The international investigation and advocacy group Human Rights Watch is criticizing Australia for its “harsh police response” and “abusive practices” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 12, the state of Victoria imposed curfews on citizens which have allowed police to chase and detain violators. One curfew prohibited residents in Melbourne from leaving their homes at night and limited daytime movement to trips for basic needs and within a few miles of home. Australians have posted videos showing the government’s draconian enforcement actions.
“The videos coming out of Australia, particularly Melbourne, of people being slammed to the ground by police officers for simply walking outside their homes and trying to breathe fresh air are simply terrifying,” said Patrick Wood, founder of the U.S.-based Citizens for Free Speech (CFFS), in a statement.
“During the height of the pandemic in 2020, and even now in 2021, we have joined our CFFS members here in the U.S. in opposition to lockdown orders that restricted our God-given rights,” stated Wood. “But what we have endured pales in comparison to what the Aussie people are facing right now. We are witnessing scenes that are honestly reminiscent of the initial phases of Nazi Germany. It’s that serious.”
‘No Jab, No Pay’
As the Land Down Under copes with some of the world’s most severe COVID-19 lockdowns, the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has further tightened the screws by requiring the country’s health care workers to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.
Morrison’s sweeping October 1 order applies to public hospitals, ambulance services, private hospitals, general practitioners, private nurse offices, consulting offices, pharmacies, and private pathology centers. The new order also covers student nurses, doctors in residency, and health employees at the Defense Department.
“It’s pretty simple,” said New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard. “If you don’t care enough to get vaccinated and look after your colleagues[,] if you don’t care enough about your patient, you probably shouldn’t be in the health system.”
The move comes as Australia battles the Delta variant, which has spread rapidly despite crippling lockdowns and tightly sealed borders.
Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and its capital, Canberra, are in the midst of a weeks-long hard lockdown in an effort to control the spread of the disease. The country has scrapped plans to reach zero COVID and instead is focusing on mass vaccinations.
Comparisons to Slavery, Apartheid
The new rules have triggered a strong backlash. Liberal National MP George Christensen compared the vaccine mandate to slavery and apartheid in his popular online broadcast.
“This is not an anti-vax thing,” Christensen told his listeners. “This is about freedom, and it’s about choice, and it’s about telling governments and corporations, ‘You know what? We might be your employee, but we’re not your chattel. We’re no longer in a slave relationship where you can demand certain things be done to my body.’”
Christensen and his supporters appear to be facing an uphill battle. In addition to the national government in Canberra and state and territorial governments, the vaccine mandate is endorsed by the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
“The public has an expectation that when they go to the doctor, they will be safe and that staff will have been vaccinated,” AMA President Omar Khorshid said.
CFFS’s Wood, who also serves as editor-in-chief of Technocracy News and Trends, says Australia’s obsession with vaccinations will not eliminate the virus.
“Israel, the most vaccinated country in the world, has seen hospitalizations soar thanks to the Delta variant, which has easily eluded the mRNA vaccines,” Wood said on the Janet Mefferd Today podcast in September.
Contagion of Tyranny?
Australia’s crackdown raises questions about whether such extreme measures could spread to other parts of the free world where they haven’t already been implemented.
“I think Australia-like measures have already come to Canada, as we’ve already seen some heavy-handed rules put in place,” said Colin Craig, president of Canada-based SecondStreet.org.
“For example, the province of Quebec had curfews earlier this year, and Ontario had a stay-at-home order in place for two months except for ‘essential’ reasons,” said Craig.
“Government rules have differed across Canada’s ten provinces, showing that many of the decisions were based on politics, not science,” said Craig. “How could it be safe to go golfing or shop for ‘nonessential’ goods in one province but not another?”
Craig says the United States could also adopt such draconian and inconsistent measures.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Craig. “So much of COVID is political, which is unfortunate. It’s a serious disease that I think warrants at least some level of restrictions on our personal freedoms. However, when government rules are needlessly heavy-handed and are poorly thought-out, the public can see that officials really don’t know what they’re doing.”
Bonner R. Cohen, Ph.D., (bcohen@nationalcenter.org) is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research. AnneMarie Schieber (amschieber@heartland.org) is the managing editor of Health Care News.
Bonner R. Cohen, Ph.D., (bcohen@nationalcenter.org) is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research. AnneMarie Schieber (amschieber@heartland.org) is the managing editor of Health Care News.
(This article was updated on October 12, 2021)