Steve Cioccolanti, a Christian author and head pastor of the Discover Church in Victoria's capital of Melbourne, made this statement in one of his latest online sermons.
"Because I love Australia, I have to tell the world what is happening here. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are heading down the path of dictatorship. People who disagree with the government are like sheep hunted by wolves. Protestors are shot at. The police come knocking on your door. Employers tell you to resign with severance or get fired without one," said Cioccolanti.
"Now what's happening? If you're not vaccinated, you lose your voting rights as a member of parliament. This is something unprecedented. I believe we're the first state in the history of the world – in the history of democracy."
Cioccolanti is talking about a law that was recently passed in the state legislature of Victoria that bans unvaccinated members of parliament (MP) from entering the legislature and casting their vote.
All members of the Victorian parliament and their staff have to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 26. Any MP who does not comply with the vaccination requirement will be suspended from entering parliament until the second sitting day of the 2022 parliamentary year, which is expected to begin sometime in February next year.
"It's the first time where elected representatives cannot represent the people because they're part of the dissenting voice of the people," said Cioccolanti.
In the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the state's lower house, the motion passed with the support of all but one member.
The lone dissenting voice is MP Neil Angus, who argued that requiring proof of vaccination was "undemocratic" and constituted "medical apartheid."
"Medical apartheid will be commencing in Victoria in a few days. Victoria will be a two-class society. The moving of this motion and the issuing of public orders to effect this for the broader community clearly demonstrates this," said Angus.
"Victoria will become a two-tier society. Unvaccinated people will be sacked from their jobs and will be excluded from the ordinary functioning of society."
Cioccolanti warned that under Victoria's "no jab, no job" policies, many other workers will get penalized for not being vaccinated. Businesses and other institutions will also be given steep and fines for allowing the unvaccinated within their premises.
"These are absurd rules and arbitrary fines," said Cioccolanti. "They're cruel and unusual penalties for non-compliance. I think they're just designed to strike fear in the heart of people."
Victoria's vaccine mandate extends to about a million workers from dozens of industries in the state. This list includes police officers, religious officials, lawyers, hospitality workers, teachers, journalists, personal trainers, actors and athletes, among other professions.
"If you're not vaccinated, you can't shop, eat out or get a haircut. And the rules are becoming stricter and stricter. As I say, they bore you slowly. They've already written down that, eventually, if you're not vaccinated, you can't access all basic services until 2023." (Related: COVID-19 vaccine cases in Victoria keep rising at record-breaking levels despite nearly two months of lockdown.)
Victorians being encouraged to turn on each other
"By the very definition, the people now are slaves," said Cioccolanti. "A slave is someone who needs permission to eat, to work, to worship, to travel, to shop, to get a haircut, to eat outside, to go to the gym to travel. You need permission from a very overbearing state."
Cioccolanti noted that even the vaccinated have to abide by strict rules or be punished.
"If you're vaccinated, you must check in using a QR code, which allows the government to track you," he said. "All businesses are being roped in to become part of the state's total digital surveillance apparatus."
Businesses are being encouraged to assign "COVID marshals" who report breaches of emergency restrictions.
"So now, you're going to make a special hotline for people to snitch on each other," remarked Cioccolanti. "What does that sound like to you? If you know anything about history, you know that that sounds like fascism."
What is most surprising to Cioccolanti about all this is how many Australians are willing to just let all of this happen "and suffer the loss of their freedoms and rights."
"Many don't believe that any overreach is happening. Many are like sheep ready for the slaughter, and few understand the history of tyranny," said Cioccolanti.
The pastor pointed out that the Australian government has consistently lied about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cioccolanti said: "They said no vaccine passport would ever be mandated. Well, that's a lie. That's coming. They said no mandatory vaccine. That's a lie. It's already here in every state. They said it'll just be a seven-day snap lockdown. That's a lie, it became 77 days. And even when they said lockdown is easing, it's not true because it becomes a lock out [of the unvaccinated]."
The pastor said Victoria's residents should not trust the state government when it promises that people will soon be free from COVID-19 regulations.
He floated the possibility that once enough people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the state government will require triple vaccinations and then monthly shots after that.
"Basically a license to live," he said. "It always seems far-fetched. Fascism and dictatorship seems far-fetched until you're in the middle of it."
Pastor Steve Cioccolanti has a lot more to say regarding the COVID-19 regulations and mandates in Australia. Watch the rest of his statement on Brighteon.com:
Learn more about the vaccine mandates in Australia and the people who are trying to resist them at VaccineWars.com.
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