We've all been affected by the pandemic that hit the world almost two years ago. We know countries have locked down to various degrees. Some of us may also be aware of some of the more draconian measures certain countries have taken to contain the virus. The number of people at this point who know what the Australian government has been doing, though, is an even smaller group. So what does any of this have to do with Ms. Hodgson, you might ask? Well, she's an Australian citizen who was recently released from a government run quarantine camp with a worrying story based on her experience. If this is the first time you're hearing anything about quarantine camps, stay tuned because I plan to make another post going over the camps from when they were first spoken about publicly to the point of publishing the post. For now, all you need to know is that government officials initially told the public that these camps were just going to be used to house and monitor voluntary people traveling into the country to ensure that new variants didn't make their way into the population.

Now then, why is Ms. Hodgson so important to know about? Well lets start from the beginning of her experience; you can find her full exclusive interview with Real Clear Politics here. Hayley is a 26 year old Australian who moved from Melbourne to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, with the intent of escaping draconian measures being used there. It all started when one of her friends tested positive for the virus. She had apparently been in contact with that person during that time. The method that the government used to track her down was through reviewing footage that showed the license plate on her scooter. At some later date, she saw who she described as two undercover investigators come up to her property out of the blue, considering that no attempts to contact her before this were made. They asked her if she had gotten tested for covid since meeting with her friend. She says she felt intimidated and panicked so she lied and told them that she had been tested. Shortly after they left, she received a call notifying her that there was no record to prove that she had been cleared. At this point, she said that she was told that health officials would come by to administer a test. She got a second visit within minutes of the call, but instead of health officials, she was met with uniformed police. She asked them what they were doing there and if they were there to test her for covid, to which they responded, "No, you're getting taken away, and you have no choice. You're going to Howard Springs. You either come with us now, and we'll put you in the back of the divvy van. Or you can have the choice to get a 'COVID cab.'" She was told she would be fined $5,000 if she used the divvy van so she opted for the "covid cab." The most chilling response came after she asked if she could just self-isolate at home like everyone else is forced to do, to which they said, "We've just been told from higher up where to take you. And that is all there is." Where have we heard this sort of excuse to abstain from taking responsibility for immoral actions? Anyway, she was told that she could return home once she had been cleared with a negative test. That didn't end up being true, considering she was detained at the Howard Springs quarantine camp for the full 14 days.

Moving on to her time in the camp itself, she was subject to 24/7 surveillance and confined to her housing unit and deck. According to a police officer who she recorded her interaction with, the only times detainees are allowed to leave their deck is to do their laundry since food is dropped off at each cabin once a day. As such, it was largely uneventful. There was one point, though, during her detainment where she was suffering from a mental breakdown due to the extreme isolation and the only solution the doctor offered was a prescription of valium, a benzodiazepine, which helps quell anxiety. Here's the interaction she recorded with a police officer who was giving her a written warning after daring to walk outside beyond her deck without a mask:

Here's, in my opinion, the scariest element of this story. Of the roughly 10 other people who were exposed to the same individual as her, she was the only one forced into detainment at Howard Springs quarantine camp. Why, you might ask? According to the CDC (Australian Center for Disease Control) when she called, it was punishment for lying to police about taking a covid test. After losing her job due to her detainment, her only reparation was $1,500 AUD, which doesn’t even come out to minimum wage. She's lucky, considering other individuals actually have to pay $2,500 for the 14-day stay.

I wanted to keep this initial post on these "quarantine" camps short, however, I'll be covering this more comprehensively in future posts because it's not just happening in Australia. China, Vietnam, and even Germany, of all places, have implemented camps in a similar fashion. I strongly encourage you to consider what the ramifications of dismissing an issue like this or assume that, "it can't happen here." If this alone isn't enough to worry you, then I would ask that you consider what unfettered power is capable of when things like this are allowed. If history does in fact rhyme, then the answer is quite obvious. Am I saying that we'll rhyme with history as a matter of fact? No. But I think it's safe to say that most reasonable people would feel more comfortable if we didn't have countries going down similar paths further and further, as we've seen happen before, with every passing day.

Stay strong, everyone. Liberty won't prevail if we don't do anything to protect it.