The Right have a history of suspending democracy under the guise of emergency, only to bring about sweeping social and economic changes that stick. While there can be no doubt that coronavirus is a public health crisis that requires us to act urgently to protect life, it must not become an opportunity for governments to evade scrutiny or effect unrelated changes while the public are literally fighting for their lives.

The Australian Parliament sat through two world wars. It sat throughout the Great Depression. But last Monday, after passing the biggest spending package I’ve ever seen in my ten years as an MP, the Coalition suspended Parliament until at least August and provided Finance Minister Mathias Cormann with a $40 billion slush fund to spend without parliamentary oversight.

This suspension isn’t just undemocratic, it also threatens our ability to appropriately respond to the health and economic crises we’re faced with. And while the government is introducing measures to save lives, these measures also have an impact on our personal freedoms. With the state more powerful and active than it has been for decades, we need more democracy, not less.