This is blatant misinformation. Melbourne has been the most locked down city in the world. Understandably, the working class for whom WFH is not an option, have had enough. The protests are predominantly second/third generation Mediterranean immigrants, women, and children.
As Scandinavia rolls back all restrictions, Australian media work in concert with the government to stifle any dissent as the country spirals deeper into totalitarianism. Citizens are unable to leave the country, a violation of the UN declaration of Human Rights.
For those not from Australia; we are not about to become a fascist state. The parent comment’s other complaints about inequality are indeed true and our government has failed them.
Lockdown sucks and is problematic. There are riots and the media is of course following the government line. But these lockdowns will end and some level of normalcy restored.
I'm skeptical of that second video. Looks like the woman screaming (also not wearing a mask) was not being arrested. There were also a suspiciosly high number of professional cameramen and cops there for just not wearing a mask...
Whether the lockdowns are justified or not (I think it's complicated, sure, no one likes them but that doesn't mean they're not the right thing or on the alternative side that there haven't been mistakes in their implementation), there has been a coordinated attempt with protests recently attracting low thousands, but dwindling to hundreds in recent days.
that video I believe is from St kilda, which a particular small group of protesters targeted on that day for their specific actions. this was day 5 or so of them effectively playing tag with police around the inner city. the rest of us have largely been getting on with our lives.
the first video is from the cbd during similar actions, and while it's likely unjustified behaviour from police, it has to be taken in the context of an organised movement that has targeted and injured police in recent times, and an extreme right wing subset deliberately provoking and trying to get as much of a response from police as possible (they then film, edit and post things out of context)
Another Melburnian here, agree with what you’re saying.
I’m surprised that so many people on HN have such a warped perspective on what’s going on here, and even when multiple people from Melbourne post in this thread about their own experience living here, they’re told that they’re misinformed.
Yes there are problems in Australia, but it’s not about to become a facist state.
I think it's obvious we're on the road to becoming a facist state. As you and your parent point out, the only difference between sitting peacefully in a park and having the police move you on (or at worst assault you) is the act of protesting.
interesting that the health care protest is in the same park my picture further up the thread was in :)
but I wouldn't say that's the only difference. indeed if anyone is still reading this, I'd say go look at the report linked above. the small healthcare protest this morning peacefully dispersed, but the end of the report contains footage of the group/protests that have been running organised skirmishes with police most of this week. that this group is out there organising mobile/running protests on telegram and the like (the groups were public and they were livestreaming as they did so if you want to know how I know) is a pretty important context for police actions right now.
additional context is that protests (and subsequent police presence) has historically been a relatively common thing in Melbourne, and obviously the current context additionally involves movement restrictions and gathering in group restrictions that have been put in place until the vaccine has been rolled out. current evidence suggests we are primarily supply constrained ATM in Australia/Victoria relative to absolute demand, and the government has announced targets and timelines for removing these restrictions once the people who want vaccines have recieved them.
Australia lacks an explicit freedom/liberal philosophy, and it's certainly been the case that authoritarian aspects have increased recently, but it seems like a stretch to say that we're currently on a march to fascism. especially given the additional subtlety that what little fascist movements there have been in Australia are paradoxically aligned with the current protesters.
to paraphrase a quote from one of the protesting live streamer: "look at the police trying to stop peaceful protests. all we want to do is overthrow this government!"
in that sense there's a lot of commonality/overlap between the current protesters and the Trump movement. And another additional context of interest is the number of members on the twittersphere commenting on all this who are clearly Americans or aligned with American politics/media rather than locals. It's bizarre in that there's even been Trump flag wavers at some of the protests :/
> especially given the additional subtlety that what little fascist movements there have been in Australia are paradoxically aligned with the current protesters.
I think the paradoxical nature is a clue that there might be a little more to the story.... My take is most protesters are pretty normal people and the media/politicians overblow the extremist element out of self interest.
> footage of the group/protests that have been running organised skirmishes with police most of this week
I'm generally sympathetic as it seems like the police action is what causes the degradation from protest to skirmish. It sounds like you are aware of the livestreams but for anyone who isn't check out this facebook streamer for full unedited footage (commentary can be biased though). This video at one of the larger protests pretty clearly shows that arc.
The OA has a well sourced section that indicates that you can leave, you just may not be able to come back.
> Currently, more than 38,000 Australians are stranded overseas and nobody can leave the country unless you have a rarely granted exemption. The prime minister of Australia threatened jail-time for anyone returning back from India due to concerns about the transmissibility of the Delta strain yet the New South Wales government when there was an outbreak of Delta strain was like "nah, she will be alright mate" and did nothing for weeks.
> Australia’s borders are currently closed and international travel from Australia remains strictly controlled to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. International travel from Australia is only available if you are exempt or you have been granted an individual exemption.
> If you are an Australian citizen or a permanent resident you cannot leave Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions unless you have an exemption.
I'm not sure what makes me angrier, the lack of freedom, or the laziness of the Australian government. It's clear that they don't want people to leave the country because they don't want to deal with people comming back.
Yes they think that far ahead to avoid doing their job.
> There is a list of reasonable exemptions including work related travel.
Don't you think that you should've caveated your original comment with the fact that you need a specialized exemption to be able to leave?
Every other account I've read besides yours says that these exemptions are difficult and onerous to get, including for extreme cases like family emergencies. And even if you're granted one, trying to come back is still a very messy and expensive affair. As per the article's point — only available to the more privileged classes.
Here's an article from July [1] that has the numbers for June: out of 34,616 exemptions applied for, 14,522 were granted. That's about 40%.
Please consider my reply in the context of the original comment claiming the Australian Covid19 travel policy is a violation of the UN charter of human rights.
From Article 13 of the UN declaration of human rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Lockdown sucks and is problematic. There are riots and the media is of course following the government line. But these lockdowns will end and some level of normalcy restored.