The Andrews government seems to be drunk on an insatiable lust for power. Its pandemic management legislation is a new frightening step towards dictatorship. The power to declare a pandemic would be taken from health officials and given to the Premier – even if disease is not present. With zero cases, and without reference to our elected representatives, the Premier could suspend parliament and lockdown the state at any time. While the initial pandemic declaration would only be for four weeks; it could then be extended by the Premier for three months, and then again and again – almost indefinitely. The government would have virtually unlimited power to restrict movement, ban public gatherings, close businesses, impose curfews and playground bans, test or medically examine people or send them into quarantine, and impose massive penalties for non-compliance. Please stop this horrific grab for power. Vote down the pandemic legislation.

The government’s proposed pandemic management legislation opens the door to political and ideological discrimination. Pandemic orders can be applied to “classes of persons” identified by “characteristics, attributes or circumstances,” including “political belief or activity” if the Minister believes it is “reasonably necessary to protect public health.” Thus, the government would have frightening power to “shut down” opposing political beliefs or actions, and also act on other “attributes,” such as vaccination status – or even religious belief, sexual orientation, gender, race, or physical features. Please protect Victorians from discrimination and vote down this legislation.

Daniel Andrews’ pandemic management legislation, which has passed the lower house, is a dangerous attack on rule of law. The president of the Victorian bar, representing the state’s barristers says the “draconian” law authorizes “virtually unlimited interference with liberties” and is the “greatest challenge to the rule of law . . . in decades.” The bill “confers effectively unlimited power on the health minister to rule the state by decree for an indefinite period and without effective judicial or parliamentary oversight.” Political commentator Peta Credlin says these laws, if passed, would make Dan Andrews the “nearest thing to a dictator that Australia has ever seen.” Please protect Victorians from totalitarian control. Vote down the government’s pandemic legislation.

Not satisfied with the longest lockdown in the world, the Andrews government’s pandemic management legislation is a horrific power grab. The government would have virtually unlimited power to restrict movement, ban public gatherings, close businesses, impose curfews and playground bans, test or medically examine people or send them into quarantine. Massive penalties, up to two-years’ jail or fines of $90,500 could be applied to anyone not complying, with corporations facing massive fines of up to $450,000. Non-compliant citizens could be locked up as long as “the (health) minister believes is reasonably necessary.” Victorians have had enough. Please vote down the pandemic legislation.

The Andrews government’s pandemic management legislation is not about saving lives, but instead is an act of totalitarianism. Victoria’s most senior lawyers say the bill is gravely unsafe. They say it gives the Premier and Health Minister “unlimited and practically unreviewable power,” and that a pandemic can be declared anytime if deemed “reasonably necessary.” The government could co-opt any person, qualified or not, to enforce its directives, conferring on them long-term extraordinary powers. A group of QCs declare: “It is one thing to allow temporary rule by decree to deal with an unforeseen and extraordinary emergency in circumstances of extreme urgency. It is something else altogether to entrench rule by decree as a long-term norm. In our view, this is antithetical to basic democratic principles and should not be allowed to happen.” They say that “At the very least . . . the power to make general pandemic orders must be subject to unconditional disallowance by Parliament.” The government should not be given a “blank cheque to rule by decree.” Please save democracy in Victoria and vote down this legislation.