Last week I reported how the Victorian Bar – the professional association of barristers – has urged the state government to reconsider its controversial new pandemic laws which would grant the Andrews Government “unlimited, unreviewable power” that “authorises extreme limitations of basic liberties of all Victorians and confers enormous powers on the executive”.
Sixty barristers in turn signed an open letter in which they warn that the legislation would enable the government to effectively rule the state by decree for the foreseeable future.
Days later the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) – the peak body representing nearly 20,000 legal professionals in Victoria – warned that the Andrews Government’s bill lacks sufficient parliamentary oversight and would allow the government to declare a pandemic for an unlimited period of time. The LIV has also questioned why such laws are necessary given Victoria is approaching its 90% full vaccination target.
