Here’s the thing about being a dictator – opinion polls no longer matter.
It is intensely liberating:
The debate came as a Resolve Political Monitor poll for The Age showed Labor’s primary vote has dropped from 43 to 38 per cent since the last election in 2018.
That result would see it lose seats but regain power at the next election in November 2022.
The Opposition’s primary vote was only 34 per cent, one point less than in 2018.
Meanwhile, an Essential poll released on Monday put Daniel Andrews’ approval rating at 52 per cent, down from 65 per cent last November.
If these polls can even be believed, it is a poor reflection on Victorians that some will still vote for Daniel Andrews. It is however a significant drop and his numbers are likely to drop further as Victorians come to the realisation that despite what they’re told, they’re really not that free when you’re only ever one booster away from being classified as unvaccinated.
Lucky for Dan, as indicated, soon none of this will matter in the slightest:
The controversial new laws allow the premier to declare a pandemic for an unlimited time and could see rulebreakers jailed for two years and fined up to $454,350.
The Victorian Liberal Opposition has already raised fears Mr Andrews wants the laws in place so he can lockdown the population on a whim – without any democratic oversight – as the state recorded a grim record of 25 deaths with Covid in a single day.
The laws also allow the Government to apply lockdowns and vaccine mandates to a ‘class of person’ such as the unvaccinated or workers with a certain type of job.
In a heated debated in Parliament on Wednesday, which involved shouting across the chamber, shadow attorney-general Tim Smith said: ‘This is nonsensical, it’s an abuse of power.
The legislation has already passed the lower house, just the upper house to go.
So, why does this mean that Dictator Dan no longer needs to concern himself with public opinion? Is he going to use these new powers to suspend elections? Of course not. All “democratic” leaders need the fake legitimacy that the farce of democratic elections bestow, so that they can criticise anybody who criticises them or the system as being “anti-democratic” in a beautiful, unbroken circle of logic.
All the dictator needs to do is declare a pandemic at the time of the election, and encourage most, if not all votes to be made electronically or by postal votes. That way you can pull a 2020 whenever you like.
That is how your ensure perpetual power. Don’t you just love democracy.
