Insurrection through violence and instability is present in Melbourne, Australia. This is due to anti-vaccination protestors who have clashed with government officials due to strict lockdowns and COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Government officials of Victoria, which is where Melbourne is located, announced on Sept. 17 that there would be a mandatory vaccination requirement for construction workers. Since then, more than 200 people have been arrested by the local police in anti-vaccination protests.
All of this comes as Melbourne faces a resurgence of cases due to the Delta variant, even though Australia enforces some of the strictest COVID-19 policies in the world. In the world we live in today, it has become hard for politicians and citizens, residents and undocumented immigrants and virtually anyone living in a designated area to balance freedom and law and order. While the cases in Australia surge, there should not be lockdowns and there should never be mandatory vaccination requirements.
Melbourne needs to get rid of lockdowns and pay attention to the well-being of its citizens and the economy. Let's address rent issues millions face in Melbourne. Many landlords have had a hard time with the eviction moratorium that expired in March 29, which was set in place by the government. An eviction moratorium prohibits any action by a landlord or owner to remove a tenant from a property for non-payment of rent. Now, because there have been strict lockdowns in Melbourne up to now, the real estate sector of the city is regaining lost months of rent. The eviction moratorium was a lose-lose situation for both tenants and landlords. Most tenants were not able to able to pay because they did not have jobs.
If there had been no lockdowns, since the beginning of the pandemic in Melbourne, millions would not have been in that situation. Even if the government only imposed minimum guidelines of social distancing and masking since the beginning of the pandemic, many renters would still be able to pay rent on time. But Melbourne did not choose this option; instead, it insisted on lockdowns. The eviction moratorium was detrimental to the economy and to the bank accounts of both tenants and landlords.
On Sept. 20, just days after the government's mandatory vaccination order to construction workers on Sept. 17, the Melbourne government issued a stay-at-home order to anyone involved in the construction industry. This is borderline tyranny. The government gave the order because of the protests. But let us be honest. How will people afford bills, rent, groceries and many other expenditures if you back people into a corner and force them to take a vaccine?
Many people are skeptical of vaccines and that is okay. It is not fair to those who think for themselves to be pinned to such horror. Vaccination should be a choice, not a requirement. Infrastructure is essential to the prosperity of a nation and by enforcing a stay-at-home order the government has failed its citizens and the future of a nation. Again, this could have all been avoided but the government of Melbourne refused to acknowledge the livelihoods of its citizens when they needed to the most.
The people now must stand up for themselves since the government has diminished the idea of earning a living. Protestors protest for food on the table and the right to work, while government officials sit in their offices drinking coffee and enjoy being employed. Freedom is disappearing in all parts of the world, but Melbourne has won the prize.