guess you get the government you vote for--good and hard, when it's liberals.

Check this out. The original article has a video of the Victoria police commissioner lecturing--hectoring?--the subject population that they must submit. There's also a video of police forcibly subduing a young girl for failing to wear a mask on what looks like a pretty deserted street. Note, too, that what's at issue appears from a reading of the article to be "guidelines" promulgated by "the chief health officer". In other words, the subject populace doesn't get a say in this.

One has to believe that there will be a significant backlash at the polls. One believes it will happen here, too.

Here's an excerpt:

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Speaking on August 3, Victoria police chief commissioner Shane Patton was unapologetic as he explained that police had in some instances been smashing car windows due to people inside the cars not cooperating with police or following the newly imposed health guidelines.

“On at least three or four occasions in the past week we’ve had to smash the windows of people in cars and pull them out of there so they could provide their details because they weren’t telling us where they were going, they weren’t adhering to the chief health officer guidelines, they weren’t providing their name and their address,” Patton said.

“This is clearly the biggest job, the biggest commitment that we have at the moment, it’s the most important commitment for Victoria police and that is enforcing the chief health officer guidelines,” Patton began his press conference explaining the police’s role in the new lockdown regime.

The new lockdown rules for the state of Victoria, of which the city of Melbourne is the capital, include:

• Police may enter private homes, without the permission of the owner and without a warrant to carry out “spot checks”
• A curfew not allowing people to leave their homes between 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., except for “work and essential health, care or safety reasons”
• During the rest of the day people may only leave their homes to shop for food and essential items, receive or give care, take daily exercise, or to work
• Churches are closed except for funerals, with a maximum of 10 mourners allowed to attend, with permits required
• Schools are closed, except for vulnerable children and children of permitted workers
• Face coverings are mandatory anywhere outside one’s home, even in open spaces when one is alone
• No one may go to any home other than his or her own, except to give care
  • The state government makes an exception to this rule to “visit your partner” and for those with shared parenting arrangements
• People may only gather in public with one person from outside their home

A range of fines and penalties are in operation for those who breach the rules, including a $200 on-the-spot fine for “not wearing a face covering, without lawful excuse,” a $1,652 on-the-spot fine for those breaching “stay at home” orders and a nearly $5,000 on-the-spot fine for those who have tested positive for the coronavirus breaching quarantine rules. All such fines can be significantly extended for repeat offenders.

At least one video of police in Victoria taking action against an individual for not wearing a mask has gone viral with millions of views online and several versions of the video removed from various social media platforms (warning: language and violent content).