The police and the CFMEU

[roar]

Killing people by taking up ICU spots?

[Pies4shaw]

Potentially both taking the hospital bed of a person who needs some other health intervention (eg, cancer, stroke, heart attack etc etc) and also by making it easier for the virus to be passed on. The vaccination does not eliminate transmission but it does reduce the risk of transmission substantially.

[stui magpie]

Shit has really escalated. While there will be a cohort of legit construction workers in there, the numbers seem to have been definitely swelled by the anti lockdown crowd.

This is a sobering article on some of the equipment that the Police Public Order Response Team (AKA The Riot Police) have got at their disposal if needed.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pepper-balls-and-stinger-grenades-the-weapons-police-are-using-against-demonstrators-20210921-p58tge.html

Grenades, semi auto multi function guns that can fire pepper pellets, rubber bullets, paint pellets etc, all sorts of shit you'd think more likely for the streets of LA than Melbourne.

[Dark Beanie]

If you look a the photos, still plenty of hi vis though.

Good to see some are wearing masks/face coverings....... and tops with company logos on them.

[ronrat]

half these dickheads will happily spent good money and a lot of time getting tattoos but can't be arsed spending no money and about an hour of their times to get a jab that could save them and their families.

[David]

One area in which I feel bad for the builders is that there's a pretty long wait time for the vaccine, and for some that might mean going weeks without work while they wait for it. Yeah yeah, should have booked earlier, whatever, but it wasn't that long ago that a lot of under 40s weren't eligible for the vaccine that was medically recommended for their cohort, and it's not fair to blame individuals for not being maximally efficient when the people who are actually in charge of public safety have comprehensively failed to be.

So I think some delay in the implementation of this policy would be reasonable, at the very least, and I think it's the unions' responsibility to back their members' interests in that scenario. Nobody should be forced to choose between public safety and their own livelihood.

[stui magpie]

^

The Vic Government have given Tradies priority access, including walk up access, at several state run hubs.

Time spent protesting in the city could be time spent at a vaccination site.

[David]

But what's the deal with the "vaccine passport"? Is one jab enough, or do you need both done? Because you're looking at minimum 6 and up to 12 weeks in between.

[stui magpie]

2 different things.

The Vaccination Passport requires 2 shots.

What Andrews is saying to the Construction workers is that, in 2 weeks time when they re-open the industry, workers will need to be able to produce evidence they'e had 1 shot before they can work.

[David]

OK, thanks for clearing that up. I guess that's not so bad.

[think positive]

[David]

Just on that last point, why exactly? Are people going to try to get them fired? I feel like that kind of shit has infested our culture enough without picking off people from labouring jobs. Way to further divide an already deeply segmented society and turbo-charge existing resentments.

[stui magpie]

^

My guess is that Police will be going over photos, looking to identify people so they can be fined or even arrested if they've assaulted Police. Having an employers name is a good start to identifying them. If the employer then decides to sack them, too bad.

[David]

I guess criminal activities like assaulting police and breaking property are one thing, but nobody should be fired simply for attending the protest. There should be a red line there, if nowhere else.

[stui magpie]

I'm reliably informed that John Setka and Dan Andrews have gone into hiding at Lindsay Fox's house.