Originally Posted by
dr dre
C’mon that wasn’t just for a mere “Facebook post”, she (allegedly, it’s still in the courts) was trying to organise a “freedom rally” and promote it on social media, a mass gathering at the peak of that outbreak in which every man, woman, child and dog in Victoria knew was clearly illegal.
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I love reading these sorts of posts, it’s an interesting argument on whether any sort of protest should even be illegal to start with.
I’m going to play devils advocate.
Protesting against the government should never be illegal. Doesn’t matter what level of public health “risk” is justified to classify them illegal, removing the right to protest limits the function of our democracy. You only have to look at the double standards applied in Victoria to see the risks in this approach:
- BLM protest were ok
- another protest was also allowed (the subject suited the government) can’t remember what it was about.
- Any “freedom/anti lockdown” protests were met with a VERY heavy police response in return.
My main point with this is, once we start deciding “certain types” of protest are illegal, it’s a very slippery slope. Who is the ultimate arbiter of “what’s ok”, the government? Which is the very subject most people chose to protest about. Massive conflict of interest!
Combine this with the various powers available under the Public Health Orders and it can very quickly be open to abuse.
- right of entry to your home without a warrant
- right of arrest under whatever “order” the CMO creates (not parliament)
- right to confiscate property under similar “orders”
- closure of various sectors of business (with almost nil rights of appeal)
- just to name a few
I’m not talking “Nazis” or whatever conspiracy theory you might think I’m alluding to. It’s all about having good governance in our country, I personally don’t believe that includes some of the heavy handed actions we’ve seen in the last 18 months.
To add, I think the lack of a “rights charter” or something similar means in Australia we are at huge risk of laws being crafted by various levels of government that are detrimental to whatever level of “freedom” you support. The point with this is, until a law is tested in court in Australia and found illegal/detrimental, we are subject to whatever the government of the day creates. I believe we need some sort of rights charter to measure new laws (and old) against.
*for the record the only state with anything approaching a rights charter is Victoria. Conveniently they have made all reports secret since the pandemic started. Plus as far as I’m aware, we are the ONLY Western democracy without a Bill/Charter of Human rights.