Daniel Andrews is by far the worst Premier Australia has ever seen. This is coming from someone who saw the disaster that Kristina Keneally was in office in NSW. But as terrible as she was, Daniel Andrews has truly gone above and beyond in the realm of bad leadership. The man has, through a quest for power, annihilated the State of Victoria. Melbourne, once the most livable city in the world, is now but a shadow of its former self. Businesses closed permanently, the streets bare, citizens imprisoned in their homes, a tyrannical leader imposing more restrictions; it is almost like 1984 come to life. Thankfully, I do not reside in Danistan, so the police will not come knocking at my door to intimidate me for criticizing their Dear Leader.

Daniel Andrews has consistently said throughout his daily press conferences that this is not about politics, rather, it is about health. He has maintained that all the decisions he has made and continues to make, and all the restrictions put in place, are at the advice of the Chief Health Officer (CHO) Brett Sutton. Essentially, he claims he has based everything on the “health advice”. Yet neither of these things are completely true.

First, the health advice has not played a part in all decisions made and restrictions imposed. That became evident when yesterday, on Neil Mitchell’s radio show on 3AW, Brett Sutton admitted that he had not advised the Premier to impose a curfew. This was a bombshell revelation. Why? Because since implementing the curfew on Melbourne, Daniel Andrews has always said that this decision was based on the health advice of the Chief Health Officer. Yet Sutton’s revelation had just proven that claim to be false. If this were true, it would essentially mean that Daniel Andrews had been lying to everyone the whole time, and that the curfew was nothing more than a tyrannical power grab.

It was only natural that this would be followed up by the media at the next press conference. When journalists began asking their questions, it was only a matter of time before an admission was made in one form or another. Daniel Andrews was asked if Brett Sutton (who, conveniently, happened to be absent from the presser) had advised him to impose the curfew. The Premier responded that “it wasn’t a matter for Brett Sutton”. He told the press it was his decision. This confirmed what Sutton had said to be true. Andrews had all but admitted the curfews were not based on health advice. But the big bombshell came with the first question asked on this matter. The Premier was asked if he was able to confirm if it was in fact the Victorian Police who had asked him to impose the curfew. While he initially claimed he was unable to pinpoint who it was, it wasn’t long before he said that the curfew being in place makes it “much easier for police”, and in a follow up question, again said the curfew was put in place to “make the jobs of Police easier.” With these comments, the Premier all but confirmed the curfew was only imposed to make life easier for a lazy police force, and essentially impose a Police State upon Victoria.

This admission that the curfew was done for the sake of the Police also confirmed something many knew all along: this was a power grab for the Premier. But the revelations were far from over. Only this morning, Victoria’s Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton told Neil Mitchell Victoria Police were not consulted on the matter of the curfew, and that he only found out about it just hours before it was to be enforced. This raised the question: if the Chief Health Officer did not request the curfew, and the Victorian Police did not request it, then who did? When this question was posed to the Premier in his daily press conference today, his response was predictable: “I can’t pinpoint the exact individual or the exact moment that a decision was made to impose a curfew.” However, from the information obtained by Neil Mitchell, and Andrews’ own admissions, we can safely assume that this was, as one journalist put it, a Captain’s Call.

The curfew never should have been imposed. After the revelations from the last few days, it is safe to say it is far from appropriate. A curfew being imposed in peacetime is absurd in itself. But to do so with no request from relevant authorities is extreme. It is nothing more than a selfish act of accumulating power; something a dictator would do. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has now called for the curfew to be lifted immediately, considering it was not implemented based on health advice. Any reasonable person would agree. It does not matter in the slightest if, as Daniel Andrews claimed this morning, it will “make the Police’s job harder.” The Police should know how to do their job, and they should be able to do so without such arbitrary measures. The Premier thinks that this curfew is only impactful upon those who would seek to otherwise break the rules. It impacts everyone living in Melbourne, and it will continue to do so until it is lifted.

When Daniel Andrews says this is not about politics, he is lying to you. This has only ever been about politics for him. One could say the roadmap to nowhere has been imposed in revenge for China’s Belt and Road Initiative that he signed onto being ripped up by the Prime Minister. It could also be construed that the restrictions put in place, which have created a Police State, were implicated so that the Premier could gain more power, and ensure the people obeyed. But don’t take it from me, take it from Daniel Andrews himself. The man who, since the inception of many of these restrictions, has claimed consistently that they were imposed upon the advice of the CHO, today told the press “I think it’s dangerous to fall into this trap that the only decisions that the Government can make are the ones advised by the Chief Health Officer”, and claimed the advice isn’t necessarily what makes the rules. In saying these things, he has contradicted what he has been saying for months, implying many of these decisions could easily have been Captain’s Calls, essentially making them political. And when you lie to the people again and again, you lose their trust.

