Writing in The Guardian, our President Pauline Wright considers the impact of recent events on our civil liberties.

"if there is one thing the pandemic has done, it is to illustrate how precious and how fragile our civil liberties really are. People have seen that governments or their departments can impose severe restrictions on us at the stroke of a pen. We have been made subject to curfews, punitive fines and uneven policing. Our borders have been closed, Australians abroad have been denied the fundamental right of every citizen to return and we haven’t been able to travel interstate to see loved ones, receive medical treatment or attend to urgent business without exemptions, which have proved as hard to obtain (for most of us) as hens’ teeth."

"It is strange indeed that a piece of legislation proposed in Victoria that would improve accountability is being met by protests in the street. It is no wonder that the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, has deferred debate on Hazzard’s proposed changes to pandemic laws in NSW."

Read the full article: The pandemic illustrates how precious and fragile our civil liberties are The Guardian 19 Nov '21