The justification was the realization that the declaration of a biosecurity emergency had transformed the health minister into a de facto dictator with the power to ignore Parliament and override all existing laws, including human rights protections against state excesses. Yet, the chief problem is the law itself that grants such sweeping power to one person and should thus be repealed or amended. I’m not holding my breath.
The biggest mistake was to hand over control of the Covid agenda, in the name of The Science™, to federal and (especially) state chief health officers who tend to be bureaucrats more than leading scientists engaged in cutting-edge medical research. In the blink of an eye, they morphed from obscure officials to petty tyrants.
The former federal chief medical officer Brendan Murphy’s footnote in history might yet be his refusal to define a woman in Senate hearings because “it’s a very contested space.” Timidity ensured he prioritized career ambitions over biological fact. Then again, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) talks of “pregnant people,” so maybe I’m the one who needs to get with the zeitgeist.
Australian authorities in effect copied New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern’s doctrine of the health ministry as the “single source of truth” on coronavirus. The unavoidable consequence of this was attempts, with legacy and social media help, to marginalize and silence all dissenting voices. The more the latter’s warnings come true, the greater is the loss of trust in experts, institutions and ministers....<<<Read More>>>...