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Comment by smsm42 | Hacker News Reader

Australia is turning itself into a prison state. Citizens are allowed to go outside for maximum one or two hours, total surveillance, unconstrained searches of the property... About the same set of rights as a supermax prison inmate has, it looks like.

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Minor nitpick: Australia is turning itself back into a prison state.

Back then they didn't really have a choice. Now it's all on them - they elected those people.

Putting it on us electing them is doing us too much credit. You can elect someone and then have them do things you didnt expect and disapprove of. Australians are clamouring for more oppression.

You obviously have no idea, everyone we have elected has been thrown out and replaced. Its pointless even voting any more.

The part about being "allowed to" go outside isn't true. Take it from me, I live here and am free to go wherever I please.

This is probably what they are referring to. Some areas are limiting outdoor time and fining people who are "outside without a reasonable excuse".

"From September 13, NSW residents that are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be given new freedoms.

Residents of hotspots can leave home for an hour of recreation on top of their exercise hour, while people in other areas can meet five others outdoors."

https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/1430707532134236163

It's called a lockdown...

The question is not how it's called but whether it's happening or not.

> will be given new freedoms

Wow, that's Orwellian to say the least.

Freedom is never granted, it is earned.

And not all freedoms are equal. My freedom to drive on the wrong side of the road is lesser than your freedom to drive safely, so we restrict the former over the latter. Australians have chosen the freedom to live free of the virus over some temporary freedom of movement.

In Auckland (NZ) we are in probably some of the strictest lockdown conditions in the world, with schools and non-essential business closed, travel only permitted for exercise in a local area or visit to the supermarket, and mandatory isolation and testing for close contacts. Lockdowns are still viable here because we have been so vigilant and basically everyone understands the shared responsibility. That's how we earn that freedom.

>Australians have chosen

Have they?

So this report, touting additional hour of outside time (within the limits of curfew and for fully vaccinated families of course, we're not savages!) is a complete fabrication?

https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-nsw-restrictio...

It's either fabricated or you're reading it wrong. I'm out and about right now.

Also live here. Cant leave my house without a valid excuse and even then mostly only 5km. You can easily find videos of people being arrested for doing yoga in parks. Probs get arrested even if I have a valid excuse because its 5km from your registered address and they froze address changes before I moved.

You might not be as restricted but large parts of your own country are off limits to you, oh and also the rest of the entire planet.

My point was that the entirety of Australia isn't in some dark fascist curfew (not just yet anyways) like the parent seems to suggest.

> ... oh and also the rest of the entire planet.

That wasn't what this thread was about but yes I am aware.

So your counter-argument to "Australia is turning itself into a prison state" is "Australia is not yet 100% a prison state, there are still some places where you could roam free, if you're careful not to go to wrong places and don't try to get out". That sounds like arguing supermax prison conditions aren't so bad because there are also county jails that people get more time for walks in the yard.

You're putting words into my mouth. There's a goddamn reason those places are in lockdown. 1000+ covid cases, while small in comparison to other countries, is the highest a state has ever had here. Lockdown has kept numbers down in the past. If state governments didn't constantly lockdown and then come of out lockdown and instead stayed locked down for longer cases would have remained in the 100s. But people are morons and they want to do whatever it is they do and pretend that people aren't dying from this goddamn disease.

Depends what state you are in from what I've seen in news reports. States that failed on COVID have lost their freedoms (quarantine/lockdown) since the hospital system is under strain. If you are in 5 of the 7 states (not NSW/ACT, VIC you probably have the most freedoms out of many developed countries right now.

Its a tale of two opposing extremes.

It's only a matter of time before the other states have rising case levels and lockdowns, vaccinations rise high enough that case levels are not important, or the states realise that it's not sustainable to be on eternal lockdown.

This virus is with humanity forever now.

Let's hope the right choice is made with the least amount of time. The only proactive thing a government can do is vaccinate and increase medical capacity.

yea but the food is better

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