Australia, once touted as a model for a considered and sustainable approach to COVID-19 is now in an interesting position where some states have closed borders to each other whilst the federal government pleads for free-trade and free-movement, wanting to kick-start the economy to avoid the worst of the recession that has now hit the country. The state of Victoria is now in one of the world’s longest lockdowns, with Premier Daniel Andrews’ government creating different roadmaps to recovery for regional and metropolitan Melbourne where measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 has seen the implementation of restriction of movement, curfew, home-schooling and the mass closure of non-essential businesses.
Various social media platforms have proven to be effective in communicating displeasure around the ways in which the government has tackled the pandemic and there has been an increased active presence of right-wing groups calling for disobedience, encouraging mass protest and declaring so called ‘sovereign citizenship’.
Read more at the Global Network on Extremism & Technology
