Australia Opts for Orwellian Surveillance

John Semmens

Concerned that “too may people are not doing as they are told,” the Victoria state government in Southern Australia is requiring that everyone download a smart phone app that combines facial recognition and geolocation and use this app to respond to government inquiries regarding their whereabouts. The protocol will be that after receiving a text from the government, the targeted individual will need to respond within 15 with a photograph that proves their identity and location. If the individual fails to respond or the photograph does not clearly prove they are where they are “supposed to be” poloice will be dispatched to investigate.

Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews says “we got the idea from a book by George Orwell. Although this book was publihed in 1949 we found it to be eerily prescient regarding our current situation with COVID. We've ordered people to stay in their homes and only given them permission to leave for the purpose of obtaining food, medical care, or work. Yet, a distressing number can still be observed outside and not engaged in the permitted activities. Outdoor surveillance cameras and neighborhood tattletales are proving inadequate. This app introduces a mandotory self-reporting element that we hope can more thoroughly curtail disobedience.”

Andrews rebuffed criticism of his “police-state tactics” calling the critics “irresponsible naysayers. I'm trying to save lives. Now is not the time for anyone to yammer about human rights.”

Meanwhile in the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) endorsed compulsory vaccination. Spokesman Bertram Petty explained that “only by forcing people to follow the directives that the government has declared are necessary to protect their health can we achieve the liberties that our organization has championed since its founding in 1920.”