‘Freedom Incentives’ Talk Proves We Aren’t Free

The very fact that the Australian government is bragging about “freedom incentives” shows just how far Australia has slid into the dark valley of authoritarianism.

Unpack those two little words:

Firstly, the fact that the government is even dangling “freedom” in front of us is an explicit acknowledgement that we are not free.

Secondly, in a liberal democracy, freedom is not something that the government deigns to grant its citizens, it’s an inalienable right that its citizens automatically possess. Only authoritarian governments curb their citizens’ inalienable freedoms.

Scott Morrison will pursue “freedom incentives” ahead of cash payments under the national cabinet’s four-phase reopening plan, with new research commissioned by the federal government warning that large financial ­incentives and lotteries have had “little to no impact on longer-term vaccination rates”.

At the heart of this dictatorial arrogance is what is known as “nudge theory”. This is the hubris of the bureaucratic class that they just know better than us common shmucks. It’s a thread that has run through certain Western political circles ever since Plato advocated breeding a “Guardian” class to boss the hoi polloi around. It’s rife in public health bureaucracy: it’s not for nothing that the world’s first anti-smoking laws came from the Nazis, who were obsessed with public health.

The research — prepared by the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government, led by the Health Department and officials at Prime Minister and Cabinet – concluded that financial incentives were “unlikely to drive vaccine uptake in Australia”[…]

Relaxing restrictions for vaccinated people, rather than financial incentives, was identified as a successful tool for governments with vaccination rates in France spiking after Emmanuel Macron on July 12 threatened to restrict access to public places for unvaccinated residents. “ ‘Returning to normal’ and the ability to travel are strong motivators for many,” the report said. “Providing vaccinated people with personal freedoms, and restricting the freedoms of those who aren’t, is likely to drive ­vaccine uptake.

The Australian

That would be the same French legislation that promises jail time for French citizens abroad without their passe sanitaire. The days when French citizens were last confronted with goons stopping them in the street and barking “Papers, please!” have almost faded from living memory, but the idea still sparked massive unrest across France.

But the very fact that the Australian government is blithering about maybe, maybe, restoring the “personal freedom” of Australian citizens shows how degraded Australian democracy has become.

This hysterical bullying also ignores a key fact: while Australia’s general vaccination rate is still fairly low – as much to do with shortage of supply and the silly political games of state premiers as anything else – the vulnerable we’re supposed to be protecting already are nearly totally vaccinated. So this is no longer about “protecting the vulnerable” so much as making an entire country submit to a government-mandated medical procedure.

In any case, even if we’re bullied and prodded en masse into meekly rolling up our sleeves and thinking of China, it will almost certainly come to nothing. Power-drunk premiers like WA’s Mark McGowan are already rejecting PM Morrison’s “roadmap”. So we could vaccinate every man, woman, baby and their pet cat, and still state premiers will keep belting us over the head with lockdowns the instant someone gets a sniffle.

They will never let us be free.

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