Dear Editor,
Victorians had a win this week with community pressure forcing Daniel Andrews and his Labor Government to abandon their latest shocking power grab by backing down on its controversial COVID-19 Omnibus bill.
This was a decision Daniel Andrews didn’t want to make.
In the past few weeks, I was contacted by hundreds of regional Victorians concerned that Daniel Andrews’ COVID-19 Omnibus Bill was excessive and open to abuse.
In that same time, former judges, lawyers and human rights experts labelled these laws a massive overreach.
Daniel Andrews’ Omnibus bill would have given anyone of his government’s choosing the extraordinary power to indefinitely detain a person they think might not follow a public health direction in the future.
Arresting someone on suspicion without an act being committed is an unprecedented overreach into the lives and safety of regional Victorians. Not to mention being a serious breach of human rights.
The Liberal Nationals will continue to fight against Labor’s attempts to undermine the rights and liberties of Victorians and will heavily scrutinise Labor’s amendments to the Omnibus bill.
Victorians have lost confidence in Daniel Andrews’ Labor Government with its repeated and unwarranted power grabs.
Peter Walsh
Leader of The Nationals