The faces are slowly rotating and those that enforced the worst of the COVID-era policies are moving on to well-paid jobs with much less spotlight.
Sutton, along with Andrews and the two health ministers Foley and Mikakos presided over the most divisive and destructive period in Victorian history. There is almost no aspect of their time that remains unchallenged: vaccines don’t prevent transmission, shutting society doesn’t work, and the marginalisation of hundreds of thousands of people who had enough conviction to refuse the injection has resulted in a social fabric stretched further than at any time in our history.
It is an open question as to whether the resulting social and economic damage is something authorities wish to heal or exploit. No matter how much the media push the idea that homeowners or greedy business owners are behind inflation, health department collapses and surges in critical healthcare issues, it is these people and those behind them that are to blame.
We can pretend it’s over, and we can keep urging people to move on, but the reality for hundreds of thousands of Victorians is that it is not going to happen. Intergenerational mistrust in government, police, the judiciary and the media is a wound that has been inflicted by Sutton, Andrews, Foley and the cavalcade of characters that compromised our society and no amount of pretence by the complicit will prove otherwise.
The divisiveness of the Voice debate, the hysteria around transgender issues, Russia and American conflict via Ukraine, sabre rattling with China all conceal and distract from the horror that has been, and is about to be, inflicted upon us.
Central Bank Digital Currencies, biometric IDs, global vaccination passports, centralised urban planning, globalised control over your life, less of the organic in any aspect of your life and a massive windfall for the private companies that are going to benefit are the winners from Sutton’s efforts. His move to CSIRO should raise no eyebrows.
Like the former Covid Commander Jerome Wiemar, who landed an exceptionally well-paid job for the commonwealth or Dame Jacinda Ardern, we can be sure that when Dan Andrews’ time comes, the payoff will also be a big one. The only benefit for the rest of us to be had is that it lays the relationships bare and beyond any doubt.
Importantly, Sutton and his cadre in government here in Victoria, are personally an irrelevance. Devoid of compassion, devoid of intellectual weight, devoid of originality and authenticity they have hidden behind cameras, social media divisions and pr hacks crafting their message and ensuring that they are on track with the latest poll. Take one away and there are whole departments of schmucks lining up for the opportunity to take the spotlight and make decisions and take responsibility they are clearly unqualified for.
COVID represented the beginning of a new assault on the population that has been going on for eternity; a class war and the initial bit players in this one will fade over time but their legacy will be clearly calculated and not forgotten.
