When future generations ask when did Australians gave up on democracy and freedom, the answer will be 18 September 2020; the date when the Andrews government in Victoria passed laws which contain the most significant violation of human rights in Australia’s history. 

Or perhaps the answer will be in the weeks that followed, when barely a whimper was heard from federal Coalition government, the press gallery, the state broadcaster, civil liberty groups, university intellectuals, and the rest of the credentialled class who would rather stand with Dan than with freedom. 

The only chance for redemption is for the Victorian Upper House to...