Victoria Premier DanielAndrewsMP has labelled his plan to extend State of Emergency powers until September 2021 an 'insurance policy' he 'certainly' hopes he will not have to use.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has labelled his plan to extend State of Emergency powers until September 2021 an "insurance policy" he "certainly" hopes he will not have to use. "These restrictions will be in place for not one day longer than they need to be," he said. "Unless we have a legal framework that sits behind that, then we won't be able to say to a publican, you can have 50 people in your pub.
" State Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien indicated his party would not support the bill meaning the premier would need four Upper-House crossbenchers to back it when it was introduced in parliament next week. The powers would allow the Victoria government to extend a state of emergency in four-week blocks for up to 12 months as well as greater powers to enforce mandatory quarantine, COVID safe plans for businesses and mandatory mask-wearing.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Vic State of Emergency extension nothing but 'a power grab' from Andrews | Sky News AustraliaVictoria Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien has labelled Premier Daniel Andrews' plan to extend state of emergency powers to September 2021, a 'power grab'.\n\nMr O'Brien said the reason state of emergency legislation only allowed for a six-month stretch period was because they were 'extraordinary powers'.\n\n'Victorians are going through curfews at the moment. Most businesses are closed down,' he said. \n\n'It is extraordinary the level of intrusion and restriction we live under and no government, no politician should be able to do that indefinitely.\n\n'Daniel Andrews has had that power for six months. He now wants it for 12 months with no accountability.'\n\nThe Liberal leader said he was willing to meet with the premier to discuss a timed extension for the state's reopening but said it was more important state parliament be allowed to sit.\n\n'There's no reason why parliament should not be sitting, for example, on a monthly basis... if the premier needs a month by month extension, he can make that case to the people of Victoria and if he's not prepared to do that, why should anyone give him a blank cheque?'\n\nMr O'Brien said he had not been contacted by Mr Andrews in months.\n\n'It's quite clear, Daniel Andrews only has a plan to keep us locked down. He doesn't have a plan to get us out of lockdown,' he said.\n\n'There is no justification for a year-long extension to these state of emergency powers.'\n\n'This is a premier who thinks he knows it all when Victoria is the only state going through a second wave because of his government's hotel quarantine failure.'\n\nImage: News Corp Australia\n
Read more »
Andrews wants to ‘remain as dictator Dan’ for another 12 months | Sky News AustraliaThe only thing Premier Daniel Andrews does not control in Victoria is the state’s upper house, which will be crucial in his pursuit to “remain as dictator Dan for at least another 12 months,” according to Sky News host Paul Murray.\n\nMr Andrews announced on Monday Victoria’s state of emergency will be extended for 12 months beyond the scheduled September 13 finish date. \n\nState of emergency powers allow the Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton to instruct his officials to detain people, search without warrants, and force lockdowns if it is considered a necessity in public health terms.\n\nHowever, the premier first needs to pass a bill to amend the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 in Victoria’s upper house where he needs 21 votes.\n\n“For this to be extended for another 12 months you need the upper house to approve it,” said Mr Murray.\n\nImage: Getty
Read more »
There is 'no logic' to Australia's avoidance of nuclear power | Sky News AustraliaBroadcaster Michael McLaren says it is simply fear and ideology that is keeping Australia from using nuclear power.\n\nAustralia has 40 per cent of the world’s uranium reserves, and yet it is illegal to operate a nuclear reactor in the country.\n\nThere are 450 nuclear power plants worldwide. \n\n“Even Joe Biden … and his Green New Deal is saying that small, modular, nuclear reactors have to be part of America’s future,” Mr McLaren told Sky News host Alan Jones. \n\n“Even sleepy Joe gets it, and yet out here, as you said, we’ve got the world’s largest uranium mine at Olympic Dam.\n\n“Cory Bernardi knows better than most, South Australia could become one of the wealthiest jurisdictions in the world if they allowed nuclear energy and the safe storage of waste in the middle of nowhere in South Australia.\n\n“And yet for whatever reason - there’s no logic to it, it’s just fear and ideology - we don’t proceed.”\n\nImage: Getty
Read more »
Dan Andrew’s extension of the state of emergency is the act of a ‘megalomaniac’ | Sky News AustraliaFormer Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett has blasted Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews as a 'megalomaniac' for his draconian 12 month extension of the state's state of emergency.\n\nPremier Daniel Andrews has announced Victoria’s state of emergency will be extended for 12 months beyond the scheduled September 13 finish date. \n\nMr Andrews said a decision was yet to be made as to when the Victorian Parliament would sit to pass the bill but it would be made “available at the appropriate time”.\n\nMr Kennett said the premier’s suggestion to extend the state of emergency would disincentivise potential investors from investing in the state and would cause unemployment rates to surge. \n\n “If you’re going to invest millions of dollars, you won’t invest in a state where the premier is so terribly, terribly anti-business,” Mr Kennett said. \n\n “We have not been a state that has tried to live with and manage this virus, we’ve been a state that has imposed restrictions on people to the extent that individual freedoms are out the wall.\n\n“Instead of offering us hope, he’s saying we’re going to extend this state of emergency another twelve months.\n\n“It can’t happen, because if it does happen, there will be no Victoria as we know it today.\n\n“This premier is driving us, and our economy, into the ground. Are we all going to be locked up at the whim of the premier with no check and balances.\n\n“This is an act of a megalomaniac.”\n\nImage: Getty\n
Read more »
Victoria's restrictions could stay for 12 more monthsPremier Daniel Andrews has announced the restrictions associated with Victoria's state of emergency will be extended and could be in place for the next 12 months.
Read more »
‘Dictator Dan’ savaged over state of emergency extensionA top doctor is warning that Victoria’s coronavirus lockdown is starting to take a toll. It comes as Premier DanielAndrewsMP moves to extend restrictions for a further 12 months.
Read more »