The story is behind their paywalls here:
Comments are very positive. For example: There is no doubt that the whole sorry affair destroyed my feelings for the country that I have ever loved and revered. It is the rise of the bureaucracy that threatens us. It now seeps into our collective soul, corrosively and insidiously.
This is the text:
Australia descended in 2021 into its darkest days, a full totalitarian tilt into the abyss of government maladministration, a frightened, disoriented, confused population imprisoned in their own homes, and distrust everywhere. While a deluded and misinformed Australian public endured what on the face of it was a mass Psyop operation, a deliberately terrified population herded in one direction, towards mass vaccination and a singular loss of personal liberties, Australia’s international reputation as a freedom-loving easy going holiday destination was being trashed.
In August, that final month of winter, as the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, plunged the state into its sixth, world record-beating lockdown, the world’s most successful podcaster, American Joe Rogan, lamented of Australia: “There’s some crazy shit going on right now where the army is trying to keep people inside in Australia. They have full-on government lockdowns where the government is flying helicopters over streets saying ‘go back indoors, you’re not allowed outside’.”
Subsequently on Instagram he wrote: “Australia had the worst reaction to the pandemic with dystopian, police-state measures that are truly inconceivable to the rest of the civilised world.”
The lockdowns so beloved by Australia’s politicians were already being decried by academics around the world, and would come to be seen as one of the greatest policy failures in the history of public health. Hostage to vaccine manufacturers and their government collaborators, most of the mainstream media disparaged or ignored the gathering freedom movement around the country.
Across Australia protestors faced walls of police.
At the same time, the land of kangaroos and koalas, dangerous reptiles, cockatoos, budgerigars and surfers, that Australia of fond myth and legend, was being annihilated.
The international coverage was excoriating. The Qatar-based Aljazeera news, for example, under a prominent picture of protestors carrying a banner readig “Country in Distress”, recorded that there had been nationwide protests on August 21, 2021, with more than 250 people protesting against coronavirus lockdowns in Australia having been arrested and many others facing fines for defying health orders.
“At least seven police officers were treated for injuries after skirmishes broke out at some of the demonstrations on Saturday, which took place in multiple cities nationwide. The largest and most violent protest was in Melbourne. Many were organised by people in encrypted online chat groups.”
In Melbourne police arrested 218 people and issued more than 200 fines, each for $5400, an extremely punitive level. Six Victoria state police officers were hospitalised and three people remained in custody for allegedly assaulting police. Officers used pepper spray on several people, saying in a statement they were left with no choice.
In NSW, police said they arrested 47 people and fined more than 260 in relation to demonstrations across the state. They also issued 137 tickets after stopping about 38,000 vehicles that approached the city. NSW Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said police expected to identify more people through security cameras and social media footage.
In a piece badged “Insanity Down Under” one of America’s most popular broadcasters, Tucker Carlson at Fox News, gave his take on Australia’s Covid Regulations.
“One thing about Americans, they love Australia,” he told his million-plus followers. Most Americans have never been there, it’s an awful long way away, but when Americans think of Australians, they imagine a freer, tougher version of themselves. Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee – that kind of thing.
“So there is a huge reserve of affection in the United States for Australia, its culture and its people. It’s also possible that most Americans, us included, have not updated our assumptions about Australia in a while and the modern reality is a little different from what we imagine.
“Australia looks a lot like China did at the beginning of the pandemic, that’s the sad truth …
“At the time, our public health officials told us that nothing like that could ever happen in our country or in the West, but that was wrong, because those things are now happening in Australia.”
Carlson then went on to play several clips of scenes in Melbourne. The first is of a wild street melee of running protesters and police. The next clip shows fully kitted out policemen with shields and helmets aggressively punching commuters as they try to enter a train station.
“There is a lot of footage like this from Australia,” Carlson said. “In just two years, the Australian Police went from raiding newsrooms to beating people in the streets, so maybe the lesson is, things can change very quickly. One moment, the English-speaking world is mocking China for being dystopian and autocratic; the next moment, they are aping China and hunting people down.”
In stark contrast to the messages of concern and empathy flooding in from around the world the NSW government went hell for leather to terrify the population. Then police minister David Elliot, a plump self-satisfied man characteristic of the breed, declared: “There is no doubt that these are the darkest days the people of NSW have had to face in nearly a century. But the high rate of vaccination means there is a pathway, a pathway of hope.
“Unfortunately there will be some obstacles on that pathway and one of those obstacles is the need to restrict public gatherings. So anybody who attends a protest tomorrow is going to be facing the full force of the NSW Police Force. You will also be endangering the lives of your loved ones. And prolonging this lockdown.”
