Commentary Rising vaccination rates in Australia continue to edge most states towards ever more significant easing of restrictions in time for Christmas. Hopes are high in some parts of the country that COVID-19 lockdowns will now be consigned to history, never to be imposed again. However, thanks to the zeal of Premier Daniel Andrews and his government, the people of Victoria face the prospect of a very different future. Victorians have endured some of the longest lockdowns in the world, together with some of the most absurd and seemingly futile restrictions. But now, in a new bill making its way through parliament, the Andrews government wants to claim even more stringent pandemic powers than it has wielded to date. Clearly, once habits of power are acquired, they can be tough to kick. The government’s Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management Bill 2021), introduced in the state’s lower house this …