Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney. It was a brilliant event, bringing like-minded conservatives together for a time of rallying, reflection, and conversation. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the first day of proceedings, although I have heard it was a great day, I managed to get there on Day 2 for what turned out to be an incredibly interesting, entertaining, and inspirational day.
Now I could spend countless words and time detailing all the different speakers and conversations that were had that day, but I don’t think that would be a good idea for this piece. While it was great to hear from people like Mark Latham, Ross Cameron, Zuby, Warren Mundine, Professor Ian Plimer, Dr Bella d’Abrera, and, of course the great Alan Jones, I want to focus on one particular segment which I think was the most poignant of the day – Battleground Melbourne Live.
Battleground Melbourne Live brought four individuals from Melbourne together to tell their stories of life in the lockdown state. I’m sure we all know what happened in Victoria, especially in Melbourne, over 2020-21 was an absolute atrocity. Daniel Andrews and his government subjected Victorian citizens to what can only be described as a living hell. People lost so much – their jobs, their livelihoods, their homes, their friends and family – all for standing up for what was right.
On Sunday, I had the privilege of listening to the stories of four incredible individuals, everyday Australians who had their lives turned upside down by a government obsessed with authoritarianism.
I heard the story of Carly Söderstrom, a business owner whose business had to fold at the beginning of the pandemic. After working in another job for a short time, she was let go on the basis of a last-in-first-out policy when the lockdowns began. She suffered because she was not what the government deemed to be an ‘essential worker’. After struggling with the very real contention that she would be homeless, out on the streets with no money, no job, and nowhere to live, she was only saved by a last resort option to withdraw money from her superannuation, with which she started her own photography business.
Carly took on a courageous role in beginning to create videos. After uploading one which went viral, racking up an incredible 40 million views, she was targeted by the media, who began running hit pieces on her to try to discredit her and ruin her good name. It was at this point in the telling of her story that Carly began to tear up, recounting how she had received death threats and rape threats, how people would go by her house, knocking on the windows, doing everything they could to scare and intimidate her. She reached a point where she almost decided not to be here anymore.
No human should have to go through that. All Carly did was stand up against government tyranny, and she copped some of the most debased and abhorrent behaviour from others because of it. Thankfully, she stuck around, called out the lies being spread about her in the media, continued her photography business, and is now telling her story so that others can see just how devoid of morality the Victorian government have been.
I heard the story of Matt Lawson, a man who had been working a job in sales. At first, he, like many others, was fearful of the virus after seeing people collapsing on the streets of China and wanted to do the right thing. But after his workplace told their employees to put caution tape around their desks for the purpose of social distancing, he was done. He quit his job the same day and started looking into things more on his own, doing research which helped him to see what was really going on.
He began nightly livestreams at 9 pm each night and took on the role of covering the lockdown of the public housing towers in Melbourne. Even after this particular lockdown was lifted after far too long, he continued these livestreams, and his social media presence grew. After some time, Big Tech began to rally against him, taking down his Facebook and Instagram pages, and banning him from Twitter over and over again, all for speaking truth to power.
But the most infuriating and absolutely disgraceful part of Matt’s story came when he was attending a protest in Melbourne and became the first victim of Victoria Police’s aggressive behaviour, which saw rubber bullets fired on those who were peacefully protesting. Matt copped significant injuries from being hit by rubber bullets, and has had to undergo several surgeries and an extended recovery. He described for us how the injuries impacted him, how he was not able to lift his arms that much due to the pain it would cause.
All this because the police, which were meant to protect the people, fired on them instead.
This was the catalyst for former Victorian Police Supervising Sergeant Krystle Mitchell, who relayed to us her story as someone who started off on the other side of the conflict between the government and its citizens. A member of the Victorian Police for 15 years, she thought she would spend at least another decade in the force, rising through the ranks and remaining in a comfortable job. For her, the lockdowns didn’t hit so hard at first, given her job was deemed ‘essential’, and so she worked during the day and returned to the comfort of her own home at night.