Conveniently for the authorities, the right to protest had been abolished. A fundamental democratic right gone with the stroke of a pen. And a massive taxpayer-funded fear campaign.
Elliott said he was “sick to death of people flouting the rules”. He told media outlets that it was no coincidence that there had been a “spike” in cases three weeks after thousands of people attended protests in Sydney’s Central Business District on July 24.
“There is no doubt in my mind at least some of these cases that we are seeing at the moment had their genesis at the protest,” he said. “Which is why, if they try to do it again, the Police, with the assistance of any other agency we need, will make sure that the response is the same.”
That is, violent, abusive, authoritarian, and provoking scenes that were now making headlines around the world, so utterly deranged were they.
On August 16, the entire state, not just Sydney, was plunged into lockdown. Tiny hamlets such as Come By Chance, population 167, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, were equally afflicted as crowded western Sydney suburbs.
Bush poet Banjo Paterson immortalised the town with the words:
“But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me,
Quite by chance I came across it – `Come-by-Chance’ was what I read…”
The joke about Come By Chance was that one half of the town didn’t speak to the other. That’s because there was a cemetery on one side of the road.
Locked down. There wasn’t much else to do there but go to the pub, and you couldn’t do that anymore. Under the new measures random checkpoints were set up along key streets and roads in Sydney and more riot squad and highway patrol officers descended on the suburbs.
Singles who might want to scratch an increasingly lonely itch had to formally register their “bubble partner” with the government. If they were in a Local Government Area “of concern” they must also live within five kilometres of each other.
And there would be absolutely no travel to the regions without a government permit. People who fled Sydney for their holiday homes or to visit friends and relatives in the country were turned back to the city.
The state, the citizenry, everyone was haemorrhaging money. The insanity was everywhere; on the south coast police were knocking on doors to ensure that no one was escaping their places of residence in the city to seek shelter in their beach houses; sending them back to their miserable flats if they were sheltering in place, a place such as their second home.
The rationale? The logic? There was none.
Sprawling suburbs across Western Sydney, ultimately covering millions of people, were all declared to be “of concern”, including Fairfield, Blacktown, Burwood, Liverpool and Parramatta. There were $5000 on-the-spot fine for a “quarantine breach”, up from $1000. A $5000 penalty also applied for lying on a permit, or for lying to a contact tracer. The blizzard of announcements included $3000 fines for anyone exercising with more than one other person.
Shopping, exercise and outdoor recreation could only be done in a person’s local government area or within five kilometres of home. Random checkpoints on key roads were also increased. Helicopters hovered overhead, ensuring that people were complying with the curfew orders.
It looked like, it was, martial law.
Police handed out more Covid fines in August, 2021 than they did in the previous 17 months – 25,687 fines worth $23.9m. Lanyon declared: “Stay at home unless absolutely necessary. Tomorrow we will have over 1400 police involved in an operation to prevent those people who want to conduct an unlawful protest from doing so.”
The statement from the minister and the commissioner was sent out in a social media message badged NSW Police Force: Poena Premit Comes Culpam. Punishment swiftly follows the crime.
The mass vaccination of the population was never justified and nothing to be proud of. But the perpetrators of this farce, those who used their public office to spread falsehoods, limit liberties and create panic in the population, never faced any penalty.
As history would prove soon enough, the vaccines were neither safe nor effective, nor did they prevent transmission, and nor were they a public good. They were, however, a massive source of profit for the pharmaceutical companies.
Who knew? And when did they know? They would be the most significant questions as the repercussions sank in, and the recriminations began.
Along with many of his fellow perpetrators, from the premier to the health minister and down the ranks, soon enough Elliott would be giving his valedictory address. Indeed, mea culpa, David Elliott should have been expressing shame, guilt, regret, remorse. And a heartfelt apology.
No such luck.
This is an edited extract from Australia Breaks Apart, by John Stapleton, published this week by A Sense of Place.
Here is a sampling of the online comments:
James
5 HOURS AGO
The thing that has not been made clear to the public, is that 90% of the restrictions imposed by state governments upon their constituents, were done by regulation, not by an amendment to an act of parliament.
That means that if you do something by regulation, the bureaucrats can do it without the need to debate, whether it is worthwhile or not in parliament.
it is an insidious method of having the bureaucrats literally governing how are you live, without the need for open public debate in parliament.
The last thing that everyone needs to understand is those regulations have not been withdrawn or changed. They still exist for future use.
does that sound like China or Australia?Likedthumb_up68
Peter
4 HOURS AGO
Yes, but worse still was that the bureaucrats who held absolute power clearly weren’t making decisions based on evidence (where is it?) and the decisions were always strangely in accord with politicians’ strategic aims (Victoria’s opinion polling and Queensland’s exceptions for State of Origin games come to mind in particular).
