Right to Coffee 2
Friday, June 06, 2003
I can't believe that the Bracks government is pressing on with its attacks on cafes for trading on Easter Sunday. Nobody believes that the ALP is driven by Christian fervour. That only leaves politically motivated bullying.
There may be only a few hundred victims in this case. But the precedent is very disturbing. If the McDonalds-haters get away with this one, who will they attack next by means of abusing regulatory powers? What kind of government is this? Decent people everywhere breathed a sigh of relief when communist China dropped its practice of harrassing street-front traders.
We know Bracksy's weakeness for the fast buck - his addiction to gambling revenues, huge stamp duties and now the speeding fines racket. But beating up fast food sellers? This is a whole new vice. There's no money in it - it is raw ideology. Perhaps he is victimising the cafe chains to gratify his feral left.
Some of the electorate, who were turning a blind eye to his somewhat random grabbing of fistfuls of dollars from citizens, can't ignore this menacing display of a totalitarian mentality.
Philip O'Carroll