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In the latest of a series of swipes at the Victorian Islamic community, the Dan Andrews government has blamed a Somali family and their Islamic school for the spread of Covid. The family, backed by the community, has hit back saying it’s the government’s fault.

The government’s attack against the community is occurring because the government is trying to deflect blame away from itself for causing the latest Covid outbreak of last week. This has resulted in the continuing Melbourne lockdown. More...

This morning we released our analysis that explains ‘nothing’—that is, why all senior Victorian government people say they ‘know nothing’ about who made the decision to use security firms for the hotel quarantine program. Yet evidence from the Coate Inquiry points directly to Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) unions as the probable decision-maker/s.

Given the government’s ‘know nothing’ excuses, the possibility that unions made the decision is the most plausible explanation ‘left on the table’. Evidence submitted to the Inquiry points directly to VTHC. More...

“I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I know nothing.” This is the recurring theme that has been the hallmark of the Coate inquiry into the Covid-19 Victorian hotel quarantine failures.

Every senior responsible bureaucrat, Minister and the Premier himself has said, under oath, that they have no idea who or how the decision was made to use private security firms to manage the hotel quarantine. Yet this ‘nothing’ decision resulted in the Victorian Covid-19 outbreak and some 765 deaths to date.

Given that everyone knows ‘nothing’, this ‘nothing’ needs an explanation.  More...

Victorians and all Australians will be pleased to see that the Victorian Covid-19 infection rate is finally falling. This raises hope that the Melbourne and Victorian lockdowns will ease up, enabling the local and national economy to move into recovery. Let’s hope.

However, while the infections are falling, Premier Dan Andrews is extending his dictatorship powers in a big way. The term ‘dictatorship’ is not used flippantly. It accurately describes the ‘Emergency Power’ laws passed in early September. These laws: More...

For any Australian not living in Victoria, particularly Melbourne, it’s impossible to understand what’s going on. The high-pitched hysteria emanating from the state is effectively the cry of a people who’ve now realised that they are living in a third-world-like failed state.

The closing of Victoria by the Andrews Labor government is the direct result of one thing—a chaotic collapse of Victoria’s health administration—in other words, state failure! More...

SEA Executive Director Ken Phillips has an article in today's Spectator discussing the application of Victorian Worksafe laws to the hotel quarantine mess. In this special blogpost we republish the article in full: More...

Yesterday the Victorian Labor government released its report into the ‘gig economy.’ The 228-page report should be read as a declaration of war against self-employed, small business people across Victoria, and Australia. This is so because a key recommendation calls for laws that would effectively make self-employment illegal.  More...

The Senate is currently considering a Bill that will require large businesses to report their payments to small business suppliers. Being paid on time is a top priority for all self-employed small business people.

We gave evidence to the Senate last week (8 July) and made the following points.

We expect the Morrison government to fully implement its election promise on pay-on-time issues. This is a three-phase promise it made, namely: More...

The Australian Taxation Office has been subject to heavy criticism following its announcement last Friday (22 May) that the JobKeeper program will cost $60 billion less than the predicted $130 billion.

In other words, the government’s (Treasury and ATO) original prediction is wrong, that some 6.5 million Australians will need JobKeeper support. Instead they now say around 3.5 million will need JobKeeper. This could be good news.  More...

Ouch! More than a quarter of arts workers have lost their jobs during the Coronavirus lockdown. And with so much of arts activity dependent on crowding together, stopping further arts job losses seems complex. Health officials in government are understandably scared of the mosh pit and the possible spread of disease, for example. More...