Likethumb_up13
John
4 HOURS AGO
I just shook my head in despair as I read this piece. What have we become? From my memory Tony Abbott put it well “In World War 1 and 2 Australians were willing to risk their lives to protect their freedoms. In Covid times, it seems Australians will risk their freedoms to protect their lives”. What a fall from grace!Likedthumb_up62
Glenn
4 HOURS AGO
When will the people who did this be held accountable? We need a royal commission and if need be charges laid or they may think it is ok to do it again.Likedthumb_up50
Cameron
5 HOURS AGO
One of the most shameful periods of our nation’s history, and many of these politicians are still in power. How drunk did they get on their power trip? Stripping us of our basic rights, some leaders seemed to be on some sort of national campaign to subvert our freedoms and our rights at all costs.
those who lost loved ones and could not attend their dying relatives will remember these times.
we must never allow this hideous circumstance to ever darken our doors again. Public Health Policy or dictatorship? That’s the question!Likedthumb_up49
Peter
5 HOURS AGO
One of my favourite topics, but I will say only two things:
(1) The reputation of Australians as an easy going population with a healthy distrust – even contempt – for authority has been a myth for about 40 years. In the 1950s, it was said that the country rode on the sheep’s back; now politicians are taking that ride.
(2) There is still an astounding level of ignorance about the profound medium- and long-term ill-effects of worldwide Covid mismanagement. For anyone interested (probably a small group), I recommend listening to the episode of the Uncommon Knowledge podcast which features Dr Jay Bhattacharya.
Likethumb_up38
7 HOURS AGO
Now we know what type of place Australia is & what lurks beneath the surface of Government.
Likethumb_up38
Paul
4 HOURS AGO
I will never forget or forgive Daniel Andrews for the pain and suffering he imposed on fellow Victorians.
Unfortunately he will get away without punishmentLikedthumb_up37
Patrick
2 HOURS AGO
He already has, he was voted back in. The people have spoken I’m afraid.Likethumb_up5
Michael
11 HOURS AGO
Sadly, all too true. Sadly, it could all happen again, when we get the next “promised” pandemic. Sad place, Australia then Likethumb_up35
Ian
6 HOURS AGO
Good to see this. I’ve been amazed at how much people forget or ignore the absolutely horrid things that went on. We need a royal commission into this response and people need to be held accountable.Likethumb_up33
ross
3 HOURS AGO
I too will never forgive our politicians of all stripes who carried on like hysterical children for the best part of three years. I will never forgive I will never forget the trashing of Australian citizenship by refusing to allow Australians to come home and I will never forgive their stupidity in border rules – in fact none of their stupid pandemic actions. Usually happy to call a Royal Commission over a bee sting it is unsurprising that with bipartisan support across federal and all states the politicians don’t want an inquiry- a serious pox on all of themLikethumb_up32
Phillip
5 HOURS AGO
…… and does anyone believe that it will be any different next time – and as sure as night follows day, there will be a next time.
Have any of our politicians, public servants etc. been brought to account for this unwarranted overreach? Not bloody likely. Likethumb_up32
John
5 HOURS AGO
Well said. The biggest disgrace we have ever seen. As time will prove.Likethumb_up30
Paul
4 HOURS AGO
To be rivalled by the destruction of our power grid.
Likethumb_up29
Objective
8 HOURS AGO
There is no doubt that the whole sorry affair destroyed my feelings for the country that I have ever loved and revered. It is the rise of the bureaucracy that threatens us. It now seeps into our collective soul, corrosively and insidiously. Likedthumb_up29
Peter V
10 HOURS AGO
I just don’t know what say, except this is what happens when bureacrats take over and flex their powers.
And then get promoted!Likedthumb_up29
Rosalind
5 HOURS AGO
I remember that a Russian lady, (a client of a friend) living in Melbourne, returned to Russia during the lockdowns because she believed that the quality of life would be better back in the old country…Likethumb_up28
PatrickJD
6 HOURS AGO
When tinpot dictators are given a little authority the bully emerges. Invested with powers of bureaucratic control they rise to dangerous levels of authority. Likedthumb_up28
Daisy
3 HOURS AGO
No mention of Mark McGowan here. He too, needs a worthy mention. He was utterly shameful, locking everyone in and out of the state for over a year. Likethumb_up24
LD
5 HOURS AGO
But the BLM protests….Likethumb_up24
Andrew
8 HOURS AGO
And no calls for a RC. And no one held responsible or accountable Likethumb_up23
Philip
3 HOURS AGO
Now here’s something that deserves an inquiry. Not whether a former Prime Minister appointed himself as backup Minister.