Authorities in Australia have given themselves the power to have police remove children from the custody of their parents in order to ensure compliance with coronavirus rules.
Schedule 2 of the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 amends the Emergency Response Act 2004 to create new powers during “declared emergencies.”
Section 25 of the act states the following;
— Removal of children
(1) Without derogating from section 25, an authorised officer may, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with any direction under that section, remove a child from any premises, place, vehicle or vessel to a place of residence of the child or to a hospital or quarantine facility, as the authorised officer thinks fit (and may, in doing so, use such force as is reasonably necessary).
A child is defined as anyone under the age of 18.
As we have exhaustively documented, the state of Victoria’s coronavirus lockdown is one of the most draconian in the developed world.
Yesterday, authorities in Melbourne announced that they would be using surveillance drones to catch people who don’t wear masks and to keep track of cars that travel further than 5km from home.
Several videos have also emerged of police manhandling and choking women for not wearing masks.
Police have also been given the power to enter people’s homes without a warrant and perform quarantine spot checks.
Drivers are also being asked to show their papers at highway checkpoints simply to get to work.
Anyone caught outside without a mask or violating the 8pm-5am curfew also risks a massive fine.
Australia’s crackdown is rivaled by neighboring New Zealand, which announced last week that suspected COVID infectees and their family members would be held inside quarantine camps against their will for at least 14 days.
