Under the amendments agreed to by the state government, fines for breaching public health orders will be halved and the timeframe to release the reasons behind pandemic decisions slashed.
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Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass on Tuesday welcomed the amendments, saying they were “certainly an improvement” for the new laws.
“It has certainly improved transparency,” she told the Today show. “[But] it doesn’t go far enough.
“Extraordinary times … call for extraordinary powers. But my point … is there needs to be a greater level of independent oversight and independent review. We haven’t yet seen that.”
“Extraordinary times … call for extraordinary powers. But my point … is there needs to be a greater level of independent oversight.”
Deborah Glass
Labor hopes the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (pandemic management) Bill 2021 — which passed the lower house last month — can pass the upper house this week before existing powers expire on December 15.
Some protesters gather around gallows
Footage posted to social media shows a four-wheel-drive pulling a wooden gallows along Spring Street before parking outside parliament on Monday.
Some protesters are seen gathering around the structure chanting threats towards Premier Daniel Andrews.
The structure had a rope connected to a small cross at the bottom bearing the word “treason”.
A similar structure was carried by a marcher during Saturday’s protest.
394 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria
The addition of 797 new coronavirus cases for Victoria on Tuesday brings the state’s total number of active cases to 14,131.
There are 394 people in hospital in the state with COVID-19 and, of those, 72 are in intensive care. Fourty-four people are on a ventilator.
Sixty-one people in the ICU have been cleared of coronavirus.
Another 7191 Victorians rolled up their sleeves to receive a coronavirus vaccine dose on Monday, while 53,527 tests were processed.
With Broede Carmody
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Protesters continue camp out at State Parliament as Victoria records 797 new COVID-19 cases
Source: Philippines Alive
