Smashing Democracy In Victoria

The Andrews’ push for total control of Victoria should shock every single one of us:

Hmm, when you have hard-left media outlets like the Age and leftist commentators joining more conservative ones like the Australian in denouncing the shocking move by Dan Andrews to make his lockdown tyranny indefinite – if not permanent – then you know he really has gone into full-blown dictator mode.

It seems most folks who are still capable of independent thought and are not just zombie-supporters of Andrews and Labor are finally waking up to what is really happening here. Indeed, we now know the endgame of Dictator Dan: to seize complete power and control – for good. Oh, and to turn Victoria into the next Venezuela or North Korea.

Let me share some quotes from just a small portion of the many vocal critics of this unprecedented power grab by a state premier who is utterly drunk on power. This is what James Moutsias writing in the Melbourne Age had to say:

Premier Dan Andrews has said he intends to extend Victoria’s ‘‘state of emergency’’ for an extra 12 months past the September 13 deadline. Whether that ends up happening will reveal just how much our society values democracy….

The restrictions and controls being made by the DHHS are made under executive power – and this power is about to run out. This means that the state parliament is going to need to pass a new law amending the Public Health and Wellbeing Act to extend the amount of time a state of emergency may be in place for. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

The act sets out limits on executive power, and does so for ‘‘a damn good reason’’ as Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said on Sunday – decisions by bodies such as the DHHS do not get voted on by the Houses of Parliament, meaning they do not come under immediate democratic scrutiny. To simply change the statute to suit the executive is a gross violation of the principle of the separation of powers, a supposedly fundamental democratic concept. While partially intertwined in practice, the legislature should not act in the interests of the executive….

The constant threat of emergency restrictions cannot be allowed to hang over the heads of Victorians. The legislation does not allow it, and it should not be altered to do so. To simply tamper with the limits set on executive power, when it suits them, is repugnant to the principles that are supposed to underlie our system of government. It’s times like these that test whether we actually care about those principles, or if they are merely appealing words that have no substance. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/state-of-emergency-laws-endanger-our-democracy-20200824-p55otx.html

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett was livid over this power grab: “The premier said today he may keep the state of emergency until we have a vaccine – we may never have a vaccine. Are we all going to be locked up at the whim of the premier? Without any checks and balances? This is an act of a megalomaniac.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8658917/Hes-megalomaniac-Dan-Andrews-accused-trying-grab-dictatorial-power.html

State opposition leader Michael O’Brien said this in a press release:

The Liberal Nationals will vehemently oppose and vote to defeat the Andrews Labor Government’s attempt to extend State of Emergency powers for a further 12 months. The State of Emergency vests enormous power with the Premier and a small number of unelected officials with very little oversight and accountability – proven in recent months with the effective shutdown of the Legislative Assembly. . . . No government should write itself a blank cheque for such extraordinary powers over Victorians’ lives and livelihoods. Oversight and accountability are paramount….

Daniel Andrews caused this second wave by his government’s incompetence managing hotel quarantine and now he wants to extend his power without being accountable for it. Victorians deserve democracy, they deserve accountability, they deserve transparency but instead what we get from Daniel Andrews is another attempt to extend his power over the lives of Victorians. https://www.michaelobrien.com.au/liberal-nationals-to-oppose-state-of-emergency-power-grab-by-andrews/

Even the leftist politics professor Peter van Onselen has had to weigh into this, and warned Andrews to back off. Writing in The Australian he said this:

The Victorian Premier’s demand that the state of emergency currently in effect gets extended for an additional 12 months is ridiculous. It’s anti-democratic, autocratic and unnecessary… doubling it to 12 months makes no sense, unless the purpose is to hand the Premier absolute power during this pandemic, and perhaps even beyond it. The Premier needs to eat humble pie and backtrack on this issue. If he won’t, the state’s Legislative Council needs to vote down his power play.

Andrews didn’t feel the need to explain himself when making the announcement, which is a symptom of not respecting the checks and balances that exist in our political system. Herein lies the problem. Parliamentary democracy matters, yet the Victorian parliament has been put in hibernation by Andrews, thrusting executive government front and centre.

And concerned observers from overseas are also taking note of this appalling move to tyranny and total control. As one said:

Victoria’s Dan Andrews has brought in some of the most draconian Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on the planet and now wants the right to keep them in place for a further 12 months. This public health tyranny needs to be stopped. I regret to report that Melbourne’s answer to Mao Zedong has decided that he really rather enjoys being able to tell people exactly what they have to do and has no intention of stopping any time soon. Chairman, sorry, Premier Dan Andrews of Victoria is trying to railroad a bill through the legislature that would allow him to keep the current state of emergency going for another 12 months….

The restrictions also don’t seem to be working. Along with having the most stringent lockdown in Australia, Victoria has had by far and away the most cases and deaths with 430 people so far recorded as having died with Covid-19. The second worst hit state, New South Wales, has had just 52 deaths but has not had a lockdown anywhere near the one in place in Victoria. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/498919-dan-andrews-melbourne-lockdown/

Listening to 3AW briefly yesterday, I heard one angry caller after another absolutely livid that this guy had the gall to push for more dictatorial powers, given the immense amount of damage he has already done. And when I shared a few thoughts on the Andrews FB page, I saw plenty of folks tearing into him there as well. Perhaps, finally, people are waking up – enough is enough.

Despite all these legitimate and vitally important concerns about the death of freedom and democracy, it seems these Labor tyrants are not at all bothered – they are just doubling down. For example, we have had the Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos pushing the panic-porn button, insisting that these changes MUST go through: “Those Members of Parliament need to understand they will be putting Victorians’ health at risk if they do not support this legislation.”

Yeah right – the only ones putting people’s lives at risk are Andrews and Co. Indeed, because of their sheer incompetence and continuous stuff-ups, we have had this massive second wave with hundreds of lives lost and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods lost. These derelict and dysfunctional leaders have blood on their hands.

The sad truth is this: Andrews is a power-hungry megalomaniac right up there with others who have put the lust for power above all else. Lenin and Stalin would be quite envious. Resign now, before more people die from your incompetence and arrogance.

We better learn quick from history here. In 44 B.C Julius Caesar declared himself dictator perpetuo (dictator for life). On August 24, 2020 Victorian Premier Dan Andrews did much the same thing. He wants even more draconian powers to bypass the parliament and constitutional freedom, all to ‘keep us safe’ from a virus with a 99% recovery rate.

We dare not forget the lessons of history.

Action

There is much that we can do here. For example, there are now various petitions circulating about all this, including some that are seeking his resignation. Please sign and share these. One is found here: https://www.change.org/p/daniel-andrews-resign

Another one is found here: https://form.jotform.com/202360471399861?fbclid=IwAR2Ulj2nUXgIYOdI8UMxxkWK3FeyOitX6DD9Wns3-esHb7mP3_h5MRAKwlk

And a lengthy legal document seeking to stop this rush to a total police state is found here: https://b46d3b17-2c96-45ba-9a87-8c2fb9df6f7e.usrfiles.com/ugd/b46d3b_5f243040805e485998075dfdae15fb34.pdf

Also, if this goes to the Upper House, there is a chance it might be defeated. The cross-benchers there tend to side with Labor. But some may be open to resisting this move to fascism. Here are the details for eight of them. Please contact them and let them know you are 100% opposed to this crushing of democracy:

Fiona Patten – Reason Party – 03 9386 4400 fiona.patten@parliament.vic.gov.au
Rod Barton – Transport Matters Party – 03 9850 8600 rodney.barton@parliament.vic.gov.au
Catherine Cumming – Independent – 03 9689 6373 catherine.cumming@parliament.vic.gov.au
Cliff Hayes – Sustainable Australia – 03 95308399 Clifford.Hayes@parliament.vic.gov.au
Jeff Bourman – Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party – (03) 5623 2999 jeff.bourman@parliament.vic.gov.au
Stuart Grimley – Darryn Hinch Justice Party – (03) 5218 5001 Stuart.Grimley@parliament.vic.gov.au
Tania Maxwell – Darryn Hinch Justice Party – (03) 4700 1787 Tania.Maxwell@parliament.vic.gov.au
Andy Meddick – Animal Justice Party – (03) 5222 1941 Andy.Meddick@parliament.vic.gov.au

Postscript

Wow! I just read this in a new book about Christians who helped Jews during WWII. Sounds like a blend between Dictator Dan’s Victoria and what our elites are saying should happen to those hesitant about taking rushed Covid vaccines:

For the Jews, further restrictions soon followed. From July 1942, Jews were banned from parks, theatres and cinemas, cafés and restaurants, swimming pools, racecources and campsites, museums and libraries. They could travel only at limited, inconvenient hours and occupy only the last carriage of railway trains. They were not permitted to use the main streets or to leave home after 8 p.m. Jews were barred from almost all public places and could shop for only one hour a day. In effect, they became invisible in public. (Tim Dowley, Defying the Holocaust. SPCK, 2020, p. 34)

[1634 words]

25 Replies to “Smashing Democracy In Victoria”

  1. Thank you Bill.
    I draw attention to another lesson of history: the 1630s in England.
    During that decade Charles I, with delusions of his own divine right to absolute power, ruled without a parliament, having dissolved three of them in the 1620s. He imposed martial law, and brutalised and incarcerated anyone who dared to oppose him.
    The result: a civil war in the 1640s.
    I see quite a few parallels now. Let us hope that the outcome is not similar.

  2. Hi Bill

    Here is what I wrote to the President of the Law Institute of Victoria:

    “Dear LIV President

    I am the Principal of Davies Watson Lawyers, a small country law firm in Mildura, Victoria. Your records will confirm that I have been a member of the LIV for about 10 years.

    I write to you to express my disappointment that the LIV has not raised a warning or concern about the Victorian government’s State of Disaster.

    The implications of the State of Disaster are chilling, particularly to people like me who believe in the rule of law. I would have expected some resistance from the legal profession; however, all I have seen from the LIV are publications explaining how lawyers are to adjust to things.

    All laws should be proportionate, including laws for public health. It is difficult to see how the State of Disaster, which imposes a curfew, allows police to enter homes without a warrant, and vests power in the police minister to overrule legislation, is proportionate. Yes, COVID-19 is a serious pandemic, but the State of Disaster is equally serious because it constitutes the greatest curtailment of fundamental rights in Australia’s history. It is also galling that the State of Disaster was justified because of an outbreak which was caused in the first place by the government’s bungling of hotel quarantine. Victoria is looking more and more like a police state.

    Not unnaturally, Premier Andrews now pivots to bolster and extend his recently acquired powers. His attempt to extend the State of Emergency for 12 months, or indefinitely, brings to mind what Friedrich Hayek wrote 40 years ago:

    The conditions under which such emergency powers may be granted without creating the danger that they will be retained when the absolute necessity has passed are among the most difficult and important points a constitution must decide on. ‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded – and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.

    The LIV simply must sound the alarm here, especially because the Sate of Disaster appears to have popular support. If the LIV continues to toe the line and lend tacit support to the government’s recent actions, I intend to withdraw my membership.”

  3. Thank you Bill for posting the links, I have signed both petitions, Thank you for your great work!

  4. Pastor Muehlenberg, I believe this is a worldwide demonic push to usher in the UN Agenda 2030, a forerunner of the Beast of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.

    You can read my article from 2015 in Canada Free Press, entitled “ A hundred Years of American History and the Destruction of Christianity”.

    Yours in Christ,
    Dale Summitt
    Trailblazing America
    Lampasas County, Texas

  5. To the elites: if you are going to round us up and kill us please do so otherwise we have considerable work to do.

  6. Almost all public discussion on this seems to focus on the power grab as being “an extension of the PRESENT State of Disaster.
    But the amendment/s will allow all future States of Emergency to last up to 18 months without Parliamentary scrutiny.
    It’s not just a temporary change for Covid 19.

  7. I am reminded of the ancient Roman constitution. Knowing that their system of checks and balances could break down in an emergency, they would appoint a dictator with plenipotentiary powers. However, the appointment would last only 6 months at a maximum, and less if the emergency was over earlier.

  8. Also I believe I read a statement on sky news that WHO issued directives for pandemics on things not to do which includes not to do lockdowns and social tracing and another thing that Australia is doing

  9. The Victorian health issue is serious but manageable and not something which justifies a state of disaster. The government response is a different matter; it is indeed a state of disaster.

  10. Hello Bill. I have just come across your blog and find myself cheering all the way. More than 60 years ago I worked on the wharves in Sydney as an electrician and almost daily entered into debates with the communists among my fellow workers as a Christian. I read their books and attended their meetings and realized what a tremendous threat from this ideology was facing the world. I eventually went through Moore College and was ordained and worked in several Diocese around Australia. I found that there is little respect for the Bible as the Word of God anywhere among clergy and bishops and other church leaders. One bishop even informed me that he was a communist and another leader of an evangelical missionary society assured me that “…of course socialism is the only hope for the world.” (They made him a bishop!!) More recently I was having a discussion with my previous ‘rector’ over one of her sermons on lesbianism and I started quoting the Bible about God’s revealed opinions on the subject. “That’s idolatry!!!” she yelled at me. “It’s idolatry to worship a book!!!” Ah well, me and Jesus and Paul – all idolaters, apparently. They have now made her a bishop too!! M.C. graduate too!
    Anyway, re the situation here in Vic. I understand from the Constitution that Australia is still a Crown colony and the decisions of any Parliament , must be signed by the Governor before they can become law. The citizens can petition the Governor (General) to not sign the decisions of Parliament or to send them back. If they have not been signed and Gazetted, then they are not law. Have Andrews’ “laws” been thus legalized. Just thought I’d ask. God bless you dear Brother in the Lord.

  11. Many thanks David. Andrews has stopped the lower house from functioning, but will introduce his bill next week into the upper house. We all must contact the politicians I mention in my article and urge them to fully reject it.

  12. OK you Victorians, time for a protest!
    Step 1. Some graphic designer to make a sign with the following inclusions.
    a. A map outline of the state of Victoria.
    b. The “Ban” symbol, i.e. the crossed circle in red.
    c. The banner; “Victoria the State of Emergency”
    Step 2. Make this graphic highly available, including in A4 size, colour and B&W.
    Step 3. Get as many as possible to down load and print this graphic and put it up everywhere, but especially in your car windows and your house windows.

  13. Hi Mr Muehlenberg, thank you for all the work you put into your articles and for your faithfulness to the calling God has on your life. I just want to check that you are doing ok as a lot of people in Victoria are doing it tough at the moment. Want to assure you of my prayers for you and your family and share a verse from Scripture that always encourages me. “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he’s at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:18. God Bless You! Robyn

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