The justification for Victoria's lockdown is 'built on very, very loose sand'

The impetus for Victoria’s harsh lockdown and curfew was on Wednesday revealed as untrue, as Victoria Police said only 42 Victorians, not hundreds, had received fines for breaching COVID isolation laws, according to Sky News host Paul Murray.

Victorian Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent revealed only 42 Victorians have received fines for failing to isolate in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic, proving Daniel Andrew’s claim that hundreds had refused to isolate to be factually incorrect.

The Victorian premier, on July 22 and July 30, stated hundreds of Victorians were refusing to isolate despite having COVID-19.

When the premier introduced the harsh new lockdown measures in Victoria on August 2, he said the impetus for the new laws was the “too many (Victorians) not taking this seriously”.

Contrary to Daniel Andrew’s suggestions, Deputy Commissioner Nugent said today Victorian “community compliance (had been) outstanding."

He said the Victorian police had conducted over 29,000 spot checks, and only administered fines for illegal behaviour on 42 occasions.

Mr Nugent confirmed Premier Andrew’s statement that one in four Victorians were not isolating was mistaken.

“Either false information was being fed to the premier as he was making decisions, or they were looking the other way when the information was starting to tell the story they didn’t want to tell,” Mr Murray said.

“The curfew that means it is illegal to leave you home after 8PM at night in an Australian capital city, the first time in our lives that this has ever been the case, the justification for it has seemingly been built on very, very loose sand.”

Видео The justification for Victoria's lockdown is 'built on very, very loose sand' канала Sky News Australia