I never thought I would live in a police state. Surely democratic Australia would remain a bastion of freedom in which any restrictions were a last resort, applied precisely, consistently and proportionately to a clearly identified threat? That can no longer be said of the State of Victoria; Melbourne in particular, where most residents were placed under house arrest for 23 hours a day; movement, where possible, was restricted to a five-kilometre radius; businesses have been closed for weeks and jobs destroyed.