Towards the beginning, when protests began, she was even tasked with writing the memos and warnings about protestors, which depicted them as violent and dangerous. But she began to become skeptical and concerned about what was occurring, and began to look into some of the people who were spearheading the freedom movement. After travelling to a market an hour and a half away from where she lived and meeting two of the figures on the frontlines, she picked up some stickers they were handing out and took them home with her.
After some time, she became more frustrated with the way Victoria Police were behaving, and ended up taking those stickers and putting them up around where she lived. She used her daily exercise time of one hour (remember that absurd rule?) to look on at the protests.
After seeing Victoria Police unload rubber bullets on protestors at the Shrine, Krystle resolved that she could no longer continue to be part of the force. As many would know, she went on Matt Wong’s channel Discernable in full police uniform, detailed her concerns with the organisation and why she was quitting, and handed in her badge right after the interview that night. Ever since she has been on the frontlines fighting in favour of freedoms and civil liberties, and for justice for those whose lives were ruined by the oppressive Andrews regime.
And that brings us to our final speaker, Topher Field. Topher, who heads up Battleground Australia, was one of the leaders of the freedom movement. As soon as he saw how the Victorian government were acting, he knew he had to do something. He started by making a video, satirical but with a point, stating that he was volunteering to become infected with Covid to contribute to herd immunity (which, as we know, governments and bureaucratic organisations deemed was an improper way to protect the community, claiming instead that vaccines were the only way out).
It was after this video did the rounds that Topher was invited out to speak at the first protest against lockdowns. At the time, Dan Andrews and his government warned that people should not go out to protest, but the police did not yet have an idea as to how to deal with protestors, given this was still new. The protestors were told that they would be allowed just one hour, and if any of them were there when the police returned, they would be arrested.
As time went on, the government became more ambivalent towards protests, reiterating that people should not attend and even going so far as to deem them ‘illegal’. But this did not stop Topher from fighting on. He relayed how if someone had told him fifteen years ago that he would one day be defying the government, he would have thought they were crazy. But here he was doing just that because, as he put it, ‘good people break bad laws’.
At the same time, he knew that eventually he might be arrested. So he made plans with his wife just in case.
What people often don’t see or think about is the weight of what people like Topher carry, especially on a mental and emotional level. At one point in the telling of his story, Topher recounted how there was a period throughout all of this where he felt at his lowest. He was hyper-aware of sounds in the night, be it a car door slamming or people walking outside, and he struggled to sleep. He was overwhelmed by the amount of messages and stories he received from people via emails and direct messages. As he put it, he was ‘swimming in a sea of other people’s stories’. He told us how he had drunk more in that year than he ever had in his life and he felt terrible. You could hear the emotion in his voice describing this part of his life.
But he fought on. He ended up being arrested – he described it as a relief. One of his bail conditions was that he could not attend protests (which is incredibly undemocratic). So, he put time and effort into creating and producing the documentary Battleground Melbourne. And after restrictions were lifted to some degree, and protests were allowed to take place again ‘legally’, he was permitted to return. And so, over 500 days after that first speech at that first protests, he spoke once more.
These four individuals are not superheroes, nor do they want to be viewed as such. They are everyday Australians whose lives were turned upside down by the authoritarian policies of a government gone mad with power. There are certainly many more.
Each of these people battled immense hardships. They saw some of the worst of humanity. And, like all human beings, they had moments where they felt overwhelmed and questioned whether they could continue on this treacherous path of righteousness.
But they fought on. They fought for the people of Melbourne. They fought for the people of Victoria. They fought for the people of Australia.
When they told their stories on Sunday, you could feel the emotion in the room. It was an incredibly moving experience. It is infuriating that they, and others like them, had to endure what Dan Andrews and his lackeys put them through. We can never allow this to happen again, and there is no doubt we need an investigation or Royal Commission into the atrocities that occurred.
But it is also inspiring to see that they are still here fighting to make a difference. If you would like to watch the segment, it is now available on ADH TV (skip to 5:27:10).
Their courage is immense. It is incredible. It is something all Australians should aspire to. Because it takes courage to stand up for what is right when the world is against you.
Joel Agius is an independent writer. If you would like to read more of his work, you can do so at JJ’s Outlook or keep up to date with his musings on Twitter.