In addition, the Police State imposed upon the people of Victoria has created an air of anger and fear. Victoria Police are now turning up to people’s homes in what are clearly intimidation tactics, for criticizing the Premier on social media, serving them with warnings about attending protests that they were not even planning to attend. They have arrested two individuals in their homes, pregnant mother Zoe Buhler, and ex-soldier James Bartolo, for posting about the protests on Facebook. When Police start arresting people for Facebook posts, it begs the question: why are they trawling through social media looking for people to arrest? It is unwarranted surveillance. Victoria appears to have its own Stasi. But it does not stop there. Six police officers surrounded two elderly women, one of them snatching one of the women’s phones. It’s disgusting behaviour, but when Andrews is asked about it, he refuses to comment. When the people fired up last weekend, taking to the streets to protest against this tyrannical government, the Police began violently arresting people. Did they do the same to Black Lives Matter protestors weeks before the second wave began? No. The double standards of the Andrews Government and the Victorian Police are on full display. It appears that only government sanctioned protest is allowed in the Socialist Republic of Victoria. And apparently protesting for freedom does not qualify.

Now naturally, the media were present at these protests to cover them. They do this out of their duty to the public to report on matters of public interest. The Freedom Day protests were of great public interest. Among the journalists present was Rebel News reporter Avi Yemini. After passing through the roadblocks having had his permit checked, and a couple of hours covering the protests, permit in pocket, Avi was arrested without warning by Victoria Police. While other journalists from the Mainstream Media were asked to move on, Avi was given no such courtesy. He was pinned to the ground like some sort of dangerous criminal and handcuffed, despite telling the Police multiple times that he had his permit in his pocket. When he inquired as to what was being arrested for, the arresting Officer told him “Hinder”. This was despite the fact that Avi had not hindered Police at all. He had been standing in a space with no one near him and had not been asked even once by Police to move on. But any logical person would know that Avi was not arrested for doing anything wrong at all. No, this was purely a tactic by Victoria Police to get rid of journalists who were not subservient to Daniel Andrews and his Government. Avi’s real crime? Journalism. And when a State, even a country, reaches a point where journalism is apparently a crime, you know you’re in trouble, because that is a sign that democracy is dying.

Victoria is a disaster. There really is no other way to put it than that. The State that makes up 22% of Australia’s GDP, that bears the brunt of Australia’s economy, has been destroyed by a rogue, power-hungry Premier and his incompetent Government. Victorian small businesses are in ruins. The private sector has been completely screwed over. Private sector wages have fallen by $5.96 billion since the start of this lockdown, yet public sector wages have increased. That is practically wage theft. The private sector is what fuels the economy, and practically what pays the wages of the public sector, so you can only imagine what this means for Victoria going forward in terms of recovery. 21% of the workforce will be put out of work as a result of Daniel Andrews’ lockdowns. Businesses, jobs, income, and livelihoods have all been lost due to the harshest restrictions in the Western world. The mental health impact will be ginormous. Only yesterday, the Mona Castle Hotel, a pub in Footscray that had been open for 140 years, closed its doors permanently, unable to withstand the economic damage of the restrictions. That is a business that has been open since before FEDERATION. Andrews and Sutton have justified their actions by comparing Victoria to other countries like France, Spain, and the UK. Yet despite those being countries and having far greater case numbers than an Australian State, they are recording only a small fraction of the daily deaths in Victoria. All because of Government incompetence.

Victoria was once the most livable city in the world. Now it is the worst State in the country. That is not a reflection of the people, it is a reflection of the Premier, the Government, the Victorian Police (with exceptions of those who are not abusing their power of course), the health bureaucrats, and anyone else involved in the decision making, as well as those who support these decisions. Daniel Andrews is on the brink of sparking a class war. Civil unrest is likely to occur. Protests will continue. The rest of the country stands in solidarity with Victorians who just want their lives back.

Enough is enough. Far too much damage has been done. The curfew must be lifted. Restrictions must be loosened. Daniel Andrews must resign or be sacked. The Governor must do her job. The Parliament should be dissolved, and an election called. The people must be given the opportunity to choose what they want. Democracy must be revived and allowed to run its course.

Politicians must remember that in a democracy it is we the people who give them their power.  If they abuse it or try to take more than they have been given, they should expect the people to revolt.

Because while leaders may take power, democracy can take it back.