Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is calling for lockdown and travel restrictions to end in the country.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank in London, Mr Abbott thinks some areas have gone too far in trying to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and has even likened Victoria to a 'health dictatorship'.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the former PM said there's not enough evidence to suggest that lockdowns have helped stop the pandemic from getting worse and the economy was suffering as a result.
Advert
He added that 'unaccountable experts' and alarmist opinions have persuaded governments to introduce these sweeping new rules and we aren't better off because of them.
"Now that each one of us has had six months to consider this pandemic and to make our own judgments about it, surely it's time to relax the rules, so that individuals can take more personal responsibility and make more of their own decisions about the risks they're prepared to run," he said.
"Governments have justified it as following the expert advice as if this has always been clear or as if we should be ruled rather than merely guided by unaccountable experts.
Advert
"It's amongst us, we can't get rid of it... realistically the only way to entirely eliminate the virus is to lock yourself off from the world indefinitely and I just don't think that is realistic."
Mr Abbott says the attitude at the start of the pandemic was to flatten the curve and reduce the impact on health services, however that has now shifted to trying to completely eliminate it.
He added: "In this climate of fear it was hard for governments to ask 'how much is a life worth?' because every life is precious, and every death is sad, but that has never stopped families sometimes electing to make elderly relatives as comfortable as possible while nature takes its course."
Advert
Mr Abbott told the audience that at some point we are just going to have to live with the virus and that the 'fear of falling sick is stopping us from feeling fully alive'.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will announce on Sunday what the future of the Stage 3 and 4 restrictions will look like for Melbourne and the state.
Featured Image Credit: PA