Often when I meet people for the first time the subject will come up of what exactly an Australian like me is doing so far from home. Raping and pillaging, I usually reply. It’s a tough gig but somebody’s gotta roll up the sleeves and do the dirty work. I must had had Viking ancestors in the past. That would explain my three blonde hairs. I get asked how long I have been out of Australia, (four years so far this trip); I get asked how many years I have spent outside of Australia so far, (around about eighteen years in total and counting); and I get asked when I intend to return.
That last question is becoming easier and easier to answer. Especially when I view Australia under the prism of a supposed nationwide emergency. The forming of a “national cabinet” to deal with the crisis but which directly goes against the Australian constitution. The closing of state borders during lockdowns, and now the premier of Western Australia has announced that unvaccinated travelers cannot enter that state, including those residents who are trapped overseas – you want to come home, then you have to get the jab.
This breaks the constitution in multiple ways but nobody seems to care from a legal standpoint. I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that for Australia at least there really is no point in having a constitution at all. Just chuck it in the bin as obviously we were never serious about following it in the first place.
But all of this is secondary waffle in the wind in comparison to the document which I saw this morning posted up at James’ site. Read it and weep.
The Centre for National Resilience. It sure doesn’t get much more Orwellian than that. This is a name of which Kim Fats in North Korea would be proud. And this prison, for that is what it will be, is for ‘mandatory quarantine accommodation’. I suppose that people will presume that this will be for all those icky travelers returning from overseas, people like me. But nowhere does it state that this is for travelers. I am of the opinion that this will be used for Australian citizens who fall afoul of ‘ze rules!’ in some manner. Sorry buddy, it’s quarantine for you. Off you go to the lovely Centre for National Resilience, where the food is prepared by water-eyed nymphs, over which the sky is always blue and the sun is shining, and where you will in addition to your quarantine time receive just a small dose of re-education.
But don’t worry, it’s all perfectly innocuous. Why, haven’t you seen our beautiful name for this wonderful correctional paradise? It simply rolls off the tongue. You will be happy there, oh so very happy.
If anything sums up the sheer awfulness of the bureaucratic pigsty and police state that Australia has become, this is surely it. This is the gulag, dear friends. You will be marched off there and you will be let out whenever they feel like letting you out. Knowing Australia, they will then charge you for the privilege of being incarcerated.
So to answer the question of if I intend to return to the fair shores of the land of my birth, I would posit a response along the lines of, not bloody likely. At least, not for quite some time. And it will be interesting to sit back and observe just how many gulags, sorry, Centres for National Resilience, that the government intends to open. Because they have a whiff of pure power right now, and as far as I can tell there is no slave whispering in the ear of the all conquering state premiers to remind them to knock off the pride and ego bit. This thing has an awful long way to go before it gets any better.
Originally published at Pushing Rubber Downhill. You can purchase Adam’s books here.