Former Premier Jeff Kennett calls Daniel Andrews a ‘megalomaniac’, and he may have a point.
This week Daniel Andrews has announced that he intends to amend the Public Health and Wellbeing Act to extend the limit on emergency powers from six months to 18 months. That means that the unelected Chief Health Officer, not the parliament, could be issuing directives like stay-at-home orders and business closures until September 2021.
Can anything be done to stop it? We take a look at whether parliament will agree to give Andrews his extension, and what the numbers are looking like in the upper house.
And we hear from a new IPA member who takes issue with what we’ve been saying about coronavirus restrictions. Does he have a point?
Links:
Victorian Legislative Council, Member contact list:
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/ima…
James Bolt, ‘Australia has returned to being a convict nation’, The Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de…
The Hon Jeff Kennett AC, Twitter
https://twitter.com/jeff_kennett/stat…
Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic), pages 200-202:
https://content.legislation.vic.gov.a…
Chip Le Grand and Sumeyya Ilanbey, ‘“We can’t keep living like this”: COVID-19 state of emergency opens political divide’, The Age https://www.theage.com.au/politics/vi…
Anthony Piovesan, ‘Claims Premier Daniel Andrews “lied“ as defence Minister contradicts statements no ADF support was offered to Victorian hotel quarantine’, The Australian
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/brea…
Richard Willingham and Joseph Dunstan, ’Victorian coronavirus response scrutinised as Parliament meets against health advice’, ABC
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-0…
