As an Aussie I can say that this seems bs. This story did the rounds a couple of months ago as well, but turned out to be rubbish, with selective editing of videos/pictures to give the impression that this was occurring. I'd be surprised if they'd do anything this blatant anyway. The snakes in politics would use coercion, like they have been.
If this was more common knowledge I can guarantee there'd be a lot more jumping up and down about it, that's for sure.
What's really happening though is the push by Victoria's parliament (Dan Andrews) to give the premier unprecedented pandemic powers. The bill has already passed the lower house and will be voted on in the upper house in a couple of weeks. It's honestly like a group of politicians getting together and saying "hey, let's all vote to give ourselves dictatorship powers". I can't wrap my head around how this is even legally possible.
Check out: https://9convert.com/en30
Thanks for the links.
But even the authors can't seem to grasp the words they're writing. Here's the opening sentences of the introduction: