Dictatorship Dangers Everywhere
Two shocking new moves against freedom and democracy:
If there is one thing that has been absolutely proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by state responses to Covid it is this: Western governments can descend into tyranny instantly and easily. Any crisis – real or imagined – can serve as a pretext for more government powers, and more politicians lording it over the masses.
Every day it seems another hideous form of creeping tyranny is being pushed. Let me talk about two Australian versions of this – one in Victoria and one national. Both are a real concern, and one really becomes overwhelmed with these continuous assaults on freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
Dictator For Life Dan
If you ever needed the perfect dictionary definition of what it means for someone to be ‘drunk on power,’ you would simply need to look at our would-be Dictator For Life, Dan Andrews. I have written often on this megalomaniac and his dangerous power grabs, and he gets worse each passing day. Consider a recent news item:
People found guilty of “intentionally and recklessly” breaching public health orders would face two years in jail or a $90,000 fine, under new pandemic laws proposed by the Andrews government. On Tuesday morning the government tabled its Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021, which would curtail the chief health officer’s powers, giving the premier the authority to declare a pandemic and the health minister the role of making public health orders. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/two-year-jail-terms-loom-for-health-order-breaches-under-pandemic-laws-20211026-p59349.html
You can see the proposed legislation here: https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/4025/591316B.D12-(1).pdf
I have mentioned before how parliamentary democracy is rapidly dying in Victoria, and how Dan, a handful of bureaucrats, and three traitorous “independents” in the Upper House are running the whole show. For months now Chairman Dan has been doing grubby deals with the likes of ex-hooker and Sex Industry head Fiona Patten and two other dodgy parties.
It is the oldest game in the political book: they scratch Dan’s back and he scratches their backs. He has been getting his ‘temporary’ emergency powers passed by cutting deals with them. The Libs do not have the numbers to stop them, so whatever Dan wants, Dan gets.
Now he wants full-tilt dictatorial powers – forever! And anyone caught violating his will can expect a two year stint in the slammer, or be forced to bankrupt themselves with nearly a $100,000 fine. Sieg Heil Dan! And just a few days ago he was lying through his teeth when he said there would be no more lockdowns and the like in Victoria. If that is the case, why the need for these oppressive new powers?
Paul Murray is one of many who have warned against this ugly power grab:
Sky News host Paul Murray says the new pandemic laws being proposed in Victoria are “madness” from the premier who recently promised there would be “no more lockdowns”. “The health minister, not the chief health officer, would be the one making COVID rules,” he said. “But how’s this, it’s the government, not the parliament that gets the power to extend the powers.”
Mr Murray said the fines which could face ruler breakers are “extraordinary”. “Individuals could face $90,000 fines for breaking the rules that Chairman Dan wants to put inside this legislation for lockdowns he’s promising aren’t going to happen anymore. And for companies that deliberately break COVID or pandemic rules – fines that would destroy any business – $425,000.”
Please watch this short video for all the shocking details: https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/paul-murray/victorias-proposed-pandemic-laws-are-madness/video/5547141867ddd6d2cd7f0e8eb6c8b4a4
And Peta Credlin recently interviewed Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy on this. In part it says this:
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is “not just drunk on power” – he is “abusing it”. Mr Guy discussed proposed laws which could strip the Victorian chief health officer of power in a pandemic and allow the Premier to have accountability for public health decisions.
The opposition leader said this would be giving “the most power-hungry politician in Australia licence to declare a pandemic” and ultimately giving him “the power to determine what he wants to do for an indefinite period of time”. Accountability would rest not with “the cabinet, not his party room or caucus, not the Parliament but him,” Mr Guy said. “Giving one person that amount of power doesn’t appear to be … anything that I can imagine to be democratic about it.”
See the 7-minute video here: https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/peta-credlin/daniel-andrews-not-just-drunk-on-power-but-abusing-it/video/62140de0f6d2842ffc4104af1ec4f42a
Also, listen to this vital 12-minute interview with Neil Mitchell and Matthew Guy: https://www.facebook.com/BradBattinMP/videos/1041420943279992/
Digital Identity Bill
The Federal Government is not much better than Dictator Dan when it comes to draconian Statism. This new bill, which like so many others has had little fanfare and very limited publicity for public comment, looks to be a real worry. The Federal website on it is found here: https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/
Sadly, the deadline for submissions is 5:00pm today (27 October). Submissions can be lodged here: https://www.digitalidentity.gov.au/have-your-say/phase-3/submission-form.
Many have spoken out against this. Let me feature three. One begins by asking some important questions:
Australian citizens have no reason whatsoever to be “grateful” that the government will find it easier to access a comprehensive database of information on every single one of them. The legislation is little more than a very poorly disguised attempt to lay the groundwork for a loathsome Chinese communist style social credit system. A system that would be able to continually monitor in real time our movements, our spending habits, our interactions with commercial businesses and the bureaucracy, not to mention a whole host of other equally likely dangerous and sinister intrusions into our lives.
What will be included in this “digital identity”? Our financial records? Our medical records? Who will be able to gain access? Under what conditions? Is Facial Recognition Technology part of it?
Will the “digital identity” be used to monitor political, social and religious participation, comments on blogs, participation in protests, opposition to sacred shibboleths such as climate change and mass immigration, domestic and overseas travel and your reasons for going to a particular destination?
Most importantly, will the “digital identity” be used to restrict individuals’ movements, access to their assets (particularly cash) and access to goods or services based on their “soundness” and compliance with ridiculous and inexcusable government diktats?
He concludes:
To summarise, we are completely opposed to this legislation, the “digital identity” and the attendant Chinese communist style social credit system that would result. The proposed “digital identity” serves no useful purpose whatsoever. It is beyond unnecessary and will be inevitably subject to abuse by governments, the bureaucracy and malign actors such as hostile foreign governments and local and overseas IT hackers.
Over the last few decades in particular, Australian governments have ceased to act in any kind of good faith manner towards the citizenry. This proposed “digital identity” framework is quite simply an abomination that should never have been even contemplated, let alone come this close to being introduced.
George Orwell’s landmark novel “1984” was not an instruction manual. It was a stark warning about the horrors of an all-powerful utterly intrusive government surveillance state and the abuses it would visit on those unfortunate enough to exist under it.
This “digital identity” legislation must not proceed, not only for the reasons set out above, but also because the Morrison government has no electoral mandate to introduce it. https://newcatallaxy.blog/2021/10/26/guest-post-rabz-submission-in-opposition-to-the-exposure-draft-of-the-digital-identity-legislation-as-proposed-by-the-australian-government/#more-2185
Another piece begins this way: “COVID-19 has undoubtedly provided the staging ground for a new technocentric era for Australian society. Mandated QR check-ins, cashless businesses, vaccine passport apps and even a quarantine surveillance program with facial recognition are all part of an accelerated push towards a fully digitalised economy.”
The author looks at the proposal in detail, and then also speaks to the system in China – something I have often been warning about:
We have seen what happens when state premiers are awarded the power to govern autonomously; megalomania. Propped up by the ‘public health emergency,’ each Australian state, to varying degrees, has inched towards authoritarianism. By definition, authoritarianism is a form of government ‘favouring or enforcing strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.’
Is this not a fitting description for a regime of vaccine mandates, harsh extended lockdowns, bans on peaceful protesting, public reviling of dissenting views, excessive policing and censorship? The sad truth is that the country we are now living in bears more resemblance to communist China than a western liberal democracy.
In China, technology has been a highly effective tool of oppression and control for decades. The use of mass video surveillance, strict information control and internet activity monitoring are a few of the mechanisms employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to ensure civilian compliance while identifying and penalising dissidents. The CCP refers to these control measures as ‘the eyes that safeguard China’ — necessary precautions taken for the safety and security of the nation.
Throughout the pandemic, Australia, like China, has also consistently used the rhetoric of protection to warrant government overreach. In the words of C.S Lewis, ‘of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.’
Perhaps the most insidious of China’s digital initiatives is the social credit system; it began in 2014 as an opt-in program and to this day remains ‘voluntary.’ However, like ‘voluntary’ vaccination in Australia, there are incentives for participating and deterrents for not participating.
The social credit system collects and pieces together data into a unified record — the objective of which is to monitor and evaluate the ‘trustworthiness’ of businesses, institutions and individuals. It’s more than just a means of identification; it’s a metric for determining the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people in society and treating them accordingly.
The exact methodology behind social credit rankings is unknown, however, your positioning can be affected by even the slightest of transgression like playing your music too loud, jaywalking, spending money frivolously, spreading ‘fake news’ or playing video games too much.
Punishments for poor social credit include increased audits and government inspections for businesses, reduced employment prospects, travel bans, exclusion from private schools, slow internet connection, exclusion from hotels, and public shaming. Rewards for positive social credit include fast-tracked approvals for government services, discounts on energy bills, better interest rates at banks and so on.
If your social credit plummets too far, you may end up on the ‘blacklist,’ which is comprised of those the CCP deems ‘untrustworthy.’ A deterrent for ending up on this unfortunate register is public shaming. The information of blacklisted individuals is deliberately made accessible to the public, and their faces and names are displayed on billboards and in venues alongside the word ‘untrustworthy.’
Chinese journalist, Liu Hu, was placed on the blacklist for writing about censorship and government corruption. The Supreme Court ruled that because of his work, he was “not qualified” to buy a plane ticket, and banned from travelling some train lines, buying property, or taking out a loan.
The social credit system in China is the ultimate merger of technocentrism and tyranny. It is what digitisation looks like in the hands of autocrats, and it is what the Digital Identity system has the potential to become.
It may seem that Australia is a still a world away from the blatant oppression of communist China, but make no mistake, we are hurtling towards that same fate at a frightening pace.
In under 2 years, our society has been restructured from the top-down — Australians are being openly discriminated against on the basis of medical status, freedom has become a privilege bestowed by the government, legislation can no longer be relied upon, extensive propaganda campaigns have invaded all forms of media, those with dissenting views are publicly reviled, shamed and silenced, and the tracking of citizens is not only commonplace but mandated.
The foundation of despotism has already been laid in our nation, all our government now requires is a more effective and streamlined system to implement their regime – could the Digital Identity scheme provide that platform? https://caldronpool.com/australias-digital-identity-program-a-pathway-to-the-social-credit-system/
Finally, please watch this short video on the dangers of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD71BKyciVU
The western world that we live in is becoming an evermore threatening, scary and unsafe place to be in. The powers that we have today to enslave the masses and placate the sheeple would make past tyrants drool. All the more reason to keep in mind – and act on – the old saying: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
[2049 words]
You can have all ‘the eternal vigilance’ you like but if you have no power to change anything, it is of little practical value. I am eternally vigilant but, when I see the legislation produced by Dictator Dan, I am equally eternally upset and frustrated!
You rightly remind us of history. Victoria is experiencing the very same technique that Hitler used to bypass the German parliament in the 1930s and accrue all power to himself. If things continue as they are, Daniel Andrews will have Hitler-like powers to do anything to the state and its people.
It seems peculiar that we could have the equivalent of a Nazi government in one state of Australia while rest of the country goes about its business and the Commonwealth can nothing about it because of Constitutional limits to its powers.
Victoria will lose people even more quickly because freedom is better than dictatorship. Go while you can still cross the border!
Thanks Guy. Yes the parallels with Germany in the 1930s are too similar and too ominous to ignore.
There seems little more to be said, Bill. I have observed with growing concern the way the media, the judiciary, the police, the corporate world, and the health authorities, are all parroting the official narrative, and the big tech social media platforms are censoring anything contra to that narrative.
Perhaps most worrying is that government-controlled health authorities are not only mandating the experimental jabs but denying treatment to anyone who gets sick. To me that is an absolute scandal, when doctors are no longer allowed to exercise their professional judgment and freedom to try and help patients with safe treatments that have been shown to be highly successful in keeping people out of hospital and off ventilators.
Yes it a real worry Alec.
Thank you Bill.
All this is more than ominous, it’s frightening.
It sure is frightening John.
Thanks Bill. I have made my submission in opposition to this horrific ID bill and fowarded it on to as many people as possible. The worst part about this is how little notification there is about it. People are distracted by the constant fear porn of Covid1984 and have no idea how this bill will destroy Australia as we know it. Those of us who don’t get vaxxed could be barred from getting groceries in the very near future!
I go to a church in Adelaide where the pastor at least has made it very clear that all will be welcome there…no matter what vacc status and no one wears masks there, but sadly I don’t know of many that are like this.
God,have mercy on us, in Jesus name!
We need your help more than ever…
Yes exactly right Jeremy.
Everyone offering services to the Vic Gov’t should go on walkabout or on sitdown until Dan changes his mind or until the governor steps in to dissolve parliament.
It will hurt, but it will hurt less than Dan’s plans.
Quite right Bruce.
I just finished reading the highly acclaimed book by Tim Jackson: “Post Growth. Life after Capitalism”. Now I am a capitalist by conviction and an economist by training. I doubt I would have much if anything in common with Tim Jackson. But I am not afraid to be challenged as I was!
Jackson’s thesis is that capitalism is broken and “the relentless pursuit of more has delivered climate catastrophe, social inequality and financial instability and left us ill prepared for life in a global pandemic.”
Greta Thunberg (yes her) burst onto the international stage with her criticism of the world’s apparent unwillingness to grapple with the challenges of climate change. It looks like she will be a star at COP 26. Jesus obviously believed that wisdom could proceed from the mouths of babes. Maybe!
Up to a point Thunberg is correct as were others who have been at the forefront of advocating change. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King come to mind. Greta The power to change things resides in the people. It’s called democracy and this is expressed through the ballot box. But, when as is happening in Victoria this isn’t working what happens next?
Gandhi is remembered for his advocacy of civil disobedience. Nonviolent protests. Has the time come for our Victorian brothers and sisters to stand up and resist? Maybe but where are those who are prepared to lead?
Thanks John. I support the free market as the best means to reduce poverty and prosper the masses. Woke capitalism is another matter which I have discussed elsewhere, eg., here:
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/08/07/surveillance-culture-a-double-edged-sword/
And yes, Victorians need to stand up and speak out. Whether they will or not is another matter. Groups like Reignite Democracy Australia are doing their bit.
Thanks guys. The Victorian bill is so bad that even the hard left Andrews-supporting Melbourne Age featured this article today which begins:
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victorian-bar-slams-appalling-new-pandemic-laws-20211027-p593n8.html
Wow – The Melbourne Age likens Dan’s power bill to the Stasi police!? The Left disqualifies any comparison with extreme regimes like Nazi or Communist systems. But now Dan leaves them no option, and The Age has certainly picked a comparison with stunning similarities to Dan’s plan – a spy state. Here’s a little rundown of the Sasi: (From Encyclopedia Britannica – another solid leftist outfit)
“Under Erich Mielke, its director from 1957 to 1989, the Stasi became a highly effective secret police organization. Within East Germany it sought to infiltrate every institution of society and every aspect of daily life, including even intimate personal and familial relationships. It accomplished this goal both through its official apparatus and through a vast network of informants and unofficial collaborators (inoffizielle Mitarbeiter), who spied on and denounced colleagues, friends, neighbours, and even family members. By 1989 the Stasi relied on 500,000 to 2,000,000 collaborators as well as 100,000 regular employees, and it maintained files on approximately 6,000,000 East German citizens—more than one-third of the population.”
Thanks for that Tim.
Thanks guys. There is a petition you can sign about Dan’s Dictatorship – please sign and share:
https://www.change.org/p/calling-on-the-governor-of-victoria-to-dissolve-the-victorian-parliament
Hi Bill,
Andrews has been playing the long game (like China with Hong Kong) to attain his dictator status and has established undue influence over Vicpol, the MSM, courts and other important institutions. We can only hope The Hon Linda Dessau AM (whom Andrews appointed as GG…) is free from any undue influence and will act against this tyrant with the welfare of Victorians as her number one criteria. Someone has to, as good people are deserting this broken State in droves.
Quite right Julian.
Thanks guys. The opening monologue by Alan Jones tonight on Sky News was clearly borrowing from this piece of mine on dictatorship in Australia, if not actually quoting from it. While credit was not given, I was quite chuffed that he seems to have read my piece (maybe someone had sent it to him). You can listen to Jones here (starting at the 2.25 mark) and decide for yourself!
https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/alan-jones/parliamentary-democracy-would-be-gone-under-andrews-new-pandemic-laws/video/1a18390a02efcf99c5b7b559cb858aa4
“They voted for us that gives us a mandate! If the didn’t want radical transformation of society the would have voted differently.”
• Summary – to 24/10 21 COVID-19 vaccine weekly safety report – 28-10-2021 | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• 629 post vaxx death reports – 17 in last week
• 74,380 serious injuries – 2369 in one week
• Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia 157 reports –
• Reports of Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) – 86
• 138 reports of Guillaine Barre Syndrome (paralysis) – 7 this week
• 1,417reports of myocarditis and pericarditis have been received – post Pfizer and Spikevax vaxx. – 132 in adolescents, some as young as 12.
• The TGA continues to ‘monitor and review’ the genocide.
Jacinda Ardhern, Dan Andrews or anyone else being the ‘Supreme Commanders of Socialism in the Pacific’ are long gone. They’re out numbered, out monied, out gunned and outwitted.
It’s that simple Bill. God Bless.
Thanks Mike.
What’s going on in Victoria? The Social Contract where an elected government carries out the wishes of the majority has been quietly snuffed out. The Governor has styled himself as the gurning face of a dictator – setting upon the electorate with semi military police all dressed in black, forcing entry into private property, demanding ID or threatening fairy tale fees for failure to comply with unrealistic orders. I witnessed on TV an elderly person pushed backwards down to the ground and deliberately pepper sprayed in the face by a para military and some time ago a pregnant woman at her home in her pyjamas jostled roughly by police men who burst into her home. Is this a desperate bid to save lives from the Rona? Or a desperate bid to kick start the Depopulation Agenda 21? Who is orchestrating this? Where is love, light and dignity in all this darkness? It seems the secretive end, however negative, justifies the means.
Good questions Rachel!
Lockout is announced as from 24 November 2021 for Victorians without jabs. Unfortunately, Dan is going that way. See news reports.
This is in addition to their planned laws on declaring “pandemics” with various health “decrees” and for religious schools re hiring and other restrictions. Not good at all with numerous restrictions being threatened.
Thanks Bill. Yes this blatant discrimination and horrific attack on basic human rights is utterly diabolical. Dictator Dan should be in prison, not us.