Jill Hennessy of Andrews’ Labour Government tabled the Covid-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2020 in the Victorian Legislative Assembly during the sitting week of 15 September 2020. If you haven’t heard about this, please look it up! You can review the legislation for yourself here: https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/legislation/343-legislation-and-bills/articles/1824-bills-this-week

Under this unreasonable and unnecessary bill, our civil liberties are under threat. We can be detained INDEFINITELY, WITHOUT so much as a court hearing by a “designated authorised officer.”

These “designated authorised officers” are given additional powers over and above what even our police have, which means you can be detained if they have a “reasonable” SUSPICION that this high risk person is “LIKELY to refuse or fail to comply with” quarantine rules.

If you aren’t hearing warning bells by now, read this summary for yourselves:

“New section 200A is the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 will give designated authorised officers FURTHER emergency powers relating to high risk persons. New section 200A(1) provides that a designated authorised officer may DETAIN a person under section 200(1)(a) of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 if—

• a direction has been given in the exercise of an emergency power under section 200(1)(a), (b), (c) or (d); and

• the designated authorised officer reasonably believes that a person who is required to comply with the direction is a high risk person and is LIKELY to refuse or fail to comply with the direction.”

Incredibly, it has already been passed in the Legislative Assembly and been through the First, Second and Third Readings without amendment!

This petition will be sent to the 23 members of the Legislative Council that are not members of the ALP, the Governor of Victoria, Linda Dessau AC and the Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien. They need to know what we think about this.

All of us recognise the importance of following the Chief Health Officers recommendations in the interest of public health and safety. We are following the lockdown restrictions already. Given that, these extended powers can hardly be necessary, especially when they can be so widely applied.

Writing to our officials and signing this petition are our only options. I just hope that our elected officials will be capable of seeing the danger here - particularly, the danger of abuses of power subsequently under this Bill.

We need to speak up now and use our collective voices to put pressure on these elected officials to stop this bill in its tracks.

We ask the Legislative Council to stop the passing of this legislation as it is currently drafted, in particular where it pertains to the extension of these powers of designated authorised officers.

Should it get passed without any amendments, we ask the Governor, Linda Dessau AC, to refuse to give the royal assent on the basis that it unjustifiably contravenes our human rights, specifically sections 12, 14 and 24 at a minimum of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic), that the powers given are too wide for untrained public sector employees and these excessive powers are not in the public interest.