12-02-2021, 11:19 PM
The Age says the Ombudsman has declared herself satisfied with the safeguards in the Bill after criticising earlier incarnations.
No wonder its critics have been forced to dwell on the past rather than criticise the current Bill. As the old saying goes, "If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” It would be ideal if the parliament ran in a collegiate way that enables a well-considered consensus to develop, but that's a fantasy. What we had was the main opposition party, the Liberals, hoping to harvest anti-vaxxer and "my freedom's more important than anybody else's freedom" voters. Did a single Liberal in the LC vote for the Bill? Was that really because each was violently opposed to the Bill in its final form, or were they all following the party line? And then you have Somynurek who appears to want revenge on his way out of parliament. So cross-benchers became crucial. And if they didn't follow the total opposition tactics of the Liberals, well they must have been up to no good, mustn't they? It seems to me the process has worked about as well as could be expected.
It seems to me that there's really only 1 amendment that would get the fervent critics on board with the Bill: "This Bill does not come into force until Daniel Andrews ceases to be Premier". Good luck with that!
No wonder its critics have been forced to dwell on the past rather than criticise the current Bill. As the old saying goes, "If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” It would be ideal if the parliament ran in a collegiate way that enables a well-considered consensus to develop, but that's a fantasy. What we had was the main opposition party, the Liberals, hoping to harvest anti-vaxxer and "my freedom's more important than anybody else's freedom" voters. Did a single Liberal in the LC vote for the Bill? Was that really because each was violently opposed to the Bill in its final form, or were they all following the party line? And then you have Somynurek who appears to want revenge on his way out of parliament. So cross-benchers became crucial. And if they didn't follow the total opposition tactics of the Liberals, well they must have been up to no good, mustn't they? It seems to me the process has worked about as well as could be expected.
It seems to me that there's really only 1 amendment that would get the fervent critics on board with the Bill: "This Bill does not come into force until Daniel Andrews ceases to be Premier". Good luck with that!