An Authoritarian and Unpleasant Place

Red is for danger. Red is for distance. Red is for the vast reaches of space and the origin of everything. 

"The imperial battleship has landed," he said, apropos of precisely nothing. Except that that was the way it felt; as if the story was beginning all over again, as if these creatures outside of time were settling here, in a giant, awe inspiring swirl as they settled in this time and place. In a technology definitely not of Earth, and most definitely not of this time.

With the same questions over and over: Why here, why now? 

And the same lines repeating over and over: "We stood for you on a distant shore."

And time again, almost a thrum: "You are blessed. You are blessed. Blessed art thou."

And so these mad swirls ran through his head in this most ordinary of places; Oak Flats. and on the ground, a kind of distancing, or increase parochialism, as the country became increasingly divided, as bureaucrats talked of "evidence based policy" while in reality nobody could make head nor tail of the constantly shifting rules, regulations, diktats, ceaseless and often contradictory announcements. 

The head of the national  COVID Vaccine rollout, Lieutenant General John Frewen, claimed only one or two percent of the population remained unvaxxed, but in that area Old Alex encountered few people who were vaxxed, and among those who were some were resentful that they had been obliged to do so for work, as Omicron raged across the country making everyone ask: "What were the last two years about? Why were we locked in virtual house arrest in our own homes; and our neighbours urged to dob us in if we spent more than two hours out. Why? Why? Why?"

And why did I have a vaccine that doesn't stop me catching or transmitting "the virus".

Well, the contradictions ran wide and deep, and there would be no resolution on the day. 

Except for one thing: the crimes committed here today will live on in infamy; will resonate down the corridors of history; and as people look back on these strangest of times wonder, how could it be? How could this have happened?

"I don't make the rules," yet another freshly empowered idiot declared as they insisted customers wear the useless masks.

And snake oil salesmen, vaccine peddlers once known as politicians, pushed the product more and more aggressively onto the civilian population, at the same time as the counter narrative, a rich tapestry of outrage, grew stronger, more diverse and more alarming by the day. 

They took away our personal sovereignty. They took away our rights. They treated us all with utter and complete contempt. They refused to treat with courtesy and respect anyone who dared to disagree with the government mandated narrative. 

And were very well paid to act the way they did.  

While the contradictory narratives, coming in from around the world, blew their narrative apart.

While all the time they pretended it wasn't happening, that they hadn't already been exposed.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

That dreaded creature a conservative, in this case Nigel Farange, calls out Australia for becoming an authoritarian and unpleasant place. 

He got that right.

ABC

Chicken will remain off the menu for many families in the coming weeks as a national shortage shows no signs of easing.

Key points:

• COVID isolation requirements for meat workers has led to chicken supply shortages

• Usually chicken is Australia's most popular protein

• Temporary purchasing limits for meat in Coles will be lifted when the company is confident there is supply to meet demand

With supply chains under strain due to COVID, the Australian Chicken Meat Federation predicts breast fillets, drumsticks and chicken wings will remain hard to find for at least the remainder of the month.

And despite earlier assurances that whole chickens would remain available at major supermarkets, empty shelves in the poultry section prove otherwise.

The federation's chief executive Vivian Kite says there are "ongoing and quite significant chicken supply issues".

"We are hearing that any shortages of whole chickens are short term," Dr Kite said.

"With other products becoming less available people are moving to purchasing whole chickens and that's leading to shortages in stores."

THE GUARDIAN

The interval for a booster shot will be reduced to three months in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT amid unprecedented strain on hospitals as Omicron cases surge.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced on Wednesday morning the move would take effect on Wednesday while NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, said the change would be implemented from Friday in that state.

The interval reduction in South Australia and the ACT came into effect immediately.

Perrottet said he had “seen very clearly” through ICU numbers that vaccination was key to reducing symptoms and fatalities.

SKY NEWS

The man in charge of the nation’s vaccine rollout says Therapeutic Goods Administration approval of an additional COVID-19 vaccine is “imminent” and could see previously hesitant Australians roll up their sleeve for the jab.

Lieutenant General John Frewen said the Novavax vaccine is ready to be rolled out once it is approved by the TGA for use in Australia.

“We sort of think there’s about one or two per cent of the population that may have been holding out for Novavax … that’s a choice that they have made but once it’s approved it will be available,” he told 4BC radio on Wednesday.

“Again, if anyone has decided that’s what they want to wait for, they’ll be able to get it as quickly as they can.”

YAHOO

Pedro Martinez and Federico Delbonis have been praised around the tennis world after coming to the aid of a ball kid who collapsed at the Australian Open on Monday.

Martinez and Delbonis were locked in a tense first set tiebreaker in their opening round clash when the scary incident occurred.

THE NEW DAILY

Rogue government backbencher George Christensen may be stripped of a lucrative parliamentary role after repeatedly pushing baseless anti-vax claims.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to take stronger action on the controversial Queensland MP, pleading with Australians instead to ignore his discredited views.

“As a free country, people are allowed to say what they think but we don’t have to listen to them. They wouldn’t have to amplify their views. And I am certainly not seeking to do that,” Mr Morrison said when quizzed about Mr Christensen’s latest inflammatory statements on Wednesday.

“You can’t go around locking people up for what they say as Australians.

“He is allowed to speak his mind, but Australians should not be listening to him.”

And Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the Nationals – to which Mr Christensen belongs – has blasted critics of the maverick MP in a bizarre tirade.

It followed Mr Christensen, the federal member for Dawson, using a podcast to urge parents to avoid COVID vaccinations for children.

Mr Christensen – who posted the podcast link on his blog on Tuesday, under the headline “Do NOT vax your children!” – has described the vaccine drive for children aged five-11 as “nuts”.

“I’m going to get condemned, no doubt, by the media and the rest of them, for saying to people, ‘Do not vaccinate your children’. Do not vaccinate your children. I probably could not say that clear enough,” he said.

THE SPECTATOR

Who owns Australia’s children – parents or the government?

This came to the fore during the loosening of medical consent surrounding life-changing gender surgery, with schools and doctors able to override parents in matters related to gender identity. Once the precedent had been set, it was only a matter of time before the government and state medical authorities began expanding their influence.

In some Australian states, health authorities have allowed ‘mature minors’ (that is, children aged as young as 12 in some cases) to consent to Covid vaccination without the knowledge or permission of their parents. The typical age of consent for vaccination in Australia is 16.

‘It [the addition of mature minors] is to ensure a small number of children aged 14 to 15, who may have difficulty getting consent can have the opportunity to get vaccinated,’ said NSW Health, confirming this change was made to target those children who remain unvaccinated at the express wish of their parents.

To that end, young children have been hounded by social media messaging and school-based campaigns to pressure them into getting vaccinated. The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria – funded in part by the Victorian Government Office for Equality and Youth – released a controversial TikTok video showing an older teenager coercing a 14-year-old into going on a ‘vax date’. The young girl was unable to go to the movies because of vaccine passport requirements, so the older girl takes her to a vaccine clinic where she is vaccinated ‘in secret’.