VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: Left wing paradise

It has been a rough trott for us poor comrades stuck in Victoria, Australia… or what it is now becoming known as …. Danistan. A name derived from its illustrious supreme leader Dan Andrews. A leader whose leftist tendencies seem to have now blossomed into ever increasing government largess and control of society.

First it was the bushfires… and the usual blame given to climate change; had nothing to do with the pitiful lack of burn off following a long hot dry period of multiple years. And then COVID…. this plague reared its ugly head in late March of this year…. and Australia quickly stepped into gear closing its border and the numbers were reigned in.

So what happened in Danistan to awaken our dear leaders authoritarian tendencies. Well it was initially a slow rise which lately has catapulted into insanity. Not that I myself was particularly concerned at the start. Yes… I believed the elimination strategy embarked on by Australia as a whole, and Victoria in particular was fundamentally flawed…. a flaw that only a very effective vaccine could transform into a brilliant strategy. Elimination instead of containment of the virus has a whole myriad of unintended consequences that render the patient worse off than the disease. But I digress; COVID was an unknown quantity, Australia was able to afford an extended lockdown…. and who was I too question the sanity of trying our very best to protect the most infirm in society while punishing the healthy; causing emotional trauma to the lonely; and transforming society into a post apocalyptic science fiction movie.

All this was preceded by a rapid rise in cases and deaths in beloved Danistan (ie: Victoria Australia in July). And then it hit Stage 4 lockdown. Masks to be worn by everyone outside of their homes (except in their car). No-one allowed further than 5km from their living area (except for essential service members)…. and all non-essential working must cease. Only five people from two households can be gathered together outside at one time. The rules are many and varied and worse then I can explain in a short video. Was it effective…. absolutely, no doubt about it. The spread of coronavirus came to a screaming halt. Of course the numbers are still minuscule compared to other places in the world….but fear of the disease is at exponentially high levels.

There are currently 358 active cases in Victoria with 15 new cases per day…. and guess what; we are still in a totalitarian lockdown. I live in a country town of 100,000 people (with no active cases at all) and we are still mandated to wear masks. We are not allowed to travel to other states. The trouble with the elimination strategy is ….. what happens if you can’t eliminate it…. what happens if it comes back ….. are we cursed to remain locked down and wearing masks forever. Of course eventually so much political pressure will come to bear and the people will revolt that the state will have to change course… but in the meantime, in Danistan we are still largely, following the rules…. but cracks are starting to appear…. as shown here.

Will those cracks widen as the healthy young population start to disobey the mandates from a supreme leader who is becoming more and more out of touch with his subjects. Time will tell…. but given that he recently threw his health minister and staffers under the bus for poor decisions he likely was a party to; his popularity is starting to dwindle. What is the response of a left leaning politician under attack for lying to the poeple….. it is to crack down even harder on those under your perview. Fines for not wearing masks are slated to increase from its current $200, the fine for being found outside your 5km prison $1652 is also to be raised. May freedom, come …. and come quickly.